Scripture Daily

Context No. 3775 of 4322 · Luke

Context · Reflection

Luke 8:26-30: in context

26Then they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27When Jesus stepped ashore, a certain man out of the city who had demons for a long time met him. He wore no clothes, and didn’t live in a house, but in the tombs. 28When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, “What do I have to do with you, Jesus, you Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torment me!” 29For Jesus was commanding the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For the unclean spirit had often seized the man. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and fetters. Breaking the bonds apart, he was driven by the demon into the desert. 30Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He said, “Legion,” for many demons had entered into him.

Jesus steps ashore into the country of the Gerasenes and is met by a man in a wretched condition: possessed for a long time, wearing no clothes, living among the tombs, so tormented that chains and shackles could not hold him. He is a picture of a person utterly enslaved and dehumanized by a force he cannot break.

And yet even this man, at the sight of Jesus, falls down before him, for the powers that held him recognize their master. Jesus asks his name, and the answer, Legion, tells how many forces had overtaken this one soul. What stands out is that no depth of bondage is beyond the reach of Jesus. This man was as far gone as a person could seem, naked and raving among the graves, feared and abandoned by all. Yet Jesus comes to him, deliberately crossing the lake to reach him, and the powers that enslaved him cannot stand before the Son of God. There is no one so lost, so bound by what torments them, that Jesus cannot reach and set free.

Do I believe that no depth of bondage or torment is beyond the reach of Jesus, who comes even to the utterly lost to set them free from what enslaves them?

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