[ posted 9/3/2001 12:00AM ]
The gerasene demoniac account (Matt 8:28-34; Mark 5:1-20;
Luke
8:26-39) is so alien to our experience that New Testament
scholar E.P.
Sanders compared it to the strange apocryphal legends about
Jesussuch as his turning clay birds into real ones. Although
evangelicals would not go that far, we
are in a quandary about how to make sense of the passage. Should
we negotiate with demons the
way Jesus did? If no pigs are available, should we consider
casting demons into a tank of goldfish?
any scholars grapple with questions the text presents: Where did
this event happen
Gerasa, Gadara, or somewhere else? How many demoniacs were
there? (Matthew
says there were two; Luke and Mark say one.) These questions,
while important, do
not help us draw out implications for our beliefs and practices
today.
Part of the difficulty is that we are still not sure if we be
lieve in the reality of demons. Liberal
biblical scholarship has often suggested that the text reflects
a worldview that has no relevance
today, that the demonic was the first century's way of
describing modern psychological diagnoses
(personalities in dissociative disorder or a projection of the
inner self) or political categories (the
demons are symbols of an oppressive power structure).
Evangelicals typically affirm the reality of demons but often
see the function of the story as
magnifying the authority of Jesus. Little attention is given to
what we can learn from Jesus about
dealing with demons.
Here are some lessons we can learn if we assume the reality of
demons as created, personal spirit
beings, and see the Gospels as containing lessons on
discipleship from Jesus:
Many demons can inhabit a person simultaneously. A Roman legion
normally consisted of 6,000
men.
Demons can manifest their presence by speaking through a person
and, at times, taking control
of a person's body. They can even increase a person's normal
physical strength.
Demons can inflict self-injury and injury to others.
Demons can be transferred from one host to another. They can
enter animals and control their
bodily movements.
Demons resist leaving their host. They may plead for their own
well-being.
There are also some important lessons that we learn in Jesus'
response to the demonized man:
Jesus speaks directly to the evil spirit and asks the demon its
name. We can pray and ask God to
deliver someone from evil, but it may be necessary to address a
spirit directly in the way that
Jesus did.
If the spirits resisted even Jesus before they departed, it
should come as no surprise if demons
resist our commands.
Jesus issues a command to the demons based on his own authority.
In contrast to exorcists of his
day, who used elaborate rituals and incantations, Jesus simply
utters the command, "Come out of
the man!" Based on our union with Jesus Christ, our being filled
with the same Spirit by which he
cast out evil spirits (Matt 12:28; Luke 11:20), and our right to
exercise authority in his name over
this realm, we can issue a firm and direct command to an
intruding spirit with the expectation that
it will leave.
Many aspects of the story of the Gerasene demoniac strike us as
different from our experience.
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