What grabs your attention? Do you have a TV series that captures your interest? Have you caught the pickleball bug, such that you’re playing a lot? What holds your focus? Furthermore, what keeps you hostage, or what could be some controlling factors in your life?
I’m asking these questions after reading the story in Luke 8 of the Gerasene demoniac who was healed by Jesus. In verses 26-39, we read about the horrifically tortured man who was controlled by cruel and violent demons. Additionally, we read about villagers who tried to help this tortured man get free from the demons’ overpowering control. Take just a minute and read this verse, noting the actions of seizing or grabbing, chaining and guarding.
For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For it had seized him many times; and he was bound with chains and shackles and kept under guard, and yet he would break his bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert. (Luke 8:29)
If you pause for some reflection, you’ll notice that people had tried to help this man by keeping him bound or chained. Maybe they hoped their efforts to contain or civilize the man would be more powerful than the horrific agony inflicted by so many demons. Not only did the people use chains and shackles, but they also tried to keep this tormented soul under guard. Nevertheless, the demonic powers that seized him were more powerful than any human attempt to help him. Everything and everyone that was grabbing him wasn’t helpful but overwhelmingly hurtful—until Jesus.
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners. (Isaiah 61:1)
Part of the anointing that was on Jesus was to proclaim liberty to those who were in bondage or in captivity and to set prisoners free. I think that Jesus’ interactions with the demons and the man give us a shining demonstration of one of His purposes for coming into human existence—to give us freedom!
Let’s be clear, however, that we have the ability to choose freedom or remain in captivity. I say this because of Luke 8:37, which says, “And all the people of the country of the Gerasenes and the surrounding district asked Him to leave them, for they were gripped with great fear; and He got into a boat and returned.”
It’s interesting to me that throughout all of Jesus’ time in this region, there was lots of seizing and gripping happening. The demons seized the man. The villagers tried to chain him, and ultimately, these same villagers chose to stay in the grip of fear rather than welcome Jesus as their liberator, healer and Savior!
In thinking about how this might apply to us, what might be some things that keep, hold or grip you? Are you gripped by fear? Does worry imprison you by darkening your thoughts and outlook? Are you caught in the chains of addiction? Are you a hostage to the image-circus or stuck in the quagmire of what others might think of you? Has pride manipulated you, such that your superiority constantly isolates you from constructive interactions?
We need not be gripped, stuck, seized or held hostage to anything or anyone, except Jesus’ redeeming presence and love. Letting Jesus get a grip on us can help us live a sane and fulfilled life. So here’s to staying firmly in Jesus’ hands!