Mark 5:1-20
So they arrived at the other side of the lake, in the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus climbed out of the boat, a man possessed by an evil spirit came out from a cemetery to meet him. This man lived among the burial caves and could no longer be restrained, even with a chain. Whenever he was put into chains and shackles—as he often was—he snapped the chains from his wrists and smashed the shackles. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Day and night he wandered among the burial caves and in the hills, howling and cutting himself with sharp stones.
When Jesus was still some distance away, the man saw him, ran to meet him, and bowed low before him. With a shriek, he screamed, “Why are you interfering with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In the name of God, I beg you, don’t torture me!” For Jesus had already said to the spirit, “Come out of the man, you evil spirit.”
Then Jesus demanded, “What is your name?”
And he replied, “My name is Legion, because there are many of us inside this man.” Then the evil spirits begged him again and again not to send them to some distant place.
There happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding on the hillside nearby. “Send us into those pigs,” the spirits begged. “Let us enter them.”
So Jesus gave them permission. The evil spirits came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the entire herd of about 2,000 pigs plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned in the water.
The herdsmen fled to the nearby town and the surrounding countryside, spreading the news as they ran. People rushed out to see what had happened. A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, and they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons. He was sitting there fully clothed and perfectly sane, and they were all afraid. Then those who had seen what happened told the others about the demon-possessed man and the pigs. And the crowd began pleading with Jesus to go away and leave them alone.
As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed begged to go with him. But Jesus said, “No, go home to your family, and tell them everything the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been.” So the man started off to visit the Ten Towns of that region and began to proclaim the great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed at what he told them.
We find in this scripture the first time that Jesus has left a Jewish area to go to an area that was predominately Gentile. He is on a mission to begin a new work for the Kingdom of God.
He is met by a man living in the burial caves in a cemetery. These burial caves are opened so he is living with rotting flesh and bones. His friends and family had tried to restrain him to keep him safe but he would just snap those restraints and go back to the dead. He wandered aimlessly here among the dead, doing physical harm to himself. And this had been going on for so long that he could no longer restrain himself but had turned himself completely to sin.
But one day Jesus came along and he became fearful. The presence of the Son of God was overwhelming. First, he didn’t want Jesus to interfere in his life. Then he feared the punishment that Jesus would administer. But Jesus saw beyond the man and his sin and recognized the demonic influences controlling his life.
That day Jesus defeated those demonic influences and the man became sane. Those that knew him were afraid of the power that Jesus had so they begged him to leave. Perhaps they were fighting their own demonic influences.
As Jesus was leaving the man wanted to go with him but Jesus said, in not so many words, “No. Go tell others what I have done today.” This is the first time that Jesus has said “Go tell”. Before this He had been saying “Don’t tell anyone.”
And this madman, this sin riddled person becomes the first missionary to the gentiles.
To better understand what actually took place in this scripture I decided to modernize it just a bit.
It is the present time. Let me introduce you to a man controlled by his sins.
He has been living in sin for quite awhile. He doesn’t like hanging out with Christians. He would much rather live in the world. It doesn’t bother him that he is spiritually dead. Those rotting bodies and dead bones called friends certainly cause him no feelings of guilt.
His lifestyle has become unrestrained. He finds himself wandering from one sexual encounter to another. His appetite for illegal drugs has grown. He often drowns his sorrows in a bottle of alcohol. His work has started to become affected but not to the point where he can’t cover it up. But it is only a matter of time before it will and perhaps he will become unemployed.
He’s had plenty of people praying for him, friends from the past and family members. But those prayers can’t stop him from the lifestyle he is living.
So day and night he wanders, from one bed to another, from one bar to another. He wanders because he is lost and that is what lost people do. They wander. And it that wandering they harm themselves. They take a chance of STDs, perhaps a drug overdose.
What he can not recognize is the demonic influence in his life. We live in a modern world far removed from the idea of demons and their influences. So we do not recognize the impact that these forces place in our life. He allowed one sin to lead to another sin to lead to another until he now has a ‘legion’ of sins controlling his life.
Then one day he sees Jesus. Not literally but through a testimony, a sermon, a scripture, something that the Holy Spirit uses to bring about conviction. First there comes a struggle. To follow Jesus means to relinquish the lifestyle that he is accustomed to. Jesus wants to ‘interfere’ in his life. Next comes the fear. “What penalty”, he asks “must I pay.”
But Jesus sees beyond the man to those influences around him and begins to strip those layers of demonic influence off one at a time. And as those layers are peeled he becomes sane. He becomes spiritually alive and now has a purpose.
However, his friends around him don’t like the changes. They want their old running mate back. So they ask, by their actions, for Jesus to leave their old friend alone. They just want Jesus to leave. And the man wants to go with Jesus. But Jesus says “No”. Jesus says tell others; be a witness, bring others to me. That is your purpose.
So what do we learn from this scripture?
(1) Sin begets Sin (vs. 9) Then Jesus demanded, “What is your name?” And he replied, “My name is Legion, because there are many of us inside this man.”
One may sin, then have to lie to cover that sin, then to sin even more. Sin is like an onion. At the core are the desires of the flesh and as we began to satisfy those desires we cover them with layers upon layers of sinful action.
James 1:14-15
Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.
(2) Sin leads to death (vs. 2-3)
When Jesus climbed out of the boat, a man possessed by an evil spirit came out from a cemetery to meet him. This man lived among the burial caves -----
You become a Zombie. I do not like watching movies about Zombies. They are the walking dead. But we are surrounded by the spiritually dead every day and that should frighten us also.
1 Timothy 5:6
But the widow who lives only for pleasure is spiritually dead even while she lives.
This could also read “people”. When we allow sin to so dominate our life that all we live for is pleasure than we are spiritually dead.
(3) Sin leads to wickedness (vs.3) and could no longer be restrained.
Spiritually dead people will look for life in pleasure. And this search for pleasure will lead to an unrestrained life-style. We will do anything; try anything to fill a hole in our being left by a dead spirit.
Isaiah 9:18 This wickedness is like a brushfire. It burns not only briers and thorns but also sets the forests ablaze.
(4) Sin leads to destruction (vs. 5) Day and night he wandered----- cutting himself with sharp stones.
When we succumb to unrestrained sin, we not only harm ourselves but also those around us. Everything we do influences someone. We do not live in a vacuum. While we destroy ourselves like a wild fire, we also destroy the goodness around us.
Our only hope is in Jesus. While He does not come to torture us, He does come to interfere in our lives. He wants to cleanse us of all those demonic influences that we have allowed in and set us free. And when He does we, like the Prodigal Son, will come to our senses. We will be clothed in clothes of righteousness and one day will be allowed to sit at his feet.
But until then we have a mission. Like the demonic man, we want to get in the boat with Jesus and sail away. However we have a mission now and that mission is to tell of the works of Jesus in our life. We have a sphere on influence. It’s found in our work place, our neighborhood and our family. We are commissioned to go forth and make disciples. We need to get out of the boat and get busy. Let’s go to our “Ten Towns” and proclaim the great things that Jesus has done for us and amaze everyone.
whitestone ministry is located in Denver, NC.
For more information contact us at pastor@denverfs.org
