“Transformed”
Mark 5:1-20
Jesus and His disciples got in a boat and crossed the lake to the region of the Gerasenes.
In doing this, Jesus was taking His ministry into non-Jewish or Gentile territory.
The biggest clue to this is that the people raised pigs and Jews wouldn’t have had anything to do with pigs—pigs were “unclean.”
And Non-Jews were considered to be “unclean” according to Jewish laws as well.
“Unclean” means to be “morally impure or evil.”
And anyone who comes in contact with the morally impure or evil, becomes “unclean.”
So, the Gentiles were considered to be “unclean,” pigs were “unclean” and so were graveyards.
They were considered to be places of contamination.
For a Jew, contact with the dead or graves made you “unclean.”
So, this poor guy who rushes out to meet Jesus is about as “unclean” as you can get.
Driven by a legion of demons the man seems hardly human anymore.
He had lost his identity.
In the eyes of the townspeople and the man’s family—he was basically an animal.
He was completely out of his mind, dangerous and violent.
The New International Version of the Bible says that “he would cry out and cut himself with stones.”
Some versions say “he was always howling and bruising himself with stones.”
That makes me think of a werewolf or something, not a human being.
But, but he was a human being.
He was created in the image of God.
He was a person of sacred worth.
He was a person loved and pursued by God.
But his life was essentially out of his control.
And perhaps one of the most heartbreaking verses in Scripture comes when He responds to Jesus’ question about his name…
…because he had no name…
…or, more accurately, he says that his name is “Legion,” that is, “a multitude.”
He was oppressed by too many demons to count; he had lost himself in the racket of their insane voices and had stopped being a self, an individual, a person.
This miserable man is truly the ultimate outcast.
He is homeless, even among his own people.
And, sadly, he is not unlike many of our homeless people today who wander the urban wastelands of our bridge abutments, alleys and woods.
According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 20 to 25% of the homeless population in the United States suffers from some form of severe mental illness.
Serious mental illnesses disrupt people’s ability to carry out basic but essential aspects of daily life, such as self-care, household management and keeping down a job.
Mental illnesses may also stop people from forming and maintaining stable relationships or cause people to misinterpret others’ guidance and react irrationally.
This often results in pushing away caregivers, family, and friends who may be the force keeping that person from becoming homeless.
And, of course, homeless people are at a much greater risk of being victims of assault, rape and murder.
And the homeless are in a sense considered “unclean” and unwelcome in most places.
Chattanooga has its Garasenes.
They are our neighbors.
And Jesus calls us to love our neighbors.
But of course, not all Garasenes are homeless.
They might be a suicidal teenager or adult.
They may be a depressed mother living within walking distance of this church building or the alcoholic father trying to self-medicate his demons, only to find himself in deeper and deeper trouble.
Or, the Garasenes may be you; they may be me.
What is the controlling factor in our lives?
Is it Jesus or is it something else: our addictions, our selfishness, our money or our desire for it?
What controls us?
What ultimately leads us to places of extreme loneliness and despair?
What is our identity; where does it come from?
What names and claims control us?
It is said that whenever Martin Luther felt oppressed by the devil, he would take courage in shouting, “I am baptized!”
In this way, he grounded his confidence, his identity, his sanity in the loving salvation offered him through Jesus Christ the Lord.
When I became a teenager, I sort of lost my way and I felt very lost.
I had allowed my identity to become that of a scared, rebellious teenage heavy metal fanatic.
When I was a freshman in college I took a public speaking course.
For our first speech we were asked to compare and contrast two different things.
I brought a boom-box to class that day along with a bunch of cassette tapes, and I proceeded to compare and contrast—for the class—what was, in my opinion, good heavy metal music versus not so good heavy metal music.
For our second speech we were told to give a speech, in first person, about our hero.
So, I came to school with my face painted like Gene Simmons of Kiss and gave my speech.
In-between our second and third speeches something radical had happened in my life.
I’ll never forget the looks on the faces of my fellow students—their jaws dropped to the floor--as I gave my third speech telling them that I had recently given my life to Jesus Christ, and then went on to explain the Gospel the best way I knew how.
My identity had changed.
My life had been transformed.
And although there would be many trials and tribulations, mountains and valleys—my life has never been the same since.
We are told, in our Scripture Lesson for this morning that the man who lived in in the tombs in the region of the Gerasenes couldn’t even be bound with a chain nor with irons on his feet.
No one was strong enough to control him.
He was totally lost, totally out of control.
And then Jesus came along.
And the demon-possessed man shouted at the top of his voice: “What do you want with me?”
And Jesus said, “Come out of this man you evil spirit!”
And when the demons left the man the townsfolk found him sitting with Jesus, dressed and in his right mind…”
Is there anything more beautiful than that?
He was with Jesus, dressed and in his right mind.
The people in the town, including the previously demon-possessed man himself, had long ago given up even attempting to see a human being beneath all his bizarre demonic behavior.
But Jesus never lost sight of him.
Sometimes, I think, that underneath the rough exterior of the most scary looking folks—is a hurting, frightened, broken human being who just needs someone to love them in order for them to blossom, grow and regain their sense of integrity, their identity, their self-worth.
And once that begins to happen, anything is possible.
And Jesus knows that.
And so, Jesus pursues us.
And Jesus loves us, no matter who we are or where we come from or what we look like.
The man, having been miraculously transformed by the love, the grace and the power of Christ begs to follow Jesus.
And who can blame him?
Here in his native land he has been, literally, no one.
What reason was there for him to stay?
Jesus had become all the world to him.
Yet, while Jesus regularly invites persons to “Come, follow me,” this time He would not let him come with Him.
Instead, He said, “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”
And so, we are told that “the man went away and began to tell the people in the region “how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.”
Their jaws dropped to the floor, so to speak.
He becomes a very successful missionary to the surrounding Greek cities.
Why do I say this?
Well, remember the story of the feeding of the 5,000?
This happened in Galilee—in Jewish territory.
It’s recorded in all 4 Gospels.
And in Mark it occurs in Chapter 6.
But in Mark Chapter 8, there is another mass feeding.
It’s called the Feeding of the 4,000.
And it happens when Jesus later returns to the Decapolis, the Gentile territory where he left the former demon-possessed man.
4,000 people showed up to hear Jesus, a Jew, in Gentile territory of all places.
Where did these 4,000 people come from?
Could it be that they have come because this formerly demon possessed man has been preaching, wandering about, and telling people what Jesus has done for him?
And word has spread?
And therefore, Gentile fields are ripe for the Harvest?
Could it be?
I think so.
And so, the ultimate outcast has been transformed into the ultimate evangelist.
The people of the Garasenes had pleaded with Jesus to leave their region.
But a seed had been planted.
Now it is time for the formerly demon-possessed man to live-into his new identity by doing the work of God.
And the same goes for us.
There are so many folks in our community living like dead people, howling in the hills, so to speak, and cutting themselves on the stones.
There are so many people, young and old, searching for an identity, for something to live for, something to believe in, someone to love them, something to become.
Maybe you are one of “those people” this morning.
Have you lost your way?
Are you searching for your identity?
Jesus shows us compassion by believing always in what we can become.
What will we become as we seek to be Christ to our community?
What will we become as we work to get this Food Pantry off the ground?
What will we become as we reach out and serve, with love and humility, the Garasenes of our community?
What transformations will take place in our lives, as a community and as a Church as we allow Jesus to drive out our demons, showing us compassion by believing in what we can become?
For the man of the Garasenes, his healing continued and his transformation became more and more complete as he told others through words and especially actions “how much God had done for him.”
May this be so, as well, for you and for me.
Amen.
