I remember the summer I learned how to cast a fishing line. Without going into too much detail, let me just say that I wasnt necessarily a natural. My bobber ended up in a tree or two, not to mention behind me a couple times before I finally figured out the release. Eventually, I learned to love casting about as much as I loved catching, so I would reel in sooner than I should. I think I almost drove my dad crazy as he tended to be the one in the boat with me and always had to duck when I attempted my cast.
     There's all sorts of fun casting we do in life, isn't there? We cast our lines into our favorite fishing spot. We cast our lucky dice at Wendover in hopes of guaranteeing ourselves early retirement. We go to plays and concerts to watch our kids or grandkids who have been cast in starring roles or with solos. There's also more annoying casting that we have to deal with, like cleaning up after dogs who are shedding or casting off their winter coat onto carpets, chairs, and couches. Or, like dealing with the media and newspapers who are already incessantly asking us how we are going to cast our presidential vote in November of 2008. Yes, there's a lot of casting going on right now, including in our Gospel story for today.
     Most obviously in this story, Jesus cast demons out of a man. As he stepped out of his boat onto land occupied by Gentiles, a man of the city met him. But it wasn't just any man. It was a man overtaken by demons. A man who was made less than human by demons. He was naked and we can assume dirty, smelly and unkempt from living in the tombs and running through the wilds. We can imagine the broken shackles around his wrists and ankles jingled and jangled as he moved. And he was loud because there were many voices speaking through him.
     Jesus asked the man his name, but the answer came in the form of a description. You see, the man had lost his name and instead could only identify himself by what had taken him over. "My name is Legion," he said. Because many demons were living in him  we can guess as many as 6,000, as Roman legions at that time were made up of 6,000 soldiers. This is the demon that Jesus power trumped. This is the demon that eventually found its way to a herd of swine and ended up drowning itself in the lake. This is the demon that Jesus cast out.
     But, that's not the end of the story. There is another casting out that happened. And this time it happened to Jesus. As the people from the city and surrounding countryside were told that Jesus cast the demons out of the man, they came out to see for themselves. What they found was amazing. What they saw was a miracle. The man, previously named Legion, was wearing clothes, seemingly in his right mind and sitting at the feet of Jesus. The crowd was!!!!!!! . . . afraid.
     It wasn't a new emotion for Jesus to deal with. Just before this story in Luke's Gospel, Jesus was in the boat with his disciples when a storm came up. With a single rebuke, Jesus calmed the wind and waves and Luke tells us that the disciples were amazed and afraid. And remember two weeks ago how the crowd was afraid when Jesus interrupted the funeral procession and raised the widow's son from the dead? Fear seems to be a common response to the miracles and ministry Jesus did, but this crowd took it a step farther than most. They asked Jesus to leave. Rather than cast out their own fear, they chose to cast out Jesus instead.
     Their actions are disappointing, yet not unlike many of our own. Like the Gerasene people, we want everything to get better, but nothing to change. We love the status quo, especially if were on the comfortable side. We find security in the way things have always been. So, when were asked to change, when change is put upon us, our fear kicks in and our anxiety rises. It's true at our jobs, in our homes, in our relationships and even in our church. It's easier to do business as usual than alter our lives and our habits. Anyone who has ever been asked by their doctor to take measures for a healthier life knows this first hand.
     My guess is that every single one of us would agree that we want to be the healthiest we can be. We'd rather live 10 years longer than 10 years less. Still, it's difficult to make healthy choices if our habits already include unhealthy patterns. When we're used to eating whatever we want whenever we want, its hard to grab a handful of almonds and be satisfied when hunger strikes. If we're used to handling stress with a couple drags on a cigarette, its a challenge to simply take 10 deep breaths instead. If we're addicted to 10 different weekly tv shows, it's a big decision to choose which ones to miss so you can take a daily walk or bike ride or visit to the gym.
     The Gerasene people had been living an unhealthy lifestyle. A demonic presence has cast itself into a man and into their community. They had to guard it and shackle it. They must have always been aware of it. If you had asked any of them, no doubt every one would have said that they wanted the man healed, that life would have been better for every single one of them if somehow those demons could be cast out. Yet, when that happened, they couldn't take it. It was too much change, too much upset. They chose to hang on to their fear and cast out the healer instead. How often do we hold on to our fear and cast out our healer?
     It bothers me a little. To think that Jesus had all that power over the legion of demons, but seemingly none over this crowd of people who cast him away from them. I don't want Jesus to be so easily cast out. Then, I read a bit more and realize that Jesus' power was not lost on these people, it was just used in a different way. As Jesus got in the boat to return to Galilee, the man he had healed begged to go with him. He freely offered himself as another disciple in Jesus' ministry.
     Jesus gave him two answers. The first answer was, "No." He could not get in the boat. The second answer was, "Yes." He was welcomed as Jesus newest disciple. Then, Jesus commissioned him. He cast him in the role of minister to the Gerasene people, the ones who had cast Jesus away. And Jesus power was worked through this healed man as he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him. Amen.








Unity in Christ. Look out at the people here today. Are they all the same? What are some of the differences? (Some are young and some are old; some have light skin and others have dark skin; some have blond hair and others have dark hair (some dont have any hair at all) _; some work and some don't, some are smiling and some are serious; some are men and some are women.) God created all of us unique. There are no two people who are exactly alike. Even though we are different, we are all one in Christ. We can all worship together, we can all mix together. God doesn't see all the ways that we are different. God just sees all of us as God's children. Sometimes, we want to separate ourselves from people who aren't like us. If we're young, we don't want to be with people who are old. If we speak English, we don't want to be around people who speak Spanish. When we find ourselves doing this, we need to remind ourselves that God loves all of us. All of us are God's children, no matter what.