Preaching and the Land - Luke 8:26-39

In the lectionary text for Sunday, Jesus heals the Gerasene demoniac.  One might say that it is the second storm rebuked by Jesus.  The verses immediately preceding this gospel story tell of Jesus' calming of the storm on the Sea of Galilee.  Jesus calms the storm on the sea and the storm in the man.

So what can we learn from the Fifth Gospel regarding the second storm and the healing of a tortured soul?

• little consensus has been reached as to the identification of Gerasenes
• Hippos, one of the cities of the Decapolis, was nearest the landing spot
• locally the eastern side of the sea was known as "the other side" or the land of the Gentiles in the time of Jesus
• swine and swineherders confirm the presence of Gentiles
• could this be the "far country" in Jesus' parable of the Loving Father (Luke 15:11-32)
• by visiting there, Jesus became unclean according to Jewish law
• the cemetery also rendered one unclean
• the name Legion might refer to the nature of the possession (multiple demons) or symbolically to the demonic Roman Empire
• in the exorcism, Jesus exerted power over demons and the present world
• the fearful residents of the other side asked Jesus to leave
• the healed man asked to accompany Jesus back to the Jewish side
• unlike his usual request for silence on the Jewish side, Jesus exhorted the man to return home and tell how much God has done for him
• Jesus' second feeding miracle (4,000) highlights the success of "Legion" in telling of God's goodness