Delivered And Sent

You know, it's funny how our culture deals with the idea of demons and spiritual evil. We kind of swing between two extremes, don't we? On one hand, you've got people who roll their eyes at anything supernatural. "Demons? Come on, that's just ancient superstition!" Then on the other end, you've got folks who see a demon behind every headache and bad day.

C.S. Lewis nailed it when he said that people make "two equal and opposite errors" when it comes to demons. Either they don't believe they exist at all, or they become unhealthily fascinated by them. It's like Lewis said in the preface to The Screwtape Letters – demons "hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight." The devil's equally happy if you don't believe in him or if you're obsessed with him. In fact, I was watching a documentary recently about the effect that horror movies have had on pop culture, and it was fascinating to see how Hollywood has shaped how we think about spiritual warfare. People were lining up to see these films – not really for any sort of spiritual aspect, but for the thrill and shock value. Meanwhile, many modern churches barely mention the spiritual realm at all, as if that part of Scripture was just something we hide away in the closet and don’t talk about. Well, both approaches miss the balanced biblical view.

Context

So, let's set the scene here. This story happens right after Jesus calmed that crazy storm in Mark 4. Remember that? The disciples are freaking out in the boat during this massive storm, Jesus stands up and says "Peace, be still!" and everything goes quiet. And they're like, "Who IS this guy? Even the wind and waves obey him!" Well, now in chapter 5, we're about to get another answer to that question from a really unlikely source – a legion of demons. Jesus and the disciples have crossed the Sea of Galilee and landed on the eastern shore in what Mark calls "the country of the Gerasenes."

This area is Gentile territory – a region known as the Decapolis or "Ten Cities" – and for Jewish people like Jesus and His disciples, this was considered ritually unclean. They've gone from Jewish territory to a foreign land with different customs, different gods, and different values. It's a place with tombs (which were ritually unclean for Jews) and even pig farms (also unclean animals according to Jewish law). Jesus has deliberately sailed into what any religious Jew would consider contaminated territory. It's like He's crossing a boundary that most religious folks wouldn't touch. And that's where this dramatic showdown is about to happen.

Big Idea

Here's the central truth I want you to grasp today: No one is beyond the transforming power of Jesus Christ. And as we walk through this story, we’re going to be following four movements:

the desperate condition of the possessed man,

the powerful confrontation between Jesus and the demons,

the fearful reaction of the local people,

and finally, the transformed mission of the delivered man.

I. The Desperate Condition: A Man Bound by Evil (Mark 5:1-5)

Living Among the Dead (v.2-3)

Read with me in Mark 5:1-3:

“They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain,”

— Mark 5:1-3 (ESV)

Let's start by getting our bearings. Where exactly is this "country of the Gerasenes"?

Jesus and His disciples have just crossed from the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, likely from the Capernaum area where He was staying in teaching, as we learn in Mark 1, 2, and 4 - to the eastern shore. This is Gentile territory – part of what was known as the Decapolis or "Ten Cities" region. It's significant that Jesus deliberately sailed into what any religious Jew would consider contaminated territory – a land of Gentiles, tombs, and as we'll see later, even pig farms.

As soon as Jesus steps ashore, "immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit" (v.2). This detail is significant - this man didn't live among the living but had made his home in the tombs, among the decaying dead.

For Jewish readers, this would immediately signal extreme ritual impurity. According to Numbers 19:16, touching a grave or a corpse made one ceremonially unclean. The tombs in this region were likely cave-like chambers cut into rock outside the city limits. This image is from outside Jericho, but I wanted to show yo to get an idea of the kinds of tombs we’re talking about here.