“He’s Amazing! Even Little Piggy Went Swimming!”
Mark 5:1-20
When our sons were little I had a routine I often went through when they were barefoot. Starting with the big toe I would recite the “This little piggy went to market, this little piggy stayed home, this little piggy had roast beef, this little piggy had none. And this little piggy went ‘Wee, wee, wee all the way home.” That, of course, was the cue to mercilessly tickle the bottom of their foot. I never understood the verse but it didn’t stop us from having some fun.
I can’t help but wonder if Jesus, or the townspeople, made up this little ditty as the herd of pigs went “Wee, wee, wee” all the way into water. Whether or not they did, Jesus did not take hold of a toe; rather He took hold of a life. The prelude for this amazing story is Chapter 4 where the disciples cross into Gentile territory so they can rest. But before they arrive they experience a storm of nature at sea. Now, in Chapter 5, Mark points to a storm inside an individual. Mark wrote his Gospel with a Gentile audience in mind and these incidents were chosen to help prove that Jesus was the Messiah, the Lord. So let’s enter into the the action by viewing this passage as a three act play.
The first act, verses 1-5, is entitled THE EXISTENCE OF DEMONIC INFLUENCE. Onto the stage comes a wild man, who had been wild for a long time. Everyone knew he was filled with an unclean and evil spirit; he was subject to demonic influence. He was so wild that he lived among the tombs – the place of the dead – and wore no clothes. The sight and sounds of him were so disturbing that no one could really stand to be near him. They could not help him and he could not help himself. He was a man against himself. His humanity was gravely distorted.
The Bible has no qualms about the existence of the demonic. The biblical writers understood that since Jesus became flesh and lived as a human, the devil also desired to get into flesh – so he seeks to influence people’s minds, hearts, and wills. And most of us have no problem with this view - at least for those times and those days. But where is the relevance for today? Where does this touch our lives? Does demonic influence exist today?
The answer is an unequivocal “Yes!” We are all too familiar with distorted humanity. At its core demonic influence produces A FEELING OF BEING POSSESSED AND INFLUENCED by superhuman powers. They impact us physically, spiritually, psychologically, emotionally, and attitudinally. They torment and disturb the divine likeness in which we were created. The apostle Paul wrote that we battle against “the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” These FORCES AND POWERS SEPARATE US FROM GOD.
C. S. Lewis came to this realization prior to his conversion to Christ. He thought he was a happy, reasonably good pagan, but the Spirit of God shoed him something different: “For the first time I examined myself with a seriously practical purpose. And there I found what appalled me: a zoo of lusts, a bedlam of ambitions, a nursery of fears, a harem of fondled hatreds. My name was Legion.” Dr. Lloyd Ogilvie, in a sermon on this passage, asked some penetrating questions. (1) Are you ever haunted by the memory of previous failures or mistakes? Does your mind ever drift back to memories which hurt or cause remorse? Do you ever have feelings of self-incrimination? Do you ever feel that you should punish yourself for not having done something, or for having done something? Do people’s reactions or attitudes to you ever throw you into an anxiety reaction about your capabilities or adequacy? Do the rejections of people ever confirm your own feelings of doubt about yourself? Have you ever felt like resigning from the human race, that people and groups would be better off without you? Do you ever feel alienated from yourself? Do you ever experience longings, desires, appetites, ambitions, conflicting loyalties, fantasies, illusions of grandeur – the desire to be someone else? Does life seem to pull you in a multiplicity of directions so you lose touch with yourself?
As Dr. Ogilive then points out, we are all troubled by Legion’s symptoms to some degree. There are numberless appetites, desires, frustrations, fears, angers, hatreds, loyalties, dreams, and aspirations in us that we cannot understand. We want to be loving, but are often envious and spiteful. We want to be caring, but are carless. We want to serve Christ, but have other priorities. We are fragmented, not whole. It’s Paul in Romans 7 again – what we want to do, we don’t do and what we don’t want to do, we do. All of this is the influence of evil.
And when allowed to go unchecked, this influence RESULTS IN DESTRUCTIVE BEHAVIORS AND SITUATIONS. It leads to things such as immorality where anything goes and “if it feels good, do it”, to a vast array addictions, to brutality and abuse, to self-mutilation, to self-hatred, to suicide, and to a desire for isolation and withdrawal from society. The demonic influence exerts itself into any thought, feeling, or action that can potentially transform and destroy our divine dignity. We can find ourselves in this wild man, Legion. So where is our hope? What can hold our lives together? So Act One ends.
Now Act Two (verses 6-16), titled AN ENCOUNTER WITH JESUS CHRIST. Here we view the action from the perspective of the demons and the possessed man. Verse 8 tells us Jesus has ordered the evil spirit to come out of the man. The demons immediately recognize Jesus –the man ran to him and fell on his knees. NOTICE THAT THE DEMONS FEAR JESUS. “Swear to God that you will not torture me.” The tormentors fear being tormented. Next to Jesus they are impotent; they tremble and are worried about punishment. So they request release from the man.
They offer a solution – they ask to be released to go into the pigs. But as Stephen Shoemaker pointed out, (2) this approach has the opposite affect from that of Br’r Rabbit in The Briar Patch. Br’r Rabbit tricked Br’r Bear and Br’r Fox when they caught him. He begged “Please don’t’ throw me in the briar patch. Do anything, but don’t throw me in the briar patch.” So they toss him there and he scampers away merrily as he looks back and says, “I was born and bred in a briar patch.” Perhaps the demons thought a change of residence would save them. But instead they learned that THEY CANNOT WIN AGAINST JESUS. Even a change of residence cannot save them. As soon as they got into the pigs, the little piggys went swimming; 2,000 pigs rushed down the steep bank and into the lake and were drowned. The man was free. Jesus had won. He’s amazing!
So the spotlight turns now to the man. LEGION IS A NEW MAN. When Jesus had asked him his name he had responded by identifying with the demons within him. He couldn’t identify himself apart from them. Apart from Jesus he had no personhood or identity. Legion needs a new name. Perhaps now his name was One. The center of his life was Jesus. When Jesus is not the One possessing and influencing us, we will have a legion of forces vying for control. But when Jesus is the center, we are one with Him and at peace with ourselves. As Paul later wrote (Col. 1:15-17) “Christ is exactly like God, who cannot be seen. He is the first-born Son, superior to all creation. Everything was created by him, everything in heaven and on earth, everything seen and unseen, including all forces and powers, and all rulers and authorities. All things were created by God's Son, and everything was made for him. God's Son was before all else, and by him everything is held together.” ALL THINGS HOLD TOGETHER IN JESUS. Without Jesus everything would fly apart. He is the glue, the magnet, the center of gravity. In Acts Paul preaches that “In Christ we live and move and have our being.” The circumstances of our lives are like the spokes of a wheel, while Christ is the Sprocket which holds them all together. He’s amazing!
I still remember the suppertime. We were having spaghetti – and what’s spaghetti without adding Parmesan Cheese. As you know Parmesan, once refrigerated, tends to clump together. So I took the jar of Parmesan, and in dramatic fashion, held it in front of my face and began to shake it violently. The clumps started to blow apart – unfortunately the lid was loose and the now busted clumps flew into my face and hair. Lots of laughter ensued, but without the lid…what a mess! Just like life – without Jesus, what a mess. Jesus keeps the lid on and holds everything in its place. As someone once said, “If Christ as Lord is the center of our lives, the circumference will take care of itself.”
John Greenleaf Whittier penned these familiar, appropriate words, which form an appropriate prayer for us:
Dear Lord and Father of mankind, Forgive our foolish ways;
Reclothe us in our rightful mind, In purer lives Thy service find,
In deeper reverence, praise.
Drop Thy still dews of quietness, Till all our strivings cease;
Take from our souls the strain and stress, And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of Thy peace.
Breathe through the heats of our desire
Thy coolness and Thy balm; Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire;
Speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire,
O still, small voice of calm.
Praying these words will not mean the struggles and battles will be over; but it does mean the demonic influence which seeks to take over and separate us from God will be driven away rather than be given control. As the apostle John wrote (1 Jn. 4:4), “…the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” How would your life change if you truly lived with the principle that all things hold together in Jesus, that the Spirit in you is greater than the sprit in the world? What do you need to bring to Jesus; what do you want Him to drive out? Act Two ends.
Now we come to Act Three, THE EXPERIENCE OF PEOPLE (17-20). First, check out THE TOWNSPEOPLE. They asked – no, make that they pleaded with Jesus to leave their region! Why? How could they do such a thing? They did not want Him to stay around. They couldn’t handle His authority and power. SOMETIMES IT’S SIMPLY EASIER TO STAY THE WAY WE ARE. We’re comfortable with life as it is; it may not be perfect, but it’s livable; it may be fragmented but it’s familiar. As William Self (3) wrote, “The plain fact is that Christ is a kind of plague to the human race. There is something in all of us that cries out at times: ‘What a relief it would be if I could just go ahead and live without having that Figure rise before my vision! Why can’t he leave me alone?’ We are tormented partly because His presence makes us fully aware of our misery and bondage and partly because it threatens to take away from us those ills and obsessions that we cling to as our very selves.”
Of course, that means we let the demonic influences define the way we live, determine what’s normal, correct, and acceptable. We have simply learned to live with its presence. The cost of having Jesus around is just too high – after all, the little piggys went swimming and the entire herd is lost. Now someone has to pay. We’d rather have a few crazies around than give up something dear to us. The Gerasenes would have received Jesus warmly if he had just let them be and affirmed them. But that’s not what Jesus does. Jesus wants to save us from ourselves. He’s amazing!
Now the spotlight shifts to THE NEW MAN. He’s now so possessed by Jesus that he wants to follow Jesus as he travels. But Jesus responds, “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” THE TASK OF THOSE WHO ARE SAVED IS RESCUING POTENTIAL DEMONIACS. If we want to rid help people get rid of demonic influences, we can. And the primary way to do so is to go home and tell. Then watch the piggys go swimming! Telling about and sharing Jesus’ impact upon our lives changes hearts, which changes people.
So we are to tell our stories of what God has done for us In Jesus. I used to think that my life was so undramatic that I really had no story to tell. Oh, I knew I was baptized, saved, and had made my profession of faith. But I also knew my life was nothing special. However, I eventually realized that this is precisely why grace is important; IT’S GOD’S GRACE IN JESUS THAT MAKES MY LIFE SPECIAL – it’s God grace that makes your life special. Think of the last time you looked through a Kaleidoscope; it is made up of nothing but broken pieces of glass, yet when the light breaks through those pieces form the most beautiful designs imaginable. It’s as if the light holds it together and makes something out of nothing, brings beauty out of ugliness, wholeness out of brokenness. So Jesus holds our lives together, fits the pieces into his picture, makes something out of nothing, brings beauty out of ugliness, and wholeness out of brokenness. He’s amazing.
You have what it takes to tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love. You have your beauty and you have the Gospel, which is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. So to share your story is to share the power of God for salvation. This new man, now One, went and told. And everywhere he went people were saved. So to whom will you go? Where is your ‘home?’ With whom will you share? You have what it takes – if Jesus is the center of your life. Just speak His name as you tell His story and watch the piggys and the demons run and drown! Jesus is amazing! If Jesus is not the center of your life, I invite you this morning to change that. Tell Jesus you want Him at the center, that you want Him to drive away all that separates you from Him. Call on the name of Jesus and watch the piggys and the demons run and drown! And you will be amazed! After all, Jesus is amazing! Even little piggy went swimming!
(1)Dr. Lloyd Ogilvie, Life Without Limits, © 1975 by Word, Incorporated, Waco, Texas, pg. 92-93
(2)Stephen Shoemaker, in a sermon entitled One, printed in Pulpit Digest, Ian/Feb. 1996
(3)William L. Self, in a sermon entitled What have You to Do With Me”, Preaching, September/October 1995
