Sermon Tone Analysis

Read the Text

Pray

Let’s first look at this story about Jesus delivering the man possessed by demons.

Then we will look at the second account of Jesus healing Jairus daughter and the women with the issue of blood.

This account is actually found in three of the synoptic gospels: here in Luke as well as

Washington Post - July 1, 2016 article:

Richard Gallagher is a board-certified psychiatrist and a professor of clinical psychiatry at New York Medical College

“I’m a man of science and a lover of history; after studying the classics at Princeton, I trained in psychiatry at Yale and in psychoanalysis at Columbia.

That background is why a Catholic priest had asked my professional opinion, which I offered pro bono, about whether this woman was suffering from a mental disorder... my subject’s behavior exceeded what I could explain with my training.

She could tell some people their secret weaknesses, such as undue pride.

She knew how individuals she’d never known had died, including my mother and her fatal case of ovarian cancer.

Six people later vouched to me that, during her exorcisms, they heard her speaking multiple languages, including Latin, completely unfamiliar to her outside of her trances.

This was not psychosis; it was what I can only describe as paranormal ability.”

Fallen Angels, the Devil and Demons

What do we learn from this passage?

a demon or multiple demons can posses humans and animals

those demons can control the individuals actions include speak for them

the demons feared being tortured and sent into the abyss

demons recognize that Jesus has the authority over them

What does the New Testament teach us about demons?

There are 52 references to demons in the NT and 23 references to unclean spirits.

Luke 4:31-56

Luke 9:37-

There is one Devil who is also called Satan or Lucifer.

There are many demons.

Satan is the ruler over demons.

Matthew 12

Demons cannot posses Christians

Jesus: the demon slayer

Luke and Mark go to some lengths to describe the human efforts that have been used to subdue this guy.

Check out what Mark says...

52 references to demons in the NT and 23 references to unclean spirits.

Luke 4:51-56

Mark

And yet Jesus gives them permission to go into the pigs… He commands them to go.

They were so afraid of Jesus that they were happy to go into the pigs.

By the end of the passage we have a complete role reversal:

a man demon possessed | the man from whom the demons had departed

once naked | now clothed

once unruly and shouting | now sitting at the feet of Jesus in his right mind

not living in a house | now sent by Jesus to his home

Implication:

Demonic activity is real.

Human efforts are ineffective… just recall the doctor’s article above

Jesus is the only authority demons respond to

Jesus: the healer

The women with the issue of blood

The women with the issue of blood

12 years of suffering

ceremonially unclean

socially cut off

Per Mark’s Gospel: Suffered many things by physicians

Per Mark’s Gospel: Spent all her money looking for a cure but was only getting worse

The Story of Jairus

Dad, synagogue leader, Capernaum resident

Asks for Jesus help

followed up with a report that the girl has died

Jesus says “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”

Conclusion

This morning we have faced the the tri-fecta of suffering: demons, sickness and death.

Four times we encounter fear (vs.

35, 27, 47, 50).

John

We have spent 30 minutes beholding our king… our leader.

Can we say with a strait face that we do not need this type of intervention in our own lives?

We are not possessed by a legion of demons but we have a legion of demons opposed to us.

And we need our enemy to come cowering at the feet of Jesus.