Belonging - Day 25
9 Then Jesus demanded, “What is your name?”
And he replied, “My name is Legion, because there are many of us inside this man.” 10 Then the evil spirits begged him again and again not to send them to some distant place.
11 There happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding on the hillside nearby. 12 “Send us into those pigs,” the spirits begged. “Let us enter them.”
Names are important, as we have established. Now, Jesus is turning the tables on the conversation. Have you ever noticed how good Jesus is at this? He always asks more questions than he answers. I wonder if that wouldn’t be a good model of conversation for us as well at times. In our witness, it might make sense for us to actually listen to someone else’s story before we dive into our own.
When Jesus asks for the name of the demon, the reply is in the plural. Legion, meaning what could be literally thousands, answer. The name is descriptive as well as obligatory. They seem to have to give Jesus their name. As well, it seems that the conversation moves now from a conversation with the man who is possessed, to the demons inside of him. The whole narrative shows us that the New Testament seems to deal with demon possession as less of a psychological problem, and more of a problem of alien occupation. Once Jesus has dealt with the demons, he will begin to deal with the man again.
The introduction of the pigs as an alternative is interesting. There seems to be some indication that some ancient societies believed that demons were relegated to certain areas, and therefore they didn’t want to be cast “out” or “away” from their home turf! However, there is no indication of that in the Jewish tradition. Rather, pigs were unclean, these demons are spoken of as unclean spirits, so the correlation between the ideas of unclean in both arenas might make more sense. Also, the man was spending his time in an unclean area (graveyard) among unclean corpses. Seems like we might be onto something here.
What is not up for question is that Jesus was going to rid this man of the demons; the only question seems to be where these demons would go!
Perhaps the size of the herd was mentioned because it was so significant that it could hold the multitude of demons described by the term “Legion.” It seems that, even for this region, this herd was particularly large. On this account, we cannot be sure. However, it seems that Jesus considered this suggestion and took it quite seriously.
What are the practical applications of today’s text? Perhaps there is a two-fold application that we can look to: 1)Jesus knows your name as well. In knowing your name, he does hold power over your life. But he does not use this power as leverage, but as knowledge to connect with you, to be an intimate guide through the Holy Spirit, and to let you know that He is interested in being part of every aspect of your life! 2) That uncleanliness seems to lead to more uncleanliness. When we are fully unclean, we seek respite in the worst of things, rather than in the best of things. The demons asked to be placed in a situation in which they were comfortable. In the pigs, they found the uncleanliness they had become accustomed to. In our lives, the more we seek that which could be called “unclean,” the more comfortable we become with this in our lives. Jesus seeks authority, not simply to punish, but to make us more comfortable with the best and most holy things in our lives. He is not comfortable with the unclean, and when he enters into our lives, he seeks to remove that which is not holy and replace it with a righteousness that is all encompassing.
And he replied, “My name is Legion, because there are many of us inside this man.” 10 Then the evil spirits begged him again and again not to send them to some distant place.
11 There happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding on the hillside nearby. 12 “Send us into those pigs,” the spirits begged. “Let us enter them.”
Names are important, as we have established. Now, Jesus is turning the tables on the conversation. Have you ever noticed how good Jesus is at this? He always asks more questions than he answers. I wonder if that wouldn’t be a good model of conversation for us as well at times. In our witness, it might make sense for us to actually listen to someone else’s story before we dive into our own.
When Jesus asks for the name of the demon, the reply is in the plural. Legion, meaning what could be literally thousands, answer. The name is descriptive as well as obligatory. They seem to have to give Jesus their name. As well, it seems that the conversation moves now from a conversation with the man who is possessed, to the demons inside of him. The whole narrative shows us that the New Testament seems to deal with demon possession as less of a psychological problem, and more of a problem of alien occupation. Once Jesus has dealt with the demons, he will begin to deal with the man again.
The introduction of the pigs as an alternative is interesting. There seems to be some indication that some ancient societies believed that demons were relegated to certain areas, and therefore they didn’t want to be cast “out” or “away” from their home turf! However, there is no indication of that in the Jewish tradition. Rather, pigs were unclean, these demons are spoken of as unclean spirits, so the correlation between the ideas of unclean in both arenas might make more sense. Also, the man was spending his time in an unclean area (graveyard) among unclean corpses. Seems like we might be onto something here.
What is not up for question is that Jesus was going to rid this man of the demons; the only question seems to be where these demons would go!
Perhaps the size of the herd was mentioned because it was so significant that it could hold the multitude of demons described by the term “Legion.” It seems that, even for this region, this herd was particularly large. On this account, we cannot be sure. However, it seems that Jesus considered this suggestion and took it quite seriously.
What are the practical applications of today’s text? Perhaps there is a two-fold application that we can look to: 1)Jesus knows your name as well. In knowing your name, he does hold power over your life. But he does not use this power as leverage, but as knowledge to connect with you, to be an intimate guide through the Holy Spirit, and to let you know that He is interested in being part of every aspect of your life! 2) That uncleanliness seems to lead to more uncleanliness. When we are fully unclean, we seek respite in the worst of things, rather than in the best of things. The demons asked to be placed in a situation in which they were comfortable. In the pigs, they found the uncleanliness they had become accustomed to. In our lives, the more we seek that which could be called “unclean,” the more comfortable we become with this in our lives. Jesus seeks authority, not simply to punish, but to make us more comfortable with the best and most holy things in our lives. He is not comfortable with the unclean, and when he enters into our lives, he seeks to remove that which is not holy and replace it with a righteousness that is all encompassing.
- Where are there areas of your life that are unclean that lead to more uncleanliness?
- How can you take the time to specifically give those to God today? Also, is there anything that might need some professional help to overcome?
- What can your church/family/community do to help? Are support groups needed? (While this can be painful, reaching out to those who are safe can be a helpful tool in overcoming these parts of our lives.)
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