MARK 5:1-20
THE LORD OVER DEMONS
I. THE ACCURSED: * Mark 5:1-6
A. His Abode 5:2
B. His Actions 5:3-5
C. His Adoration 5:6
II. THE ANARCHY: ** Mark 5:7-13
A. The Anomaly 5:7-11
B. The Appeal 5:12
C. The Acquiescence 5:13
III. THE AFTERMATH: Mark 5:14-20
A. The Alarm 5:14-16
B. The Assembly 5:17
C. The Announcer 5:18-20
Chapter five naturally follows the previous chapter where Jesus and His followers were involved in a storm on the lake. According to Hobbs, Jesus and the rest arrived at the other shore in the dark. Once they disembarked, they were greeted by a most unusual welcoming committee: a maniac. One can only imagine the sense of dread that must have griped the new arrivals as the sun was setting and this demon filled man came out of the tombs to talk with Jesus. However, what no one knew-except Christ-was that this poor soul was about to undergo a life changing event and He would never be the same after he met Jesus.
I see three things about this passage of Mark. The first thing I note is THE ACCURSED. Next, I note THE ANARCHY that developed in the presence of the Master. Then, I note THE AFTERMATH of the whole affair.
* THE ACCURSED: I note the greeting party of “one” that came to meet Jesus that night time, when He landed on the “other shore.” The man was a maniac and lived among the tombs. It must have been an eerie sight and sound when he came out of the background to welcome Jesus and His party to the shores of the Gadarenes.
The first thing I note is where the man lived, His Abode, and how he lived. He lived in the cemetery and he lived “alone” with himself and his demons. He was not welcome to the city and was excommunicated to live out by himself. The people were afraid of him and they banished him from their midst. One can only imagine what he must have felt with suffering the curse of both worlds: the neither world where demons run amuck and the present world in which he lived. It can be safely assumed that he did not want to have the demons living in him and he wanted to live with his family, friends and neighbors-he could not have any of his wants met until he met Jesus.
I then note His Actions of this poor man. The Bible says that he was able to break chains/manacles that would normally hold any man. According to the Greek, he was able to break both arm chains and the manacles which held his feet together. No metal was too strong for him or for the demons which inhabited his body. He also cut himself with rocks and items, hence, self-inflicting pain on his body. He must have looked every bit the wild man that Mark portrayed him to be. It was no wonder that the people were afraid of him. He was to be pitied yet, no one would take up his cause.
There must have been times when in a more lucid state of being, when the demons would grant him a small reprieve, he would think of the people in the village, his family, his mother, his yester years and cry, but then the demons would raise and fill him full of rage and the screams that emanated from him were those of a distraught man that was simply giving vent and voice to a lost and cursed world of hell itself. Yet, this was all to change as the Stranger and His disciples steeped out of the boat that one evening so long ago.
I note what he did when he saw Jesus, he came, fell at His feet, and gave Him His Adoration. There was something about this visiting Man that convinced the lunatic that He would not hurt him and this crazy man recognized Jesus as his Saviour-that is more than many do who have their full faculties with them. He immediately, came to meet the Master and worshiped Him. He might have been judged insane by his contemporaries, but he knew Help when he saw it.
** THE ANARCHY: I now note that something is amiss. The man comes to Jesus for help yet at the same time, something is wrong. He wants to worship Jesus but there is a fight going on inside of him. An Anarchy is now unfolding before the eyes of the visitors who stare hopelessly at the man and at Jesus.
First is The Anomaly of this Anarchy. While the man kneels in the presence of Jesus, the demons strive to get far away from the Master. The convoluted scene is now the focus of all who are watching. On the outside the maniac kneels seeking help and giving adoration to Jesus; on the other hand, the demons are struggling to abuse the man and tremble in the presence of Jesus.
I then note The Appeal of the demons as Jesus begins to talk to them-not the man. First, the main demon speaks and gives his name, “Legion” because there were many. In the Roman world, a Legion of soldiers was one thousand troops. There could have been that many in this one man. There is also something else here that is of a cosmic nature. There is a Legion of the demons ready to battle with only one Man. This is a fierce battle between God and the demons who had rejected His Lordship eons ago. Regardless of how many inhabited the poor individual, there were more than one.
Then a strange request is made by the demons. They knew that Jesus had power over them and they acknowledged this by asking Him not to send them to their place before their time. They know they are headed for the Lake of Fire; they do not live in Hell now; they abide here on earth and they begged Jesus to not send them to their final destiny before their time. In this request, they acknowledge the Lordship of God’s decree and they recognize their final doom. Yet, they beg that Jesus would allow them to live on the Earth for the time being. They dread their final abode-sad to say, but millions of sinners do not fear what their final abode will be, lost in Hell for ever, without God. These demons dread their final assignment but sinful man does not.
In response to their plea, I see The Acquiescence of Jesus to their request and sent them to the swine nearby. As a result of this action, the pigs drowned themselves. This proves that only humans can be host to demons and not animals. Only the beings that have a soul-man-can be inhabited by demons and not non-soul possessing creatures. With this strange encounter from some other place and event, the hogs ran violently down the cliff and ended their lives. Evidently, the hogs have more sense than humans.
These demons were trying to kill this poor man and did not succeed, but they did kill the hogs. This has caused some consternation among people, but it is important to see that the miracle Jesus just did was a visual lesson of the best kind. There was no way anyone could debate the deliverance of this man and the death of the hogs. Try as some modern people might to debase this miracle and to find fault with the lost of livestock on which the Gentiles depended, the facts are that Jesus valued the life and the soul of one man over the heard of swine nearby.
*** THE AFTERMATH: The story, though filled with sadness and many twists, ends with a good note.
First, the herders who were tending the herd of swine saw what had happened and they knew that Jesus was involved in this. They had to be close enough to see that Jesus was talking to the insane man and then suddenly he was no longer himself and at the same time, the pigs went crazy. They might not have know what all the connections were but they knew that there was a connection and they hurried into town to tell the owners of the pigs and all who would listen what had happened. The Alarm of the local people was astounding. They were certainly besides themselves with the loss of the herd of swine and the restoration of the demon possessed.
The news they carried into town spread quickly and soon The Assembly of the town’s people came out to tell Jesus to leave. That has been the case with God’s children ever since that time. Preachers, missionaries, church workers, and Christian helpers have given much and did great things among so many yet, they have often been ask to leave their place of endeavor and go someplace else. The student is not above his Master. The town people wanted neither the demon possessed man nor the divine Son of God.
Seeing the town people come out to talk with Jesus and then ask Him to leave them, the healed man now wanted to go with Jesus. He knew the town people and he knew how they acted and he wanted to get away from them. Yet, Jesus told him to stay, preach the good news and be The Announcer for him in the village. He would be the best spokesperson about the saving/healing power of Jesus that ever could witness to such heartless people. It was hard for him to obey, but he did and he proved to be a voice that shouted the praises of God for the rest of his life.
Like Jonah of old who would rather go some other place than to Nineveh, this now healed man would have loved to go with Jesus and not back home. He knew it would be hard to live among them again and to proclaim the good news about Jesus, yet he complied.
Sometimes we ministers, preachers, pastors would like to go labor someplace else but the Master sends us back to where we can be the best witness for Him. Sometimes the people refuse to heed the gospel message, sometimes church people ostracize the spokesperson of God and the faithful servant wants to leave, but Jesus knows best and says, “Stay and Preach.” Sometimes the weary pastor casts his eyes on the big churches, the fine salary of other locales, the better financial package offered by other churches, the better parsonage, the greater esteem that greets ministers in other cities, etc, and the desire is that it would be better to serve Jesus, “over there” or in a much better locale, but in His wisdom, Jesus says, “Go back and preach again for Me.” Like this demon delivered preacher, we need to obey the voice of our leader and trust Him that He knows what is best. In the end, we will see His omniscient wisdom and say, it was for our best that we obeyed Him.
The scene opens with the lunatic being crazy and the town people being sane. The scene closes with the lunatic in his right mind, cured /whole and the town people losing their minds and becoming obsessed with their fears. One was liberated from his fears and the other group was held captive by its fear. One was set free from the chains of darkness while the town was held by its change of darkness.
When Jesus comes to our shores-let us make sure that we greet Him and welcome Him, then go and serve Him wherever that place might be. In so doing, we will always be liberated and Satan and his demons will never gain a foothold in the doorway of our heats and then move in to control us.
