I am a basketball maniac. When I was working as a youth pastor at Philadelphia Church near this area, I made a basketball team and we went into five different Korean Basketball tournament. Guess what, we won four out of five tournaments in a row. I really like basketball and I love playing and watching the basketball games. One time I was watching the NBA playoff LA Lakers versus Portland Trail Blazers. I was really amazed by the player name Kobe Bryant because I didn¡¯t know whom that guy was until that time. He played really well in the game and he scored 36 points. I started to like him more and more by the time goes by, and I even bought his rookie card. But right after I found out his age, I was so shocked and disappointed by myself.
He was only 18 years at that time and he even went to play in All-Star game. ¡°What a guy?¡± Now, I was looking at my present life and started to think, ¡°What am I doing now at the age of 26, I am almost 10 years older than this guy.¡± Boy, I was so depressed and I felt like I was a total loser. After that time on, I got the bad habit and that was to compare myself with others. If I write an exam, the first thing I did was to ask anyone around me how they did. I couldn¡¯t love myself, I didn¡¯t like my personality, and I was not pleased on the things that I was doing.
But through the scripture reading today, I was able to figure out my clear identity as a Christian, as a Son of God, and as a servant of Jesus Christ. That¡¯s why I want to share with you this message, in this very first meeting between you and me today. Through this scripture, we (Christians) will be able to look at our past, present and future.
One day, Jesus happened to go across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus got out of the boat, there was a man with an evil spirit came to meet Jesus. In the scripture, we can see what kind of circumstances that this evil man was going through. Let¡¯s identify a few characters about the man.
1) This man lived in the tombs (v.3): Which means he was totally separated from others and lived all by himself. People kicked him out of the village.
2) He tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet (v.4): When people kicked him out of the village, others bound his hands and feet with the chains and the irons. But now he is out of control he tore the chains apart and broke the irons. Nobody could stop him from doing the evil things.
3) He would cry out (v.5): Ah-Ah~~~ His frustrations and unsatisfied desires are blowing up.
4) He would cut himself with stones (v.5b): There must be scars and blood all over his body.
5) Mental Condition (v.7): ¡°What do you want with me, Jesus?¡± He is trying to deny Jesus by saying ¡°You have nothing to do with me!¡± ¡°Why are you here?¡±
By a single word, the man with an evil spirit totally lost the image of God which God created in him. His life is just the opposite from the purpose that God gave him, and now he is even saying that ¡®God has nothing to do with him.¡¯
Now, let us find out what caused him this problem. Aren¡¯t you guys being curious about the reason why? How did he get into this situation, and why does he have to suffer? According to the scripture, it is very obvious that everything has happened because the evil came into his mind. But let us figure out in detail on why did evil came in his mind? There is no clear answer for this question in the Bible; but we can reason it by looking at the scripture more deeply.
Let us read verse 9 together. ¡°Then Jesus asked him, ¡°What is your name?¡± ¡°My name is Legion,¡± he replied, ¡°for we are many.¡± What is the name of this evil man? His name is ¡®Legion¡¯. The evil that¡¯s in his mind was called ¡®Legion¡¯. The ¡®Legion¡¯ is an army corps constructed with 5-6,000 soldiers. The evil in his mind is so many that it can be compared with 5-6,000 soldiers. Wow, isn¡¯t it amazing? Probably I am the only one who is really excited about this.
In verse 20, we can see that the evil man was from ¡®Decapolis¡¯. Decapolis means 10 counties. 10 counties gathered together and formed a city and that was called ¡®Decapolis¡¯. The ten original members towns were Scythopolis, Pella, Dion, Gerasa, Philadelphia, Gadara, Raphana, Kanatha, Hippos, and Damascus.
There must be so many different costumes, cultures, and languages. Imagine 10 counties gathered together, there must be always ten and ten. 10 languages, 10 different cultures, 10 different costumes. The evil man lived in the city where there were so many conflicts on what is right and what is wrong. There probably were many people who were telling him all different things. The evil man did not know what to do in his life, how to live his life, and what to focus on. The evil came through that kind of conflict situation.
Loving brothers and sisters, don¡¯t you think that the evil man¡¯s situation is very similar to ours these days? Some of us were born in Canada and some of us were born in Korea and migrated to Canada. Already, we have two different languages and cultures. We live in Canada, but we aren¡¯t originally Canadian. We sometimes do not know where to go, how to live in this country, and why live. We did not choose to live in Canada, but we are here. There are so many conflicts that we are having these days. Many people are saying that the land Canada is the best place to live. But is it really true for us that Canada is the best place? Even though we live in the best place, aren¡¯t we so stressed out? There are so many things making our lives tough and rough. I am dealing with the high expectations from my parents. When I first told my father that I am going to become a minister of the church later on, he was so upset and asked, ¡°Where did you get that from?¡± He is still not pleased on the things that I am doing now.
All of us are having so many things that make us depressed and give stress when we live here.
As we think about our present life, don¡¯t we find our selves as the evil man? We sometimes feel like we are separated from other people and feel like we are totally all by our selves. We sometimes feel like we don¡¯t even know what our thoughts are, what to do for our lives, and our hearts are about to blow up. The scars and blood left all over the body. Before we come to God and pray for His help, don¡¯t we ever try to deny the help of God? This is the appearance of the person who has lost the image of God.
I wish that all of us might recover the image of God through today¡¯s scripture. In the scripture, there we can see Jesus healing the evil man. It shows Jesus¡¯ care and love for the evil man.
First of all, if we look at verse 13, there we can see Jesus sacrificing 2,000 pigs just to recover this evil man. Let us read verse 13. ¡°He gave them permission, and the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.¡± Why did Jesus do that? When the other people in the village saw the evil man, they were probably saying, ¡°Here comes the evil man!¡± ¡°He shouldn¡¯t live with us!¡±, ¡°What a stinky man!¡± Even after Jesus healed the evil man, people weren¡¯t happy at all instead they are about to kick Jesus out of the town because of the dead pigs. But why did Jesus sacrifice 2,000 pigs for this evil guy? Because Jesus did not think of him as other people did. Jesus did not think of him as a dirty, evil, unclean, and useless being rather Jesus thought of him as a precious being. Jesus loved him so much and he thought of him as his child, as his servant, and as a lovely man.
Brothers and sisters, is he the only precious being for Jesus, is he the only loving child of Jesus? Definitely not!!! Jesus thinks of us, all of us as precious beings! When we think of ourselves, it seems that we are useless, ugly, dirty, and no one respects us. We sometimes think ourselves as nothing. But that is not true! It is Jesus, Son of the Most High God, who loves us, cares for us, and saying that we are all precious being. Jesus died for you and me just like he sacrificed 2,000 pigs for the evil man. Let us give thanks to our God!
