“Then the whole multitude of the surrounding region… asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. And [Jesus] got into the boat and returned.”

Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“Then the demons went out of the man… . [And the people] went out to see what had happened, and came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. … Then the whole multitude of the surrounding region of the Gadarenes asked [Jesus] to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. And he got into the boat and returned” (Luke 8:33-35, 37; emphasis mine).

“They found the man from whom the demons had departed… in his right mind… . Then… they asked [Jesus] to depart from them.” Hmm… that don’t sound right! (repeat).
Curious… very curious, brethren. This narrative of the healing of the Gerasene demoniac is notably dissimilar from other public instances of Jesus’ miraculous, healing power. Elsewhere in the Gospels, we read,
“Then great multitudes came to [Jesus], having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus’ feet, and he healed them,” from St. Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 15.

Similarly, in St. Mark’s Gospel, chapter 5, immediately following the healing of the Gerasene demoniac, we read,
“Now when Jesus had crossed over again by boat to the other side [pardon the interruption: after being asked to leave the region of the Gadarenes], a great multitude gathered to him” (Mark 5:21).
So begins the pericope of the healing of Jairus’ daughter, and the healing of the woman with the flow of blood, throughout which, the multitudes continue and continue to press and to orbit about Jesus. St. Mark makes the point multiple times over the span of twenty verses:
“A great multitude gathered to him” (v. 21); “a great multitude followed him and thronged him” (v. 24); “You see the multitude surrounding you [said the disciples], and you say, ‘Who touched me?’” (v. 31).

In one instance, the crowds cannot get away from Jesus quickly enough. In another, the crowds cannot get close enough to Jesus. One group sends Jesus away; another gathers around him so densely that there is barely room enough to move, to breathe. When we compare both instances, brethren, one thing we may know for certain is this: in Jesus’ presence there is healing. In Jesus’ presence… there is healing, a transformation of life.
But this raises the question: why in the former instance, in the passage that we heard today from the Holy Gospel—why—did the people of the Gadarenes not want to be in Jesus’ presence? Why? Well, we read that they are “terrified.” They are afraid of Jesus’ power. So much has been written about this; so much written, in so many, many commentaries. Are the people afraid because they do not understand Jesus? Do they perceive him to be a sort of conjurer or sorcerer? Are they afraid because he is ruinous to their local economy, e.g., he disposed of the demons by disposing of the locals’ livestock? Pigs into the sea: not a fortuitous, economic event. Are they afraid because Jesus is not only doing miraculous and unexplainable things—casting demons out of men—but he is a foreigner doing these things. Gergesa was a Gentile region, on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee. These people were culturally and religiously Greek; neither Jews nor Samaritans.
Some of these explanations may hold water. That is to say, the people may have been afraid because they did not understand Jesus. Period. He was not their Messiah (in their minds). And he just killed all their pigs. He is a foreign, wonder-working, pig-killer. So they ask him to skedaddle, post-haste. However, I believe the Gospel writers, in juxtaposing this passage with the ones that follow, that is, “The Healing of the Gerasene Demoniac” vs. “The Healing of Jarius’ Daughter” and “The Healing of the Woman with the Flow of Blood”; (the Gospel writers) are teaching us something more: Jesus is terrifying and Jesus is disruptive to our normal. (repeat) We can either embrace that terror as a natural consequence of encountering the living God, and embrace that disruption to our normal, or we can shoo Jesus away. A demoniac is healed, and the crowds respond, “Go…, go away!” But a little girl who is dead (and in case you were unaware, “dead” means “dead” means “dead”; you “get dead,” you “stay dead” [cf. Luke 8:53])—a little girl who is dead is raised to life again, and her parents are astonished, and praise God. And a woman is healed of a chronic illness, and she praises God in the midst of the crowd, and it intrigues them. This healing punctuates another healing, and rather than be frightened or discouraged, the crowds continue to throng Jesus to see what he will do next. It is “terror to the point of discomfort and disgust” vs. “awe to the point of trust and wonder.” Again, we are confronted with two reactions in the presence of Jesus’ person and power: terror to the point of disgust or awe to the point of trust.
Brethren, we know too well, we ourselves who have been exorcised and baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, that a relationship with the living God changes and challenges a man. We cannot come to God and have every aspect of our lives chrismated or blessed. When we give ourselves to God, we must simultaneously give up many other things: passions, and lusts, and all manner of sinful habit. But often, I fear that we struggle to give ourselves to God fully for just this reason. If we give ourselves fully to God; if we allow ourselves to be filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit of God; if we allow him to dictate every thought, every action, every interaction, every decision of our lives… he may cast our pigs into the sea. We will be healed! We will be sanctified! Our lives will take on fuller meaning and purpose! We will have clarity of will! We will have a deep and abiding peace, and immense joy! But! He may cast our pigs into the sea. “And hey!” we will contest, “… those are my pigs.”
Oh, the wonders Christ may have worked in the midst of the Gadarenes, brethren, if they had rejoiced over the healed man, instead of mourning the loss of the pigs. Oh, the wonders Christ may have worked, if the Gentiles had been willingly discomforted, instead of terrified, and apprehensive, and combative, and dismissive. But we too are like this crowd. We have seen Christ’s wonder-working power. We have witnessed miracles, true miracles. Yet, we know, “If I allow Christ to heal me, he may ask me to change jobs. He may ask me to get married,” or “remain single.” “He may ask me to give of my time and my service and my energy and my finances in this way or that way.” “He may ask me to step out and stand up for something; he may peel my wallflower self off the wall and force me into… an uncomfortable situation.”

“I want to be healed,” we think, “but I don’t want that.” (repeat).

We are not healed for ourselves, brethren. We are healed for Christ, for his glory and for his Kingdom. Even the healing of the Gerasene demoniac reflects this understanding. The crowds don’t understand. The crowds are scared and selfish. But the man who is healed, he gets it:
“Now the man from whom the demons had departed begged [Jesus] that he might be with him. [He ain’t scared!] But Jesus sent him away, saying, ‘Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you.’ And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him” (Luke 8:38-39).

Brethren, we know from Holy Scripture: God is terrifying. Psalm 119:120, “My flesh trembles for fear of Thee, and I am afraid of Thy judgments.” God is terrifying. And what God does with a sinful man, through repentance, baptism; through the life of the Church, this is truly awesome. Let us then not be afraid of God’s activity in our lives. Let us not be selfish, unsure, or discouraged by the sacrifice and change which must affect each of us in our Christian maturity. But rather, let us run to Christ, let us throng about him, let us reach out to him, and grab hold of him, and “beg him” (as did the healed demoniac) “to be [with us]” (Luke 8:38), and we will see how we are transformed.

Through the prayers of our holy fathers, O Lord, Jesus Christ, our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.

Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!