The Miracle of the Gaderene Swine. Artist: Briton Rivière. Photo: azbyka.ru
In the Gospel we find many examples of casting out demons. But today’s reading reveals especially much about the properties of evil spirits. First and foremost, what staggers us is their strength, the power that they can have over a person, and the horror that they can cause. The Gadarene demoniac aroused such fear in everybody that he was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness (Lk. 8:29).
But at the same time, we also see the weakness and even the utter impotence of the demons. They cannot cross the line that God will draw. They were never able to kill their victim, nor even drag him further away from the shore.
The demoniac, when he saw Jesus…, he fell down before Him (Lk. 8:28), which the demons certainly could not desire.
We also see the boundless impudence of the demons: Tormenting the demoniac and not intending to stop, they nevertheless dared ask Christ not to torment them.
We learn that the demons are spirits that do not occupy any space; here is a whole legion of them in one person. But they can only be in one place—they are here now, but soon they will be expelled, scatter and enter many other beings.
And again we see their impotence before God: They cannot even enter pigs without His permission. But again, we also see their great power when God allows them to take control over someone. Behold, a herd of peaceful animals suddenly darted forward from their place and were drowned in the sea.
We see their impatience as well. They rush to pounce on their victims. By acting more covertly, they could have done much more harm.
But we see both cunning and intelligence of the demons in other cases: They do not touch the inhabitants of the country of the Gergesenes. They do not torment them, knowing that they already belong to them. As a man once said during his struggle with alcoholism, “How greatly satan wants us to come to him soberly!” A drunk person will sober up and come to his senses. Freed from demons, the demoniac will be sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind (Lk. 8:35). But what can we say about someone who freely and soberly does something demonic? That’s what the Gergesenes did, calmly and politely asking the Savior to depart from them (Lk. 8:37).
We also see how the Lord uses the power of the demons to their own detriment. He clearly, from the example of inferior creatures, shows human beings what is threatening them. He teaches those who were created in Christ Jesus unto good works (Eph. 2:10) to remember their dignity. And we should not be horrified by the deaths of dumb animals, made to be taken and destroyed (2 Pet. 2:12), but by what awaits us—rational creatures made in the image and likeness of God, and even already saved by the Lord Jesus—if we drive Him away from ourselves with our deeds and with our lives. Amen.
From: Archpriest Viacheslav Reznikov: Full Cycle of Sermons on the Daily Epistle and Gospel Readings, second edition, corrected (Moscow: Derzhava—the Twenty-First Century publishing house, 2011).
