Mark 5:1-20
Where do crazy people come from? You can be cute and say the United States but that is not what I mean. I would bet that in almost every town in the world, there is someone who is viewed as being a bit crazy. It might be the town drunk who walks around in donated clothing trying to find a little money so he can get more to drink. It might be the bag lady who walks around with a shopping cart full of bags of things she has collected. It might be the person who lives in a shelter somewhere and walks down the street muttering to no one in particular.
Most often these people are harmless, just looking for a bit of money or food. But sometimes they are dangerous and have to be locked up to protect citizens who might be harmed by them. Some of these people end up in psychiatric hospitals, heavily medicated so they donât harm themselves or anyone else.
We had a neighbor when I was in high school, Netta Caglioni, married to Mike Caglioni, and they had two sons, Mike and Derek. I used to babysit for the boys quite often because Mike & Netta were always going to NYC for one event or another. I would fall asleep on the couch and wake up when they came back at 2 or 3 in the morning.
It turns out that Mike was working on the fringe of the Mafia and one day when I was in college, Netta came home to find out the bank had foreclosed on their house and she flipped. Mike was killed in a gang related incident in New York, the boys disappeared and I heard that one of them later died in a drug incident and Netta began walking the streets of Flemington, NJ. Up until just a year or so ago when she died, she was a well-known fixture in town as the bag lady of Flemington. Few people knew her background.
The Gerasene demoniac did not start off living by himself along an isolated part of the Sea of Galilee. He grew up in town and as time went by, he began to act strangely. People must have tried to help him but after they ran out of patience, he was left to himself to wander on the road. There was a first day when he threatened someone and the people of the town forced him to live outside the town. He became a familiar figure, ranting and raving, yelling at no one in particular. When he began to cut himself with stones, the people were so frightened they pushed him farther and farther away from the town until he was living in a cave along the lake where they buried their dead.
People must have made occasional contact. Perhaps the men who watched over the nearby heard of pigs would bring him food. But I donât think he was often approached.
This went on for some time. He became known as the lake lunatic, the mad monster. Iâm sure the kids of the town had many names for him. And tales were told about him. âBehave or the madman will get you.â
The townâs relationship with this man reached an equilibrium: they went along with their lives, ran their businesses and sent occasional aid to him; he stayed away from the town and settled in his isolation..
But then one day he saw a sail on the lake and a boat came up and landed near to where he lived.
In this detail rich story of Jesus and the Gerasene demoniac, there are so many directions to go. I want to point to four observations that I believe can help us.
The first observation is that evil leads us to the land of the dead.
Look with me at the text: Mark 5:2
When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him. 3 This man lived in the tombs
Where was the Gerasene demoniac living? He lived among the dead. The caves where he lived were used for burials. He lived in a cemetery.
The site where Jesus landed is most likely south of the Jordanian town of Kersa. About 1½ kilometers south of Kersa there is a steep slope 13 meters from the shore. 3 kilometers further south there are cavern tombs which appear to have been used for dwellings.
Jesus climbed this steep slope with his disciples and from a distance the demoniac saw Jesus land on the shore and came running to him. You get the sense that there were not many people who came to this area. This man was not used to visitors. In a world of superstition that continues today, people are afraid of cemeteries, especially at night. People do not go for picnics in cemeteries. Then, as today, tombs were for the dead, not for the living and so this was an isolated area.
This man was not born in a cemetery. This was not the family home he was living in. He was born in Kersa. He grew up in Kersa. He was well known in Kersa. But at some age he began to act a bit strangely. He made some choices. In some way he opened himself to the powers of darkness in the choices he made. Perhaps he consulted astrologers to see his future. Perhaps he went to a witch doctor to cast a spell on someone. Perhaps he was hurt by someone and refused to forgive and the bitterness and anger he held on to opened his heart to powers of darkness. Perhaps his greed or a life of debauchery led him to open his heart to powers of darkness. Perhaps he was abused and violated and choose the path of those who had violated and abused him.
But in whatever way, this man made some choices. He had the opportunity to choose between good and evil and he chose evil. If we knew his circumstances we might be sympathetic about the choices he made. Choosing to resist evil might have been exceptionally difficult for him. But the fact remains that he choose the path of evil and this lead him to the land of the dead.
He began by being pushed out of the home in which he lived and was forced to live on the streets. Perhaps a friend took him in but after a while he became too difficult for that friend and he was pushed out of that home as well.
Then the people of Kersa pushed him out of their town. They pushed him farther and farther away until he ended up in the land of the dead and that is the path of those who choose evil. Evil leads us into the land of the dead.
Proverbs 14:12 says
There is a way that seems right to a man,
but in the end it leads to death.
My neighbors in New Jersey made some choices. They chose to associate with the Mafia to afford the lifestyle they wanted. They made sexual choices. They made relational choices. I remember one vivid encounter between Mike and another neighbor who was the wrestling coach in our high school. These two had a fight full of threats and physical confrontation because the coachâs son had nearly run over Mikeâs dog with a scooter he was riding around the neighborhood. Mike jumped in his Cadillac and raced out of his driveway, nearly running over a few bystanders in his rush to find the scooter. As a teenager it was a revelation to see two adult men acting like idiots.
They made choices that seemed right to them at the time but these choices led the entire family to the land of the dead.
This is a strong example, but let me say that we in this church make choices from time to time and we are capable of making choices that lead to death. When we have a disagreement with someone in the church, how will it be settled? There are some who choose to make the disagreement a public issue and go around talking to others in the church to enlist support for their side of the story. This is the path that may seem right but in the end it leads to death.
Sometimes we feel betrayed by someone. Someone promised to do something for us and they do not do what they promised. There is a choice to be made. You can choose to take the hurt you feel and hold on to it and do nothing to discover what happened that caused the person to not do what was promised or you can choose to hold on to the hurt and nourish it. It seems right and you may feel justified in not pursuing reconciliation but in the end it leads to death.
We are imperfect people. Sometimes we promise to do something and we do not do so because we simply forgot about it in the midst of all the other things we are doing. Sometimes there is miscommunication. This happens often in a congregation of people who speak English as a second, third, fourth or fifth language.
We are confronted with a choice. We can choose the path of life and reconciliation and forgiveness and understanding or we can choose the path of alienation and death.
I call you this morning to choose the path of life. Make moral decisions, even if they are costly decisions. Choose to forgive even when it hurts to do so. Resist temptation even when you are desperate for money or pleasure. Choose the path of life.
The second observation I have from this passage is that the goal is not to take off the chains that imprison us, the goal is to be set free.
When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him. 3 This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain. 4 For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.
This man must have been a horrible sight with long scraggly hair, filthy dirty skin and scars and bruises all over his body from cutting himself with stones.
For his own protection and the protection of others, people from the town, perhaps his family members, came and in a calm moment would bind his feet and hands. But when his agitated moments came, with superhuman strength, he would tear the chains apart and break the irons on his feet. This is extraordinary strength.
Why did the demoniac tear off his chains? The chains restricted his movements and he wanted the chains off of him.
What happened when he tore the chains apart? Did his life improve? Was his life any better?
In Acts 12 Peter was in prison in chains. He was considered by King Herod to be a threat to the community and so was put into prison to be executed just as King Herod had recently killed James, the brother of John.
Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. âQuick, get up!â he said, and the chains fell off Peterâs wrists.
What happened when the chains fell off of Peterâs wrists? Did his life improve? Was his life any better?
The difference between the demoniac being freed of his chains and Peter being freed of his chains is that it was the demoniac who freed himself but God who freed Peter.
Taking this passage metaphorically, there is a lot we can do to set ourselves free and we are to work to be set free of the things that restrict us and hold us back. As you may have learned from my preaching, I am a firm believer in people having to make good choices. We need to exercise discipline and self-control.
But the second stage in Paulâs understanding of salvation is that we are sanctified, we are made holy in reality, by the cooperative work of ourselves and the Holy Spirit. We can make good choices and resist temptation and live what seems to be a good moral life but we are empty and still a prisoner until God sets us free.
The demoniac freed himself of the chains that bound him but he was still destroying himself and others who came into his path. It was not until Jesus set him free that he was able to sit down at the feet of Jesus and learn from the one who had set him free.
If you find yourself trapped in a pattern of behavior that is leading you toward death, you need to make good choices, but you also, first and foremost, need to draw near to God and be set free by his work in your life.
If you are caught up in a pattern of internet pornography or the female version of that which is romance novels, you need to exercise discipline and resist temptation. You need to change your patterns of behavior so that you remove yourself from temptation. You need to find someone who will hold you accountable for your actions.
But you also need to work and pray to draw nearer to Jesus, not as an atonement for the guilt you feel for what you have done, not as a way of trying to cover over what you have done as if a healthy devotional time will cover over your sin, not in an attempt to push your sin to the side, but in a desperate cry for help knowing that you are helpless without his intervention in your life. Cry out to God for help, draw near to him. At the same time exercise the discipline you need and you will find deliverance. You will be set free.
The third observation from this passage is that the world is often disturbed when Jesus acts in power.
When Jesus cast the demons out of the man, he granted their request to have some body to inhabit and they rushed into a large herd of pigs who raced down the steep slope into the Sea of Galilee to their destruction. This side of the Sea of Galilee was a Gentile area so the people living here were under no obligation to avoid eating pork. A normal herd was 150 to 300 pigs so this herd of 2,000 was a significant investment. With todayâs pork prices in the US, this was a 750,000 dirham investment.
Who owned these pigs? One man? A group of men? Do you think they were among the ones who rushed to see what had happened when they heard the report? Iâm sure they were and when they saw the man sitting at the feet of Jesus, dressed and in his right mind, how long did it take them to rush to the side of the slope and see their investment floating dead in the sea?
This made me think of Paul and Silas in Philippi as recorded in Acts 16. In their case, a woman who made money for her owners by fortune telling made a nuisance of herself, following Paul and Silas and shouting:
âThese men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.â 18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, âIn the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!â At that moment the spirit left her.
19 When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20 They brought them before the magistrates and said, âThese men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21 by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.â
In both cases the ministry of Jesus led to a disruption in the business plans of people involved and people chose business over the work of Jesus.
The people of Kersa had reached an equilibrium. They found a way to manage the demoniac and maintain their lifestyle. The Philippian businessmen who owned the slave girl were able to control her and make money from her.
When Jesus set free the demoniac and through Paul set free the slave girl, wouldnât an appropriate response be to rejoice in the liberation of a captured soul?
The problem is that people in and outside of the church have developed an equilibrium with the status quo and are deeply upset when the status quo is upset. The people of Kersa and the businessmen from Philippi saw the power of Jesus unleashed in these exorcisms and were disturbed. It would have been better to let sleeping dogs lie, they might have thought.
The truth is that we need to have more respect and a healthy fear of Jesus.
There is a wonderful quote from Annie Dillard that is printed in the bulletin.
Does anyone have the foggiest idea of what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladiesâ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews.â
We pray often for revival. We pray that Jesus will come in power. But I suspect that we pray for the coming of Jesus like we want a fire in the fireplace, nice and contained, giving warmth and comfort. When Jesus comes in his power among us it will be more like a forest fire, wild and uncontainable and there will be many in the church who will be disturbed by his coming in power because he will take them out of their comfortable routine.
When Jesus comes and acts in power in our lives, our world is disturbed. I would not be in Morocco if I were not a Christian. If it were not for the work of Jesus in my life, I would be relaxing on a lake in the northeast of the US, putting out in the lake to do a bit of fishing, splitting some logs for the fireplace, reading and writing.
Instead, here I am in Morocco, fighting against rude drivers, struggling with foreign languages and the inability to find what I need in a local store, and having the most fulfilling experience of my life in the process.
Pray for Jesus to work more powerfully in your life and in the life of our church and all the churches of Morocco, but be prepared. Put on your seatbelt and crash helmet and get ready for the most exhilarating and wonderful experience of your life. You may go where you did not intend to go, do what you did not intend to do, experience what you never imagined you would experience but in the process you will be more blessed that you ever thought possible.
The fourth and last observation from this passage is that when Jesus comes in power into your life, you will have the privilege of representing him in your world.
As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. 19 Jesus did not let him, but said, âGo home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.â 20 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.
Why did Jesus refuse the Gerasene manâs request to come with him?
As far as we know, this was the only time Jesus ever visited this area and when he left, the man who had been a demoniac, became Jesusâ representative to the people of Kersa.
Consider the story he had to tell. For years he had been the town madman. For years people had made fun of him, made up stories about him, frightened their children into obedience through him and now he walked the streets of Kersa, dressed, hair cut, clean and sane. He was able to tell his story over and over and his story was a hard one to dismiss.
If someone said he had just been a bit disturbed and then snapped out of it, all that had to be told is the story of the pigs. The power that had driven 2,000 pigs into the sea was the power from which Jesus had delivered him. The power and love of Jesus had been so clearly demonstrated.
When after Pentecost, followers of Jesus came to Kersa to preach the good news of Jesus, how many people were ready to respond because of the testimony of this former demoniac who had been delivered by Jesus.
I want to say to each of you who are followers of Jesus this morning that in one way or another, Jesus has rescued you from the land of the dead and I urge you to continue walking with him, working with him to follow him into the land of the living.
If you are caught up in patterns of behavior that are pulling you away from Jesus, choose this morning to turn back. Donât hold on to what will take you to death, release your hold on death and reach out for life. Forgive, seek to understand, reconcile. Donât settle for alienation.
Give yourself unreservedly to Jesus. Hold nothing back. Pray for him to work in your life in power. Pray for the unleashing of his power in your life and in the life of the church and then I assure you that you will have the experience of your life as he allows you to be his representative to your world.
