​What God Has Done For You – Pastor David Tsai

Luke 8:26-39
“Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” (Luke 8:39a)
 
In this story, an initial confrontation between good and evil occurs, and good ultimately prevails. Jesus meets up with a man who has an evil spirit—in fact, he has a legion of evil spirits or demons. The evil spirits recognize the power of God (which is something that demons in the New Testament generally do; recognizing the true God is not their problem.) Jesus sends the evil spirits out of him (this passage raises all sorts of fascinating questions about where the Abyss is the demons don’t want to go back to, and where they go after being sent into the swine. But I digress.) The man is saved, Jesus is triumphant. End of story, right? Wrong.
Solving the initial problem turns out to be only the beginning of the story. For the man, things do get better. He is clothed and in his right mind the next time we meet him. But the swineherds are upset over the fact that their livelihood has just run over the cliff, full of demons. They tell their neighbors, who understandably become upset as well. They are upset because they are also afraid. They do not want that kind of power in their neighborhood. Who knows what Jesus might do next? So they tell Jesus to go away.
Here, at the end of the story, the man pleads to go with Jesus, but Jesus tells him no; the healed man’s mission is to return to his resistant neighborhood and tell the story of his healing. Really, Jesus? Right back into the thick of things?
We don’t know the rest of the story and what happened to this man. We never even find out his name. But we do know that, whatever his misgivings, he obeyed (without even giving an elevator pitch first) and began to preach the Gospel.
So much fought and vanquished; so much left to fight. How, whatever our particular trouble may be, can we take the next step? Remember Who it is that comes in power and comes in silence, Who walks beside us and goes ahead of us. Be quietly faithful. Tell the story of what Jesus Christ has done for you. For His glory! Amen.
 
O Lord, make us have perpetual love and reverence for Your holy Name, for You never fail to help and govern those whom You have set upon the sure foundation of Your loving­kindness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(from the Book of Common Prayer)