Bearing Witness
Luke 8:26-39, Galatians 3:23-29, Psalms 42
This week, we observed Juneteenth for only the fourth year that this national holiday has been on the calendar. Juneteenth celebrates the effective end of slavery in the United States. On June 19, 1865, Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas to declare, “all slaves are free!” What is historically notable about this is that the pronouncement arrived in Galveston a full two years and six months AFTER President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. The proclamation declared the freedom of enslaved people in Confederate territory. But for two more years, Texas slaveholders ignored the President’s mandate and 250,000 people remained in bondage. Freedom was already theirs, but someone had to come bearing witness to what Lincoln had done in order for them to be released. Those “someones” were the recently enlisted black men who through Lincoln’s proclamation were both freed and free to enlist in the Union army.
Jayne Marie Smith wrote for Sojourners[1], of the beautiful images of this day, one of the most poignant had to have been when the enslaved people of Texas saw with their own eyes Black soldiers in Union uniforms who made these words real. The soldiers who marched into Galveston brought the news of liberation directly to the town’s largest Black church where we might imagine Sunday after Sunday they sang and spoke of their soul’s thirst for the living God. Black soldiers gave flesh to Lincoln’s emancipating words, Smith wrote.
Breaking folks out of whatever held them down was on brand for Jesus. That’s what he did. Jesus was known for showing that what felt like the end for so many was never the end of their story.[2]
Fresh off the boat, weatherbeaten after a choppy ride, and still mesmerized by this man who can calm the storm, the disciples and Jesus have arrived on the other side of the lake, opposite Galilee, in Gentile territory. Luke means to reinforce that they are not on their home turf. Right away things have gone sideways as they meet a man who is demon-possessed. In his description of the man, Luke’s medical background is evident.[3] He notes details not unlike those found on a patient intake form. For example, the man is not just naked, but he had not been able to dress himself for some time. The possessed man bears evidence on his body that he has endured the elements of living out among the tombs, unprotected from the harsh reality of the outdoors. Luke’s empathy for the outcast man is seen in his description of the way he is seized by the demons, and plagued with fits that cause him to be shackled. But in his rage, he would tear himself loose from the bonds and run off into the wilderness. His body must have borne the wounds of these episodes.
When the man sees Jesus, there is an immediate recognition of who Jesus is. Is it the man talking or it the demons?[4] The man probably cannot distinguish where his identity ends and where the possession begins. Jesus had already commanded the demons to exit the man’s body, but they argued with him. “What have you to do with me, Jesus? I beg you, do not torment me.” (8:28) Jesus demands a name of who he is dealing with. “Legion” the demon says. A word that invokes an image – a division of Roman soldiers. The way the Roman military occupied Palestine is the way the demons now occupy this man’s body and mind.
How bold of the demons to ask Jesus for mercy. Mercy that they haven’t had the capacity to show. Asking for mercy shows their recognition of Jesus’ power being greater than theirs. And in his presence, even Legion, was outnumbered.[5]
The demons ask permission to leave the man and enter the herd of pigs nearby. They don’t want to be cast into the abyss where their power over life will be dispersed. Entering the pigs gave them one last opportunity to wreak havoc, to torture the living. Such is the nature of evil and sin. The innocent can get caught up in the tragedy brought on by the guilty.[6] It is a reminder to us of the sweeping nature of corruption. Like a storm, it takes out everything in its path.
There are a couple of things we could get in the weeds about today if we let ourselves: 1. What about the piggies? Why did Jesus allow the demons to go into the pigs which resulted in their plunging demise? 2. And what’s really going on with the man – was his affliction a diagnosis or in fact, demons? Was he possessed, or was it mental disease as we understand it?
Scripture is often perplexing. It was a different world, written about by humans with a slant and later translated by humans with more slant. I caution us not to allow a confusing, or disturbing detail; or a question that goes unanswered to hold us up from pursuing the meaning there is to be gained in a layered narrative such as this.
Because the best part is what happens next. Those who had been tending the pigs ran into town telling what they had witnessed (also trying to get ahead of the story so they wouldn’t be blamed for the pigs running off the cliff). Their story got some attention and people followed them back to the scene of the swine… There is Jesus and there is the man with him, no longer occupied by the legion of demons. He is fully clothed and fully himself.
And the crowd doesn’t know how to accept what they see. The man who was previously unacceptable is now acceptable. The one who was relegated to a place of death is now free to move among the living. The teacher with power to heal has demonstrated a power beyond what they could imagine. How tragic it is for them, then, that they fear what they don’t understand. They fear the power that could set them free from all that occupies them. So they ask Jesus to leave. He is too much. He and the disciples make their way back to the boat to leave. And the man who was healed wants to go with them. But Jesus asks him to return to his home, to tell the story of what has happened to him. Tell them what God has done for you! The man is living proof of the liberating power of God. Like the black soldiers who marched into Galveston, he could return to his own Gentile people and enflesh the emancipating power of a living God.
Jesus sent him back inviting him to bear witness to what God will do in Gentile lives, too. The man would return home for the first time in a long time where his healing could continue. See, emancipation from the demons was a step in his healing process, but not the whole experience. Returning to his people would continue his recovery through his restoration to the community.
The scripture, I believe, is calling us to two things: 1. To embrace the role the community plays in a person’s healing journey; and 2. To bear witness of our own lived experience of being set free by the power of God.
The beloved community has the power to heal and restore individuals to wholeness. When we see one another with the eyes of Christ, we can see something more in one’s identity than the most difficult part of their story. There is a collective experience that brings healing to the greater body. The collective spiritual experience broadens, widens, deepens our faith and capacity for grace and love. This doesn’t happen in isolation. Return to your community, Jesus said, and tell them everything God has done for you.
The second invitation is most important. Tell your own emancipation story. We have all felt trapped, or stuck, or locked down. How did your faith see you through those times? Many of us have lived through, are living through, a torment that has us in its grip – addiction, indebtedness, a relationship, unreasonable expectations? How many have been imprisoned by culture’s labels, or society’s bigotry, or someone’s stereotype? But in Christ we know: there is no male or female, slave or free, Greek or Jew, red or blue, gay or straight… We are set free of these labels! If you have been delivered from the shackles of your life , or you are on a journey becoming free, have courage to tell your story! Yours may be the good news that someone else needs to hear! Tell it. Tell it again and again.
I’ve been to the Lincoln Memorial several times. It is magnificent and deeply moving to me. The words from Lincoln’s most prominent speeches are inscribed on the walls surrounding his iconic stone image that looks toward the capitol. On the north interior wall is his second inaugural address given in March of 1865. In it, he previews his plans to heal a divided nation.[7] It was a nation that was on its way to becoming more free, though it would face set back after set back. I sincerely believe that the church has a role to play in the healing of our nation, but it must start in individual hearts and minds. And we must be able to see each other - not for who we are (or were) at the most difficult part of our story, but healed and whole, free in Christ. Lincoln concluded his speech by saying:
"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan ~ to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."
[1] https://sojo.net/articles/juneteenth-how-beautiful-are-feet-those-who-bring-good-news
[2] Yarbrough, Chelsea Brooke Working Preaching commentary Luke 8:26-39
[3] Tew, W. Mark, Luke Gospel to the Nameless and Faceless
[4] Jones, Judith Working Preacher Commentary Luke 8:26-39, 2019
[5] Yarbrough, Chelsea Brooke Working Preacher Commentary Luke 9:26-39 2025
[6] Tew ibid
[7] https://home.nps.gov/linc/learn/historyculture/lincoln-second-inaugural.htm