Introduction
A story of Power
We left off last time right in the middle of this epic confrontation between Jesus and Legion—this man with thousands of demons in him. The confrontation was epic, but the battle itself was anything but epic. It only lasted about one second, and the demons were sent off screaming for mercy as usual. This section of Mark is all about the power of Christ’s word, and Jesus does four miracles to show that power. The first one was the calming of the storm with a word. That one showed the power of Christ’s word over nature. Now this second one shows the power of Christ’s word over evil. Jesus drives out a legion of demons.
Mark 5:13 … the unclean spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.
That may have been the mightiest display of power so far in the gospel. It was awesome.
A Story of Mercy
So, is this a story about Christ’s power? Absolutely. But after v.13 the demons are gone, and yet the story’s not over. The focus now shifts from the demons to the man. Why? Because this isn’t just a story about power. It’s a story about mercy. That’s how Jesus saw it. Look at Jesus’ take on the whole event down there in v.19:
19 "Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you."
That’s interesting. He didn’t say, “Go and tell the story of how I conquered the forces of darkness.” He said, “Go tell the story of how I showed mercy.” So it’s about mercy. What is mercy? Here’s a definition: Mercy is the goodness and kindness of God expressed toward those in misery or distress. If you’re nice to someone, that’s kindness. If you’re nice to someone who’s in trouble, that’s mercy. Mercy relieves misery.
Mighty Mercy
So this passage is about two attributes of Christ—his power and his mercy. And that’s a beautiful combination of God’s attributes, because mercy is useless if it isn’t backed up with power, and power is deadly if it isn’t controlled by mercy. If you have someone who is mighty but not merciful, he will hurt you. And if you have someone who is merciful but not powerful, he will want to help you, but he won’t be able to. What good would it be if Jesus felt really sorry for this guy, but couldn’t do anything to help him? But Jesus has infinite mercy and omnipotent power to show that mercy. So I’ve titled this message, “Mighty Mercy.”
Before: Supreme Misery
Now, if mercy is helping someone in misery, then if Jesus really wants to put the extremes of his mercy on display, he needs to find someone who is really, really miserable, right? And I think this guy qualifies. He might win the prize as the most miserable person ever. We can think of his misery under three headings.
1) Wild
2)
First, he was wild. He had completely lost control of himself.
2 When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an unclean spirit came from the tombs to meet him.
When it says with an unclean spirit, that means the demon had control of him—even to the point where the demon speaks out of this guy’s mouth and forces him to harm himself.
5 Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.
And not only could he not control himself; he couldn’t even be restrained by others.
3 This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain. 4 For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him.
Literally, no one was strong enough to tame him. Normally we talk about taming a wild animal, not a human being. But this guy is worse than a wild animal, because wild animals can at least be tamed. No one could control him and he couldn’t control himself because he was under the control of the demons, who were tormenting him. You read stories about people like Richard Wurmbrand, who was tortured in unspeakable ways by the communists in Romania on a constant, daily basis for 14 years. I’ve read his book, and I can’t even imagine going through what he went through for a day, much less 14 years. But even worse than being tortured by communist prison guards would be to be tortured by demons, who can not only hurt your body, but who can also bring unthinkable terrors into your mind.
He cut himself with stones. I’ve known people who cut themselves, but not with stones. They use sharp blades that make clean cuts in a controlled setting. Gouging your flesh with stones is another level. That’s just mutilation. And his wounds would have gone unattended. Beings that hated him were in full control of him.
3) Disgrace
4)
The second category was disgrace. The demons had him running around naked, so not only was he exposed to the elements, but was in complete, utter humiliation. Everyone hates him. They consider him a monster, which he was. They treated him like an animal because he basically was an animal. He’s screeching like a wild animal, and living in caves like an animal, going without clothes like an animal. These demons had destroyed his humanity.
5) Insanity
6)
The third category was insanity.
In the Talmud there is a 4-part test for insanity, and this guy fulfills all four. Insanity is when a person is detached from reality. You see things that aren’t there, you hear things that aren’t there, the world you’re operating in and the real world are two different things.
It’s a horrible thing to not have control of your body. Even worse to not have control of your mind. And worse yet to have demons in control of both. His body was a mass of lacerations, infections, scar tissue, scabs—his mind in a delirium of constant pain and insanity, his existence was an unbearable agony. If Jesus is looking for a supremely miserable human being, he found one.
After: Peace, Dignity, and Sanity
Imagine what it was like for this man. Put yourself in his shoes (or in his bare feet). You wish you could die, but they keep you alive so they can go on torturing you. Every time you move, it hurts. And when the demons make you violent, the pain is blinding.
Beyond that, you’re in a state of constant fear. Thousands of demon voices are inside your head. You just want to scream at them and tell them, “Be quiet! Just stop!” I heard about a mass murderer who was caught, and when they searched his apartment, all the drains and the toilet were filled with cement. And another man who had been delivered from demons heard about that in the news and said, “I know why he did that. For me, the demons would always talk to me through the drains.” So he would do anything to shut them up. But there was nothing this man could do. Thousands of demons were inside him. So you can imagine, just wishing you could have 10 seconds of relief. Just 10 seconds of peace. But it never comes—not even when you’re asleep. You have night terrors that are just as bad as your daytime terrors.
And one day, as you’re picking through some garbage trying to find something to eat, you see some movement down by the shore. Before you know it, you’re running. Every step when your bloody feet hit the ground is shooting pain, and you know that the violent confrontation with these 13 men is going to rachet up all the pain, but you’re out of control.
But now, suddenly, your face is in the dirt at the feet of one of the men on the shore. And you’re screaming so loud at him that it’s hurting your throat. In the chaos of what’s happening inside you, you can’t really follow what’s being said, but it’s some kind of argument between the spirits in you and this man—who seems to be the leader of the group. And he’s just standing there, calm and poised, and with commanding authority. Then you do finally make out one word, and it’s the word, “Go.” And in that instant, the maddening cacophony in your head goes silent. The feelings of fear and terror—gone. The tumult inside—now perfect peace, just like the wind and the waves hours before.
The storm inside this man was probably more cataclysmic than the one on the lake, and Jesus stills both in an instant, and now this man’s heart is placid as a sea of glass.
What would be going through your mind at that point? You look up into Jesus’ eyes, and for the first time since you can remember, a person is looking at you with something other than revulsion and disgust in his eyes. Instead, there is compassion and mercy—even love.
He extends his hand, you take it, and he helps you to your feet. And you’re amazed—you told your hand to go up and it went up. You told your legs to stand and they did it. You’re in full control of your body! You’re in control of your thoughts—for the first time since you can remember. Now some guy is walking up from behind … what are you…? oh, he’s putting a cloak over my shoulders. Jesus nods at him and says, “Thanks Andrew.” He had run down to the boat and grabbed his extra tunic for you, and he put it on you—he’s treating you with dignity. Like you’re an actual person, not an animal. Now you’re dressed. And now this man who just drove away all the demons with a word begins talking to you. He’s asking questions, and you’re responding, and you’re actually having a conversation!
Before and After
How is that for a before and after picture? When they sell diet programs on TV they always show you the before and after shots. Someone’s all chubby and out of shape, and the next picture they look like a professional athlete. Some of those before and after pictures are more impressive than others; this one Mark gives us has to be the most impressive transformation ever. And it wasn’t 6 months on the program, or 8 weeks, or 8 days. In the before picture, he was a deranged, twisted, maniacal, perverse, pathetic, miserable walking freak show. Now look at the after picture.
15 When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been demonized with the legion, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind.
That’s the “after” picture. In the Greek, it’s described with three participles, and they correspond to those three categories of his misery.
1) Sitting (instead of wild and out of control)
2)
3) Clothed (instead of naked and disgraced)
4)
5) Being in his right mind (instead of insanity and delirium)
6)
This is what it looks like when the mighty mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ meets abject misery. Jesus doesn’t just drive away the evil, he restores what the evil had destroyed.
And Jesus went beyond just restoring the man’s humanity. The word used for sitting with Jesus is the way they described a disciple. He went from being an animal to being a disciple. And not just a disciple. Jesus also made him a preacher.
20 So the man went away and began to preach in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him.
The NIV says “tell,” but the word is “preach.” Jesus made this guy a preacher! I don’t think any church would hire this guy. No seminary degree, only one day of training, terrible reputation—worst resume ever, but Jesus called him to preach anyway. He made him a preacher, and not just a preacher, but also a missionary. It says he preached all over the whole Decapolis, which was a ten-city region in that area.
Our Misery
Pretty dramatic before and after, right? The most extreme example of human wretchedness was no problem for Jesus’ mighty mercy. So what does that mean for you? What does that say about the needs you have in your life for mercy? However messed up you think your life is, your problems are no match for Jesus’ mighty mercy.
But when you think of seeking mercy from Jesus for the misery in your life, don’t just think about physical problems or financial problems. The real misery is spiritual misery. You would be a lot better off to have cancer and a stroke and paralysis and chronic pain in your body than have the effects of sin on your soul.
The Misery of Sin
And let’s talk for a minute about those effects. At the moment of temptation, it always seems like what Satan offers you is better than what God offers. Satan offers immediate satisfaction—whether it be the satisfaction of pleasure, or the satisfaction of revenge or whatever. The reason we cave in to a temptation is because we want something right now. But if you look a little farther in the future, after the momentary enjoyment of sin, what you end up with long-term is horrible. If you want to know where sin leads, just look at this man. That is Satan’s plan for your life. It’s the reason for all temptations; Satan wants you to become more and more like this man. Every temptation you ever face is designed to move you in the direction of misery. That’s where all sin leads—the same 3 categories as this man.
1) Loss of Control
2)
Satan wants to push you in the direction of loss of control, so that your life fills up with anxiety and stress and restlessness.
Psalm 23:1 The Lord is my shepherd … 2 he makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he restores my soul.
That’s God’s desire for you, and so Satan uses sin to push you in the opposite direction. Sin always destroys peace.
3) Disgrace
4)
Secondly, Satan wants to bring you to disgrace. He goes after your dignity and your humanity. He wants to get you to live like an animal—just acting on every impulse or craving or appetite that pops up, instead of being governed by your spirit. Every temptation is designed to move you in the direction of disgrace and away from honor and dignity.
5) Insanity
6)
And thirdly, every temptation is designed to push you in the direction of insanity instead of having a sound mind. Sin always clouds spiritual realities and deceives the mind so you’re not living in the real world. Satan wants you to live in a world where there is no Judgment Day coming. That’s not the real world. He wants you to live in a world where the pleasures of sin are sometimes worth it. That’s not the real world. Satan wants you to live in a world where God isn’t the most important factor. A world where self-esteem is more important than loving God. A world where you can sow to the flesh and not reap destruction. A world where you have the right to withhold forgiveness in some cases even after the person repents. That world is a fantasy world—it doesn’t exist. But if Satan can convince you it exists, he has effectively made you insane even though you seem perfectly lucid and normal to everyone around you. You’re detached from reality, which is what Satan wants, because reality is where God lives.
That’s where all sin leads, and all of us have gone down that path in many ways. So is there any hope for us? It depends on how we respond to Jesus’ mighty mercy.
Don’t Reject Mercy
Well, how does this community respond? Let’s see.
14 Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened.
The hired hands who were tending the herd of pigs go running. They have a sense that what just happened is really big—it’s something everyone needs to know about. So they go running through town and across the countryside like Paul Revere saying, “The demons are gone, the demons are gone! There’s this guy from Israel, and … you won’t believe what he did to crazy Harry!” I don’t know if that’s exactly what they said, but whatever they said, it was enough to get all the people to stop whatever they were doing and go out there to investigate.
14 … the people went out to see what had happened.
They get to the crest of the hillside, and they look down at the water, and the Sea of Galilee looks like one, giant bowl of pig soup. Two thousand floating pig carcasses. But that wasn’t even the most astonishing part. The really amazing part was what happened to crazy Harry. And the point here is that the demented, deranged, dangerous, demonized, madman was now calm, lucid, friendly, well-dressed, just sitting there chatting with Jesus.
When they see that, they want more details. So they ask the eyewitnesses.
16 Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demonized man--and told about the pigs as well.
Now the people have the whole story. So then what do they do? A ticker tape parade? After all, Jesus just solved their worst crime problem. He just delivered them from the greatest threat in their country—a threat they had no power to restrain. So do they hoist Jesus up on their shoulders and carry him through town singing “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow?” and declare this National Jesus Day and make it a holiday? A statue of Jesus in the town square? Or maybe just at least a “thank you”? Or better yet, when they see the transformation of this man, do they cry out for salvation of their souls and plead with Jesus to save them? They do plead with him, but not for salvation.
Mercy Rejected
17 Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.
This is mercy rejected. Why would anybody reject Christ’s mercy? Because with Christ’s mercy comes Christ. And that’s scary. Look at v.15.
Scary Mercy
15 When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been demonized with the legion, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.
They reject him because of fear. What are they afraid of? Well, they just met someone who is orders of magnitude more powerful than the most powerful forces they had ever known. That’s scary. They don’t know this man. He’s unpredictable; he’s definitely uncontrollable. But I think even scarier than all that is this: he is holy. This is a man who manhandles evil. And that’s great when it comes to the maniac’s evil, but what about ours? If Jesus has that much power, and he has a zero tolerance policy regarding evil, what’s going to happen when he goes to work on me and starts tearing into my evil heart? I don’t know if they consciously thought it through that way. They might not have even understood why they were so afraid of him. But sinful mankind has an innate sense of fear of the holy, because deep down we know there is serious evil in our hearts—we are shot through with it. Holiness is like fire and evil is like dry kindling, and so we have to be careful about getting to close to the holy.
Jesus is a light, and it would be great if he shined his light on the darkness in the tombs over there and not on my own darkness, but you can tell by looking at him that he’s not the type to pick and choose which darkness he would shine the light on.
John 3:19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
People are forever complaining about the existence of evil. They use it as an excuse to mock God. “There’s no way a loving, powerful God exists, because otherwise he would not allow all this evil.” But when the Lord provides a solution to the evil in their hearts, they say, “no thanks. Please leave.” It turns out those people aren’t quite as anti-evil as they thought.
People want mercy from God; they want God to help them in their time of trouble and distress, but only physical trouble and distress. Not spiritual uncleanness. “God, get me out of this financial pinch, take away my health problems, fix my hard marriage, take away my temporal troubles, but keep your hands off my heart. Don’t go ripping away evil from inside me, because that will hurt.” So they start to ask Jesus to leave. How does he respond?
Mercy Withdrawn
17 Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region. 18 As Jesus was getting into the boat
Well, that was easy. They just began to say, “Jesus, would you leave?” and he’s already climbing into the boat. It was just like the way Jesus responded to the demons. The demons begged, “Let us go into the pigs.” Jesus says, “Ok,” and they end up in the abyss. Now these people beg Jesus to leave, and the merciful and mighty Son of God leaves their region. Sometimes the harshest punishment God can bring down on us is to answer our prayers. Be careful about holding God at arm’s length. You may turn one day to find he’s…gone.
Take Mercy as it Comes
The word “beg” is used three times in this passage. The demons beg to go into the pigs, the people beg for Jesus to leave, but now there’s one more person who begs for something.
18 As Jesus was getting into the boat the man who had been demonized begged to go with him.
Finally, someone begs for something good! This man isn’t like the others. He can’t be close enough to Jesus. He wants to leave his home, family, everything that is familiar to him. He doesn’t care that Jesus is a Jew, and that he’s headed to that strange land of the Jews—he just wants to be with Jesus. So how does Jesus respond to this guy? The demons begged for what they wanted, Jesus said yes. The people begged Jesus to leave, Jesus said yes. Now this guy begs for what he wants—to be with Jesus.
Hard Mercy
19 Jesus did not let him
Jesus finally said no to something. The one guy who has a good motive for his prayer gets a “no.” And it’s a continuous tense—they guy kept asking. But Jesus could not be persuaded. Why? Because in all three cases the thing that was being requested was something that wouldn’t be good for them. And so Jesus punishes the demons and the people by saying yes, and he blesses this man by saying no. Never second-guess God on his yes’s and no’s. Saying no to this man was yet another expression of Jesus’ mercy.
But it sure didn’t seem best at the time. This guy has to stand there on the shore and watch Jesus sail away. Now here he is, alone, in a place that has just completely rejected Christ. Jesus gives him one of the most difficult tasks known to man—reach a completely unreached people group where there isn’t a single believer. This guy has known Christ for a matter of hours. He has no help, no training, no church, no Bible, no materials, no financial support, and everyone who knows him, hates him.
Take Mercy as Jesus Gives it
Leaving the guy here didn’t feel like mercy, but here’s what we need to understand about Christ’s mercy—it doesn’t always feel like mercy. But reality and how things feel are not always the same. Take Christ’s mercy as he gives it. Never fall into the foolishness of trying to dictate to Jesus what form his mercy should come to you in. He is the Author of mercy, he knows everything, he decides what’s truly merciful and what isn’t.
And in leaving this guy here, Jesus was showing him wonderful mercy in giving him a high calling as a preacher and missionary, and at the same time he was showing mercy to those people, who thought they had gotten rid of Jesus, but they didn’t because Jesus left a powerful missionary behind.
19 but 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." 20 So the man went away and began to preach in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him.
Amazement vs Faith
So how did the people respond to this guy’s preaching?
20 So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.
There’s that response again. Everyone is always amazed at Jesus. But does that mean they were saved? No. No one ever went to heaven because he was amazed at Jesus. No one ever had their sins forgiven because he was amazed at Jesus. Amazement is not the same thing as faith. Amazement raises its eyebrows, and then walks away. Faith bows the knee and obeys, and that’s what we see in this man.
Conclusion
So what does the mighty mercy of Christ mean for you? First, never forget who the source of mercy is—Jesus Christ. Sin leads us into a dark, miserable place. Some of you might be in that place right now. You dabbled in evil and got pulled under, and you’re trapped, enslaved by evil, damaged, your mind isn’t right, you are alienated and alone, isolated, defiled, violated, broken. Satan has taken you quite a distance down the path of destruction. If that’s you, there is a way out. Jesus Christ has the power to pull you out of that darkness, and he’s the only one with that mighty mercy. Don’t look to any other source; just Jesus.
Second, don’t reject his mercy like these people did. Every time we choose to sin, we are choosing the path of misery instead of the path of Christ’s mercy. We are choosing to take some steps down the path of destruction. Every time we choose to sin, we are being like these people and saying to the Lord of mighty mercy, “Please leave.” Learn to treasure his mercy.
His mercy is scary. It might come in forms you didn’t want. And it will mean Jesus will tear into your heart to drive out evil, and that can hurt. And his mercy might come in the form of a difficult calling. But don’t let any of that scare you; take his mercy as it comes. Going Satan’s way leads to a restless, chaotic, exhausting life. What Jesus offers is profound rest.
And third, when you see the glory of Christ, don’t just walk away amazed. Bow the knee and obey.
