This is a short collection of accounts of Jesus dealing with the demonic. These are stories that don’t get talked about much and so I offer them to you now.
In the gospel of Matthew we hear about Jesus encounter with two people who were possessed with demons. To the people around them the situation looked hopeless but he frees the two with a single word and all the demons leave the demoniacs. However instead of marveling at the mercy of God, the people are unsettled by his actions and asked Jesus to go away. They seemed to value the loss of the pigs more than the lives of the people in bondage.
28 And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demoniacs met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way. 29 And behold, they cried out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” 30 Now a herd of many swine was feeding at some distance from them. 31 And the demons begged him, “If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of swine.” 32 And he said to them, “Go.” So they came out and went into the swine; and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and perished in the waters. 33 The herdsmen fled, and going into the city they told everything, and what had happened to the demoniacs. 34 And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their neighborhood. (Matthew 8:28–34, RSV2CE)
Then we see in Matthew 10 Jesus give mission to the 12 (and to the church) which includes the casting out of demons. He does this within the context of establishing his kingdom on earth. He says the following:
Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. (Matthew 10:8, RSV2CE)
I wonder how we are doing in regards to his instructions to us.
In the beginning of Mark’s Gospel we see once again that Jesus encounters demons.
21 And they went into Caperna-um; and immediately on the sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught. 22 And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. 23 And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; 24 and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” 26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 27 And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching! With authority he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” 28 And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee. (Mark 1:21–28, RSV2CE)
In this case the people respond favorably, as there is no cost to them, and speak well of him. Then we hear an account similar to the account in Matthew of a possessed man.
6 And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped him; 7 and crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” 8 For he had said to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” 9 And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion; for we are many.” 10 And he begged him eagerly not to send them out of the country. 11 Now a great herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside; 12 and they begged him, “Send us to the swine, let us enter them.” 13 So he gave them leave. And the unclean spirits came out, and entered the swine; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and were drowned in the sea.
14 The herdsmen fled, and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. 15 And they came to Jesus, and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the man who had had the legion; and they were afraid. (Mark 5:6–15, RSV2CE)
In this account the people responded in fear and wanted nothing to do with Jesus. Apparently this was a Jewish community, and they were not supposed to have anything to do with pigs. But they were farming pigs. Perhaps this was the source of their fear.
Then, as in Matthew’s gospel we see the mission given to the 12 was fruitful.
And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them. (Mark 6:13, RSV2CE)
One of my favorite accounts is of Jesus freeing a child from a demon.
24 And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house, and would not have any one know it; yet he could not be hidden. 25 But immediately a woman, whose little daughter was possessed by an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell down at his feet. 26 Now the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 And he said to her, “Let the children first be fed, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 28 But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” 29 And he said to her, “For this saying you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.” 30 And she went home, and found the child lying in bed, and the demon gone. (Mark 7:24–30, RSV2CE)
Later in Mark we see that the disciples failed in trying to remove a demon from a child.
“Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a mute spirit; 18 and wherever it seizes him, it dashes him down; and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid; and I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.” 19 And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” … 25 And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again.” 26 And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse; so that most of them said, “He is dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. 28 And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” 29 And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting.” (Mark 9:14–29, RSV2CE)
This account seems to indicate that faith is important, and that some cases are more difficult than others. It also clearly states that sometimes, what we might think are diseases with natural causes are clearly caused by demons.
Clearly in Jesus world demons caused a lot of suffering in the human family. It is reasonable to think that demons are still active today. I wonder why we don’t hear more about the struggle with them? Perhaps we are like the pig farmers and not concerned about the unfortunate few, or perhaps we are afraid, or perhaps the demons are like secret agents, able to carry out their torments on people while remaining invisible.
Some in the church say that there are no demons. This would be a serious mistake for an invisible enemy is very difficult to defeat. It would also be heresy. In any case Jesus did give you and I (the church) authority and so we need not be fearful for the one who gives us authority is with us and he will protect us.