Deviled Ham Series

Deviled ham Mark 5:1-20

Every night for years this lady thought she heard a burglar downstairs and she would get her husband out of bed at least once a week to go down stairs and make sure everything was alright. Sure enough, one day she thought she heard something and she told her husband to get up and go check it out. He got up and went down like he had done a thousand times before but this time he was shocked; because when he got there he found himself staring down the barrel of a gun.

The burglar said, “Don’t make a sound, just give me your wallet and no one gets hurt. He gave him his wallet and as the burglar turned to leave the man said, “Hey, wait a minute. You can’t leave yet,” he said, “You’ve gotta come upstairs and meet my wife. She has been expecting you for 30 years.”

“And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. 2 And when He was come out of the ship, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, 3 who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: 4 because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him.

5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones. 6 But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him, 7 and cried with a loud voice, and said, what have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the Most High God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.

8 For He said unto him, come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. 9 And He asked him, what is thy name? And he answered, saying, my name is Legion: for we are many. 10 And he besought Him much that He would not send them away out of the country.

11 Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding. 12 And all the devils besought him, saying, send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.

13 And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea.

14 And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done. 15 And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.

16 And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine. 17 And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts. 18 And when He was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed Him that he might be with Him.

19 Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, “go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.” 20 And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel.”

A while back I spoke about Jesus encounter with the man who was known as the rich young ruler and even though we refer to him as rich most of us tend to think of him as being rather well-to-do but I think he was much more than that.

Did you know that in the United States, 4.6% of the population are millionaires and that means they own at least a million dollars and we’re also told that the average millionaire drives a Ford 150 pick-up truck.

These people might have made their money through investing or running a small business or even inherited their money but even though they’re worth a million dollars they’re still not considered rich. After all, the average house in the city of Toronto according to the Globe and Mail is worth one million and forty dollars. So, being a millionaire isn’t what it used to be.

When we talk about rich people today, we’re referring to the super-rich and these are people who own several homes and multiple vehicles and probably even yachts and planes. According to Forbes Financial Magazine there are 1826 billionaires in the world today. 1,191 of these people are self-made, while just 230 of them have inherited their wealth.