Luke 8:26-39

This passage occurs in the Revised Common Lectionary, Year C, most recently June 22, 2025

Summary:  Just because someone has broken free of their chains, does not mean they are free of their demons.  This is story about Jesus freeing an outcast of their demons and restoring them to life.  It takes identifying the problem, the prayerful word of God, a person who can integrate the healed back into society and frankly, an economic cost to the whole.  As I read this story this year, I think about the great challenge it is to heal and restore people.  It is not impossible, but it is a greater work than I first thought.

Key Words:
εδεσμευετο αλεσεσιν (from δεσμευω αλυσις, meaning "bound in chains", 8:29)  What is interesting is that even though the man can break free of his chains, he is not free.  The Bible presents a complex relationship between chains and imprisonment and freedom.  At points God comes to set the prisoner free.  As Jesus quotes from Isaiah:  "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."  (Luke 4:18-19)  On the other hand, Paul will write numerous points about his work in chains (Ephesians 6:20, Acts 28:20; Philippians 1:14).  This does not stop the message, but the message goes forth.  As Paul most pointed says in 2 Timothy 2:9 "...for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained."  External chains do not always reveal the inner and more enduring chains.  External freedom may not be true freedom.  To put it another way, just because someone has broken free of their chains, does not mean they are free of their demons.

ερημος (pronounced "heramos," meaning wilderness or desert; 8:29)  This word comes into English as "hermit."  The desert is a spiritual place in the Bible, a place where demons do dwell, but God is also present (think temptation story with both the devil and angels present).  

Side note:  St. Anthony is often considered the founder of Christian monasticism.  He lived in the wilderness.  However, he did not go to the wilderness to flee the worldly pleasures of the city, but to confront the demons that dwell here. In short, the wilderness is not viewed a place of pristine beauty, but of spiritual warfare.

ονομα (meaning "name", 8:30)  In order for Jesus to cast out the demon, the name must be revealed.  This is true in our lives as well.  A Jesuit priest offered this insight to me 20 years ago regarding this passage. As I grow older, what strikes me is that the demon's name must come from the man's mouth.  Naming the demon for another (you are an addict; he is a racist) does not empower change.  Saying "I am an addict" or "I am a racist" is the gateway to a new path.

λεγιων (pronounced "legion", 8:30)  This could simply refer to the fact that there are many demons...or could be an illusion to a Roman military unit; a hostile, non-kosher, occupying force!  Here is my take:  In order to exorcise a demon, you have to know its name!  We must name the problems in this world to solve them!

αβυσσος (pronounced, "abyssos", 8:31)  The word abyss is the place of the dead in Scripture; it also seems to refer to the primordial chaos waters.
Romans 10:7 "or 'Who will descend into the abyss?'" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).
Genesis 1:2 the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.
Sadly, this is the only place in Luke's Gospel where the word abyss is found!  I was wanting some more fun!

Rabbit hole of the week:  I don't think this is the main point of this passage, but I consider it interesting that Jesus does not kill the demon here, even though they acknowledge that he could.  Is Jesus hoping for its repentance?  Is Jesus using it kill the unclean animal and source of Roman money in the area?  Is Jesus okay simply with evil existing until the day of judgment, when all such creatures will end up in (λιμνη, Revelation 19:20 among other passages)?

βοσκοντες (meaning "tend" or "feed", 8:34)  A nice example of a substantive participle...but I digress.  The point here is that the emancipation of the demon possessed man (the outcast in society) cost the society something, even with Jesus present.  What are we willing to give up to help the outcasts?  I would love to say that it is not a zero sum game (because it isn't), but giving life to the outcasts in society is not without costs.

εφοβηθησαν (verb from "φοβος", pronounced "phobos" meaning "fear", 8:35).  The reaction to the healing of the person is fear.  How often might we react in fear to God's emancipating work?  How can this be overcome?  Fortunately the fear is not of the man, but of Jesus.  How might the healing work of God have a cost for the ones doing the healing and freeing work?

θεος ("theos", meaning God 8:38).  This is a subtle reminder that Jesus = God.  Jesus tells him to tell what God has done; he tells what Jesus has done. 

κηρύσσων (pronounced, "kerusso" akin to kerygma, meaning "proclaiming", 8:39) Jesus officially commissions the disciples to "proclaim" in 9:1; this, then, is the first commissioning in Luke.  The disciples have lots of training before they are sent out; in this case, this person is sent out to declare the Word of the Lord in his life.  I wonder if we spend so much time preparing people for grand commissioning (seminary) that we overlook the very basic task of commissioning people in our midst to talk about God's work in their lives.  

ο διαμονισθεις (the one possessed, 8:36)  The man had lost his name; this can happen too, in our society, where we identify people by their problem rather than their name; or even their possibility!

A little grammar bonus:
τι εμοι και σοι ("what to you and to me", 8:28)  The Greek here seems pretty mild "What is to you and to me?"  It really means "What is your problem with me?"  It is used often to set up an adversarial conversation between two parties.  Interestingly, this will be how Jesus approaches his mother at Cana (in John 2)

Side note:  If you are curious about how Luke and Mark are different in this story:  Mark uses imperfect tenses for verbs, highlighting the on-going battle.  Luke uses aorist, choosing to focus less on the battle scene.

Actually, if you want to see a crazy participle, you can look at how Luke constructs verse 27.  ἐξελθόντι is a dative participle, which means it refers to what is in the dative in the sentence, name "him" or Jesus.  "To the one getting out upon the land, came a man, one of the city, who had demons."

John 16:12-15

This passage occurs in the RCL for Holy Trinity Sunday, Year C, most recently June 2025.

Summary:  This is not my favorite Holy Trinity passage; in fact, I think one needs to be really careful not to use this passage counter-productively.  The use of the word paraclete (παρακλητος) in John 14-16, often translated as advocate, suggests our need for a lawyer before our heavenly judge.  While a legal metaphor of salvation may make sense in other contexts, let us be perfectly clear:  In John's Gospel Jesus is not describing the Holy Spirit as our defense attorney before God the Father as judge.

Rather, Jesus presents the Holy Spirit as the abiding and living presence of God for the believers, particularly the whole community as they encounter and are challenged by the world.  The Holy Spirit will continue the work of Jesus through the disciples.  To put it another way, the Holy Spirit will make us holy, making us alive in Jesus Christ, both individually but also collectively.  This is the work of the third person of the Trinity: to bring us into the life of God.

Key Words:
παρακλητος (paraclete, 15.26 and throughout John 15 and 16) The word parakletos for the Holy Spirit is a tough one to crack! The noun literally means "one called along side of." Originally it meant a "legal assistant." Hence the affinity for the term advocate.

Yet, the whole field of words related to parakletos pushes against a cold, judicial term, especially in terms of our relationship with God.

14.16 The parakletos is a gift from God
14.17 The parakletos will be with us, even abide in us forever
14.26 The parakletos will teach you and cause you to remember the words of Jesus
15.26 The parakletos will witness about Jesus
16.8 The parakletos will prove the world concerning sin, righteousness and judgment.
16.13 The parakletos will guide you on the way
16.13 The parakletos will listen to the Father and Son
16.14 The parakletos will glorify Jesus
16.14 The parakletos will make Jesus known

Interestingly, the Vulgate does not even use the term advocate to translate parakletos, instead transliterating the word "paracletus." In fact, the Latin does translate the word "parakletos" from the Greek into the Latin "advocatum" once, and this is from 1 John 2.1, where the sense is different. Indeed, here the idea is Jesus interceding for us against the judge of the Father concerning our sins; in John's Gospel the idea of the parakletos has nothing to do with a legal metaphor before God the Father, but the enabler of Christian before the world of unbelievers.

Furthermore, a look at the verb παρακαλεω, the related verb for the noun παρακλητος, really brings home that this word (really word field) is not primarily about legal matters:
Isaiah 40.1 "Comfort, comfort my people, says your God."
Psalm 23 "Your rod and staff, they comfort me."
Proverbs 8:4 "To you, O people, I call and my cry is to all that live."
2 Corinthians 1:3-4  "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation,  who consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God."

αληθεια (truth, 16.13). The Gospel of John uses the word truth a number of times. Jesus is full of truth (1.14 and 1.17) and the truth shall set you free (8.32) but what is the truth? The best I can tell, John's Gospel asserts few things as "truth". In fact, little if anything is actually specifically stated as true, but if you do some work around times when "truth" is being debated, you can conclude a few things:
The truth is: The Word of God (1.14)
The truth is: Anyone who sins is a slave to sin (8.34); the consequence of sin is death (8.24)
The truth is: By believing in Jesus, we have life (8.24)
The truth is: Jesus and the Father are one (8.26)
The truth is: Followers of Jesus hear his voice (18.37) and walk in the light (8.12)
The truth is: Jesus is King (18.37)

To put it another way, it turns out that only some really essential things are declared/implied as truth in the Gospel of John.

οδηγεω (guide, 16.13) The verb here for "guide" is "hodege-oo" which means "hodos+ag-oo"=lead on the way; the verb is used in describing Philip's interaction with the Eunuch, where the Eunuch invites Phillip to show him the way of understanding Scripture.

Acts 2:1-11 (Pentecost)

Summary:   Luke's use of language in his first two sentences of Acts chapter 2 sets up an incredible contrast.   Verse one captures the togetherness of the pre-Pentecost community; verse two shows the Holy Spirit bursting the community into the world.  As I contemplate the church over the centuries, I wonder if we always stand between verse 1 and 2; full of love and community, but waiting for the awesome movement of the Spirit to push us outside of ourselves.   Moving churches out of their walls is a Herculean task, but God is up to it!

The miracle of fiery tongues gets the attention, but I see three other miracles

- The patience of the disciples to grief together

- The willingness of people to listen - true communication

- The church moving outside of its walls

Image one: The pre-Pentecost community (Verse 1 captures all of Acts chapter 1)

ομου + επι το αυτο ("together" and "all together") Luke uses a rather redundant phrase. Both halves mean "together"; in English he basically wrote "They were together with each other in the same place." Luke wants to drive the point across that they were united. It is important to note that a united church is not a church in mission; a united church is a church waiting for mission.

I used to see the church of Acts 1 as "First Lutheran Church of Jerusalem."  Great doctrine.  Great fellowship.  Perfect Committee Structure.  No outreach.  Overtime I have softened on this, as I begin to see how unity (processing grief!!) is a precursor to ministry.

εν τω συμπληρουσθαι (συμπληροω; fulfill)  To the point: By employing this particular construction, Luke makes it clear that they did not simply come together on Pentecost, but they had been together for a while. A few other points here about the verb fulfill:
* The verb fulfill occurs three times in just a few verses. The days of Pentecost were being fulfilled; the house was filled; now the people are filled.
* The verb is in the present suggesting it is ongoing action; especially when paired with an imperfect as the main verb. The notion suggested here is that they have been together (rather obediently!) since Jesus told them to wait.
* Purely grammar note: Chapter two begins with an articular infinitive after a preposition:  εν τω + infinitive which can be translated "During the ..." In this case, the verb is "fulfill."

In summary, Luke does not simply imply "The group was assembled for the celebration" but rather, "As the day of Pentecost approached, they were continually together in the same place."

Image two: The Spirit comes (vs 2 and the rest of Acts)

ηχος ("sound"; literally echo!) The Spirit comes as an echo...that has reverberated across the years.

φερημενης (φερω; "carry") The wind that comes is a carrying wind; a wind that will carry the disciples outside of their walls.

βιαιος ("violent") When this word occurs in the OT, it describes the wind blowing back the waters during Exodus.   Maybe that is one metaphor for the Spirit's activities during the 21st century: Making a way through the troubled waters for the church. Interestingly, this word is used in classical Greek to describe the "power" or "strength" of Hercules. This may also be a way to think about the Spirit -- overcoming the Herculean task of getting Christians to leave the door. Sometimes this might take shaking things up a bit!

To put this together, the Spirit carries with it...a hint of upheaval...that echoes across the centuries.

διαμεριζομεναι (from διαμεριζω, meaning divide, 2:3, 2:45)  The spirit divides tongues among them; later they divide their property among each other!  It is interesting how the spiritual leads to the material -- they are related!

A few other points:
ευλαβης ("devout"; 2:5)  The men in Jerusalem are considered "devout".  Interestingly, Simeon (Luke 2) was labeled as devout as well -- a rather rare term in the NT (only used four times). As Jesus was revealed (as a baby) to a devout man, the church was revealed (in its baby stage!) to devout men and women.

ιδια διαλεκτω ("Our own language" literally "the idiom dialect"; 2:6) Luther hits the nail on the head: Muttersprache (mother tongue).

ακουω ("hear"; 2:6,8 and 11)  This verb means listening.   While the tongues of flames get the attention, the Holy Spirit tends to work just as much through the ears as through the eyes!

απεφθεγξατο ("proclaim"; from αποφθεγγομαι; 2:14) Luke describes Peter's speech using a word here that means "dignified proclamation."  This is significant given the education and social rank of Peter; but it also shows that the Spirit does not simply give ecstatic or emotional speech, but that the Spirit can lead us to be articulate.

John 14:8-17, (25-27)

Note:  This passage is the Gospel reading for Pentecost Sunday, year C.  My sense is that most people prefer to -- and frankly should -- preach on the Pentecost story.  But a few tidbits here for sermonizing.

Tidbits for preaching:

παράκλητον ("paraclete", 14:16; 14:25)  This word is a tough one to translate.  As the NET Bible offers, "No single English word has exactly the same range of meaning as the Greek word."  

Thayer (via Accordance) defines it as this:

• Generally:  summoned, called to one’s side, especially called to one’s aid; hence,
• 1. one who pleads another’s cause before a judge, a pleader, counsel for defense, legal assistant; an advocate
• 2. universally, one who pleads another’s cause with one, an intercessor (including on behalf of sins)
• 3. in the widest sense, a helper, succorer, aider, assistant;...

Which is really interesting because you can move quickly into a legal metaphor- where the Holy Spirit becomes your lawyer before God the judge.  Sometimes this understanding of God's work, especially in regards to justification, is called "forensic."

However, in the Gospel of John, that is not the way in which the Spirit functions.  The Spirit never intervenes to tell God that we are not needing to be punished and that God should love us instead.  In fact, the only time the Spirit shows up in regard to judgment in the Gospel of John (chapter 16), it is doing the opposite -- it is judging the world!  Look at these two other uses of the word παράκλητον in John's Gospel

• John 14:26 But the παράκλητον, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
• John 15:26   “But when the παράκλητον comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, the will bear witness about me.

In short, the Spirit in the Gospel of John is NOT pointing God back to Jesus to remind God to be merciful, but the Spirit is pointing the disciples back to Jesus to remind us of who Jesus is!

(The NET Bible, which translates παράκλητον as advocate, goes through all the possibilities, indicates the short comings, acknowledges that this shortcoming, but wants to emphasize the power of the Spirit in the proclamation of Jesus)

κόσμος (literally cosmos, "world," 14:27)  This is an easy word to learn in Greek!  What I want to emphasize here is that the world, which God loves, is not an easy place.  Furthermore, in the Gospel of John the world consistently is hostile to God and the disciples.  The world is not loved because it deserves to be loved, the world is loved because God chooses to love it.