LUKE 8:26-39

       “What is your name?” It’s a pretty standard question when you meet someone. We have names to help identify who we are. Names used to be used to establish what you did, or what family you came from. The John-son’s were the sons of John. The Smiths were probably the blacksmiths in town. Names identify who we are and are a part of almost any greeting that we share with one another. “What is your name?” seems to be a pretty likely question when you first meet someone; that is until that person gives you an answer you don’t expect.

       It’s the question Jesus asks a, “man of the city who had demons.”  “What is your name?” Jesus asks. As the man responds, he can think of no better way to name himself than, “Legion.” Legion is called by that name because of the many demons that have entered him. In English, the word, “legion” is used to describe a large military force. The man in our Gospel lesson has been attacked and plagued by a legion of demons throughout his lifetime and his very identity is decided by that fact. In the town in which he was kept under lock and key, the man was probably only ever known by this name, Legion.

       How would it be to be known and named by the fact that you had a legion of evil spirits in you? The town chains you up and calls you Legion to remind themselves and you that you are not wanted, you are an outsider, you are unclean and not welcome. When you finally are out of your chains you are driven into the wild to live in tombs without food or clothing. Your very identity has been determined by the name these people have given you.

       Names are powerful; what we are called matters a great deal. To be called pastor, or madam or sir or Dr. Often times we will be named after people in our family or people that our parents admire. Often times we will be given nicknames that mean something about who we are or what we do.

       Perhaps you can remember a time in grade school when you were given a nickname or called a mean name and just by means of having that name you took on some sort of identity. You might not believe by looking at me now, but in high school some of my friends called me “Big Z” because I lifted weights. It became a part of me, established my identity to those who met me when I was together with my friends. There were other names I was known by: four eyes, little guy, the list could probably go on and on. But the point is this: whether good or bad, the names we go by affect our identity and how people know us.

       When Jesus asks Legion his name, Legion assumes that his identity lies in the fact that he has had many demons. His identity is clothed in the fact that a legion of demonic spirits have filled him. And because his identity is clothed in this fact, his body is not clothed at all. The man walks around the towns and the wilderness completely naked, filled with shame about who he is and what other people think of him. He is so cast out, so unwelcome, that the town will not even provide clothes for him. The only thing the man had to wear was his name, Legion.

       It’s an interesting fact that the story mentions that Legion is walking around without clothes. It might seem surprising to many of us that the story is told with such a detail. But after Jesus casts out the unclean spirits and sends them in the swineherd, we are told that the townspeople rush to see what has just happened and they find the man there both sane and clothed. The story’s hinge point is the casting out of unclean spirits, and on either side of the hinge we hear something about what the man has to wear, or not wear.

       What happened between the time the man was naked and the time the man was clothed? Jesus. Jesus happened right there in the middle. Jesus came and healed the man of his unclean spirits. Jesus came and gave the man a new identity, taking away the name Legion, and clothing him with a new identity. Having put on his new identity, the man is now both sane and clothed because of Jesus.

       The crux of the story, the lynch pin, the hinge, the turning point, is centered on Jesus and what he does for the man, to cloth him with a new identity. This is precisely where the text from Galatians gives us some help in understanding what has taken place in the man. Paul writes, “As many of you were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” What does it mean to “clothe yourself with Christ?” It’s an interesting thought. In our baptisms, we are given a new identity, claimed by Christ and marked with the sign of the cross forever. Baptisms are sometimes called, “christenings” for the purpose of naming what is happening in the service. We are given a new name, a new identity, firmly located in Jesus Christ.

       In our baptisms, we die to ourselves and are raised again to new life, a life in Christ. Paul says that not only are we now located in the good news of Christ’s love, but we are also clothed with him. We take off our old selves and put on Christ. In fact, in baptism, Christ takes our old, dirty laundry and puts it on himself. He takes our sin, our suffering, our death, and he wears it. This clothing he now wears is different from what we now wear. We wear eternal life, we wear joy, we wear Christ himself.

       Jesus Christ took everything he had, his healing and righteousness and clothed the man with himself. The man, wearing only his name, Legion, was clothed with a new life, and new identity. His new identity was firmly located in Christ Jesus just as our new identity is firmly located in Christ Jesus. The casting out of this man’s demon was the casting out of his old identity, it was his baptism, the death of himself. And by doing so, Christ gave him some dazzling new cloths to wear, the cloths of righteousness.

       And what I find most fascinating about this story is that with this new identity, the man thinks it would be best to follow Jesus out into the rest of the world. He not only asks, he gets down on his knees and begs Jesus to follow him. And instead of Jesus saying that he must follow him, Jesus sends him straight back home, saying, “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” And that’s precisely what the man did, “proclaiming through the city how much Jesus had done for him.”

       As he had been given his old identity as Legion from this very city, the man is sent by Jesus to return there and tell them of his new identity, one shaped and clothed in all that Jesus had done for him. And this is how it is for many of us, too. While we may want to follow Jesus Christ wherever he goes, sometimes Jesus sends us right back home to proclaim all that he has done for us. In our baptisms we take off the old identity of ourselves and put on the new identity of Christ. Christian life is about learning to wrap Christ in your sins and learning to wrap your self in Christ. And being clothed in Christ, we are sent straight back to where we came from, proclaiming all that Jesus has done for us.

       So, trust in your baptism, trust in your new identity in Christ, wear your new clothes with confidence and go straight back to wherever it is your came from and proclaim all that Jesus Christ has done for you.    AMEN!

Intern Pastor Chris