Expert: Roy Wallen - 6/23/2010

Question
I have the children's sermon this Sunday and our scripture is Luke 8:26-39.  I am concerned about scaring the children with the images of demons and pigs jumping to their death.  Do you have any suggestions?  I found an activity comparing Jesus removing all kinds of sin from us to Him casting out the demons from the possessed man. The activity wasn't scary but I didn't understand how that compared to one another as the man's demons were not sins.  Any light you can shed on this would be much appreciated!

Thanks for your time.

Answer
 Not being sure of the ages of the children you will be teaching, I think you can present the events outlined in this passage in a fairly straight-forward way.  Assuming the children know what pigs are, you can relate how the man was sick because of the bad spirits that lived inside him, in contrast with the Spirit of God that lives in us when we are saved by grace.  He lived in dirty caves and would not wear clothes; both are not acceptable behavior.  The bad spirits knew who Jesus is and they asked not to be destroyed.  However, Jesus must reign over evil spirits and he commanded the spirits to leave the man.  There were pigs at that place and pigs were considered by the Jews to be dirty and worthless -- they were not used for food or any other purposes.  Jesus commanded the spirits to leave the man and to go into the pigs and the pigs ran down the hill and into the sea.  The man was saved and returned to his right mind.  He was able to return to his family and live a normal life.
 Compared to what children see and hear today, this is not a difficult to story to relate.  The details of the violence can be minimimzed without limiting the impact of the story.  Even young children can understand the difference between good and evil and they need to understand the power that Jesus has over evil.  This can also be applied in each of us.  Jesus, God the Son, can overcome the bad things we do and allow us to do good things, if we let God the Spirit control our lives.
 I am not familiar with the activity that you found.  It is important to make sure the accuracy of the story gets communicated and not diluted.  The activity cannot detract from the story.  If it is well designed, it can make a lasting impression of the truth than they will get from hearing the story without additional reinforcement.
 I hope this perspective helps.