Locals Troubled; a Madman is Healed. Hunch 33
They went across the lake to the
Gerasene region. When Jesus got out of
the boat, a man with an evil spirit came and met him from the cemetery. He lived among the graves, and no one could
bind him, not even with a chain. He had often been chained hand and foot, but
tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough
to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he raged, cutting
himself with stones. When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his
knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, "What do you
want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won't
torture me!" For Jesus had said to him, "Come out of this man, you
evil spirit!" Then Jesus asked
him, "What is your name?" "My name is Legion," he replied,
"for we are many." And he begged Jesus again and again not to send
them out of the area. A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside.
The demons begged Jesus, "Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into
them." 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. Those tending the pigs ran off and
reported this in the town and countryside, and the people came out to see what
had happened. When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed
by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they
were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the
demon-possessed man - and told what had happened to the pigs as well. Then they pleaded with Jesus to leave their
region. As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been
demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said,
"Go home to your family and tell them what the Lord has done, and how kind
he has been to you." So the man went away and began to tell in the
Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.
In a Nutshell
Jesus healed a troubled man and the local people fail to meet the challenge because they only see the threat. This Gospel was also written to help us face the fact that there's nothing more important in God's eyes than for a person to be freed from deep trouble.
Questions
Think about the way this man and his family would respond when they read this part of Mark's gospel.
Mark's account was written for people like
you and me who never shook hands with Jesus. But not only for us. The story he told
was also for those who believed in Him and even for those who knew Him and had
met Him. It was also for those who knew about John the Baptist, for those who
repented of their sins and had been baptised in those days before the gutless
Herod executed John. The Gospel story was put to paper also for the many people
Jesus met and taught when He was visiting the coastal villages of Galilee.
At points, Mark's gospel seems to have been
specially written for them; it's as if he was reminding them of what Jesus was
doing before and after their own encounter with Him. So it is not so strange that Mark would put this story into his gospel
also to enable the healed man and his family to be further encouraged after his
terrible torment had been broken by the kindly Rabbi. They could see how they
fitted into the larger story of Jesus' ministry.
Gerasa (or Gedara) was south and east of
Lake Galilee, south and east of where Jesus grew up and where He did most of
his teaching before He went up to Jerusalem. Jerusalem is further south and to
the west of the lake. But Jesus' influence had also spread to regions on the
other side of the lake; and this man was involved in that. He had been
tormented with deep-down demonic troubles. He thought they had come to stay but
Jesus freed him. He thought the demons were some kind of judgment; that's why
he asked Jesus to back-off. But Jesus stayed around long enough for him to know
God's gift of healing. Jesus reassured Him and made sure the evil spirits would
not bother him again.
Jesus didn't need to shout so the whole
region would hear. His judgment on the demons may have been decisive, but He
didn't need to shout. The man had done enough shouting already. Maybe the pigs
were used to it. Maybe from where they were grazing, a kilometre or two away,
they became troubled when an eerie silence came up to them from the bottom of
the steep cliff.
But the important point is that the troubled
man was healed. The evil spirits were sent away; they would trouble him no
more. Jesus gave the pigs permission to storm off down the cliff and they did
and they were destroyed, the whole pile of them.
And that brought the locals out! They were
terrified and no doubt very angry as well. They pleaded with Him to go away.
Fancy that! This man was now well, but they preferred to be terrified, worried
senseless by the loss of their pigs. They couldn't rejoice and thank God that
this man had been healed. At least not yet …
Keeping pigs was something that Jewish
people did not usually do. You'll remember the story Jesus told about the Lost
Son who was so hungry and so sad that he was hanging out for another helping of
pigs' mash. And long ago God's people had been forbidden to have contact with
pigs. Whatever the evil was, that had induced them to keep pigs for the pork
and ham market among non-Jewish folk in the Decapolis, Jesus confronted it
head-on by taking away the troubles of this tormented fellow.
Mark makes a point of telling us that the
evil spirits only entered the massive horde when Jesus allowed them to. Now
that's a little scary, isn't it? But so is madness. And Jesus changed this man
by healing him, and helping him not to be afraid. That day the man's life was
changed when the evil spirits met their match shortly after Jesus' boat came
into land near the cemetery. And presumably the economy of the region was free
to find a new agricultural and horticultural direction.
The townsfolk could have no legal complaint
about the pigs. They just wanted Jesus out of there. And He was willing enough
to go. In Matthew 8:28-34 we are told that two men were living in that
cemetery. In Mark's story we have no mention of this other guy. I wonder why?
It's interesting. The people asked Jesus to
leave and He did. The healed man asked Jesus if he could come and Jesus told
him to go home. In time, this man helped his friends and family and other
people of that region marvel at God's power and love. They would get over the
loss of the pigs. It is far more important for one person to be freed from
torment to live for God than it is for an entire region to maintain a guilty
life-style.
This man discovered Jesus knew what was
best. He came to realise that he didn't have to fear going home. And it
wouldn't surprise me that we meet up with him again elsewhere in the New
Testament.
This man became God's way of helping the people of the region - herdsmen and townspeople - understand that healthy people are more important than our customs, crops, herds and possessions. We need opened eyes to see this, to see God's action in our lives. This story tells how the local herdsmen and townspeople found new life, free from their troubles. It all began when the Kingdom of God came close … in a fishing boat, down by the cemetery, the day of the massive pig stampede. After he was healed this man became a well-known disciple of Jesus throughout the Decapolis region, the so-called ten free towns. The people there knew about Jesus because this man told them of Him. Mark kept these people in mind, those who had asked Jesus to leave. They had to be persuaded to think again. It is a story of God's forgiveness. Forgiveness was available to those who told Jesus to stay away.