Then they came to the other side
of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes. And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met
Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, because he had often
been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by
him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the
tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones. Mark 5:1-5
Jesus
arrives on the side of the lake of Galilee with His disciples and encounters
this poor wretched creature. The description of this man is worse than any
homeless person I’ve ever encountered. He’s obviously insane, living in a
graveyard, and has the remnants have been chained hanging off of him, but he’s
been able to break away. He’s out of his mind, living in a constant nightmare
in which he’s constantly abused by man and monster without reprieve. He tries
to escape it by taking his own life repeatedly but cutting himself, but to no
avail. All he feels is pain and agony. He’s living in hell, tortured by this possessed
spirit and his sin that enslaved him to begin with. How did he arrive in such a
state? He wasn’t born there. He wasn’t given over to the grave as a child.
Something brought him to this state. Some rate of decline, or some tragic
event, caused him to grow in bitterness and anger and open the door to allow
this demon to take over, and he surrendered to it. At first it might have been
in part, but eventually the demon took all until the man was the slave, unable
to live with his own kind. He could not be saved no matter how many had
attempted to save him, even chaining him. The demon owned him. As it says in
Romans 6:16, “Do you not know that to whom
you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey,
whether of sin leading to
death, or of obedience leading to
righteousness?”
Yet there is Jesus, the Light of the World, and
what does this man do? “When he saw Jesus from
afar, he ran and worshiped Him. And he cried out with a loud voice and said, “What have I to
do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do
not torment me.” Mark 5:6-7 So surrendered was this man, this human inside of the demon’s shell,
that he could not cry out to Jesus to be saved from the torment. It was the
demon speaking. Still, what a turn of events for this poor man who had been
living for years in this torture. For once, his tormentor is crying out for
mercy.
For He said to
him, “Come out of the man, unclean
spirit!” Then He asked
him, “What is your name?”
And he answered, saying, “My name is Legion; for we
are many.” Also he begged Him earnestly
that He would not send them out of the country. Mark 5:8-10 Jesus calls
out one demon, and of course it obeys, but then another steps up to answer,
there is no reprieve for this poor man. He is so beaten down that there is more
than one holding him down; there is more than one monster. There is a myriad of
maniacs waiting to get their claws into him.
I honestly believe that Jesus was still asking the man what his name
was, but the man could not answer. He was still too captive to be able speak. He
had not heard his own voice in so long he didn’t know what it sounded like. It
had been taken over by his owner. Jesus wanted to know him, and saw him inside
that crowd of fiends. The man stood in the darkness, a shadow of what he’d once
been, and Jesus saw him. Yet the masters of the man are begging to be spared
from destruction, because they know who holds the power of life and death. One
thing we must remember is that every created thing has a beginning, so it
stands to reason that it also can have an end if God wills it. Only man,
created in the image of God, was created to be eternal, and God has made a way
for that. This man sees that way, and so did these demons. They must ask of the
Lord to be spared. “You believe that there is one God. You
do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!” James
2:19 These trembling demons ask to be spared.
Now a
large herd of swine was feeding there near the mountains. So all the demons begged Him, saying, “Send
us to the swine, that we may enter them.” And
at once Jesus gave
them permission. Then the unclean spirits went out and entered the swine (there
were about two thousand); and the herd ran violently down the steep place into
the sea, and drowned in the sea.” Mark 5:11-13 It’s interesting that the unclean went into what was considered unclean
by the Jews. The demons knew that. They knew that they would not be bothered by
the people in the area and could reside within these beasts unencumbered until
they could find another person to enslave. But Jesus also knew this, and
brought about the destruction of the beasts. The demons were brought down by a
bunch of pigs. God was still in control. He released the man from his
tormentors, ordered them into the herd of swine, and then ordered the swine
into destruction. The legion was still conquered.
So much focus is paid to the demons,
that too little is paid to the man who had been the victim of the unspeakable
abuse at their hands. Can you imagine what that was like to suddenly be free
from all of that? To hear the squealing of pigs as your deliverance is at hand.
All the attention is on the dust of the thousands of pigs drowning in the sea,
and all you see is Jesus, and all He is concerned with is you. What must that
have been like? This incredibly violent event is happening drawing everyone’s
attention from your moment of sweet release, except the one who made it happen.
There He stands, with arms out, ready to receive you. The first person in years
to hold you, to touch you with gentleness and compassion, to touch the wounds
you’ve inflicted upon yourself, is the One who intimately formed you to begin
with. He pulls you in and welcomes you back to life, and your heart fills with
the knowledge it’s not just this life, but eternal life. That’s what this man
felt while the pig fiasco was going on.
When it was over he was standing
there with everyone else, just like everyone else. “So those who fed the swine fled,
and they told it in the city
and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that had happened. Then they came to Jesus, and saw the one who had been demon-possessed
and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind. And they were
afraid. And
those who saw it told them how it happened to him who had been demon-possessed,
and about the swine. Then they
began to plead with Him to depart from their region.” Mark 5:14-17 The noise of two thousand pigs drowning had to be incredibly loud, loud enough
to draw a crowd. Those who had been tending the herd explained to the crowd
what had happened. Like many who hear about the amazing works of Jesus, they
didn’t react by embracing this good news. The reacted in fear. People are
fearful of things they can’t understand. People don’t understand Jesus. He
doesn’t make sense to them. Love doesn’t always make sense, especially love
given by grace. This man who had been possessed did nothing to deserve to be
save from the torment. He had tormented them. He was scary. You would think he
people would be grateful for Jesus to have rid them of this plague on their
community, but they weren’t. They were terrified of his ability. He was
powerful, and that scared them. They saw the man healed and submitting to his liberator,
and that made them fear they would have to give up their captivators. They weren’t ready to do that. They wanted to
keep their sins in place because after all, they weren’t as bad as he had been.
They asked Jesus to leave them. Jesus never stays where he’s not wanted.
“And
when He got into the boat, he who had been demon-possessed begged Him that he
might be with Him. However,
Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, “Go home to
your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and
how He has had compassion on you.” And he departed and began to proclaim in
Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him; and all marveled.” Mark
5:18-20
Jesus is leaving, because He was
asked to leave right after just having arrived and working a major miracle for
this one man, so naturally the man is going with Him. I imagine he is dressed
again, has just left his friends who are overjoyed to see their old friend is
back from the graves, literally, standing on the bank, and is about to climb
into the boat with the other disciples. He has been a slave for so long he doesn’t
know how to be free. He doesn’t know anything but how to be shackled. Jesus
tells him he is free. He tells him to go on home, with his friends, and tell
people how he’s been delivered. This man is to become an evangelist, an
apostle, to tell the good news. What a turnaround had happened in this
anonymous man’s life. He went from the haunted soul to soul winner. The area he was assigned was no less than ten
cities. We know he was successful because Mark says that all marveled. He had been delivered from the worst
psychological torment imaginable, and he could not shut up about it. Would you
if you were him?
Sometimes, with all the trauma life
throws at us, we forget that it’s not about the drowning pigs. Let them squeal.
It’s about the One who sees us despite the outward appearance. Jesus delivers
us from the one who wants to hold us captive until he has broken us and
destroyed us. Jesus has freed us from our captivity. “But now having been set free from
sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the
end, everlasting life. For
the wages of sin is death, but
the gift of God is eternal life
in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:22-23
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