Mark 5:1-20
This morning we are going to consider the story of a close encounter between Jesus and a demon-possessed man. To stand here in front of a bright, well-educated, intelligent group of people in 2020 and talk about demons is risky business. After all, in this day and age we often lump demons in the same category as elves and trolls and fairies. We no longer explain physical or mental disorders in spiritual terms, at least not commonly; we diagnose and treat illnesses with medication or therapy or surgery. We don’t have to believe in demons anymore because we think we can explain everything in terms of data, research, statistics, and scientific evidence.
Some people discount demons because they picture the ridiculous cartoon version of devils as little red men with horns and tails who sit on our shoulders and whisper sweet temptations in our ears. Or, on the other extreme, there are those who are preoccupied with demons, who see the devil on every side. In his book, The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis addressed the reality of evil in the world by using letters written by a senior devil to instruct a junior devil in the art of temptation. He wrote about evil from the point of view of evil. In the Preface, Lewis made this observation: “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.”
I personally have no trouble believing in demons, or devils, or evil spirits, or whatever you want to call them. I know that evil is real. All I have to do to prove that is to read the paper or watch the news on TV. Stories about rape and murder, kidnapping and torture, abuse and violence. I hear about mothers who kill their children, drive-by shootings, hit-and-run drivers, broken marriages and broken homes, greed, jealousy, and lust, and I know that evil exists.
So let’s look at this story about Jesus and the demon-possessed man and see what happened when Jesus chose to get involved in his life.
It is interesting to me to note that this incident occurred at night. Jesus and his disciples had left the other side of the lake “when evening came,” and by the time they had come through a storm and landed in the Gerasene region, it was dark. How scary would it be to stand there in the dark and see a man possessed by evil spirits come out of the tombs and walk right toward you?
This man lived in the tombs because there was no other place for him to stay. He was in every way considered unclean by orthodox Jews: he was possessed by demons; he lived in close proximity to dead bodies; and he was a Gentile. He was naked, unpredictable, and violent. He would cause injuries to himself in an attempt to relieve his inner torment. He would scream and shout and cut himself with stones. He had been treated like a mad dog by the people in the area, who chained him up and put him in leg irons. But no one could subdue him, and he broke free of all the chains. He was, in the words of David Garland, “one tough customer.” But when he saw Jesus coming, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him, shouting at the top of his lungs, “What do you want with me, Jesus? In the name of God, please don’t torture me!”
But Jesus had no intention of torturing the man. Instead, he wanted to set him free from the demons that bound him. These demons, who spoke through the man, knew exactly who Jesus was. They knew that he was their worst enemy. They knew the power of God when they felt it, and Jesus was full of that power and authority. Their struggle against Jesus was as old as time. He was the greatest threat to their existence. And so they begged, “Please don’t torture me!”
Jesus had attempted to cast out the demons by saying, “Come out of the man!” But the demons did not come out right away. This man’s affliction would require more work. These demons were feisty and created something of a standoff with Jesus. They tried to deal with Jesus as his equals, and there was a struggle before they came out. So Jesus next asked, “What is your name?” It was believed in those days that if you knew the name of a demon it gave you power over it. The demon answered, “Legion is my name, because we are many.” They were many, indeed. A Roman legion was made of 6,000 soldiers and 120 horsemen. There were at least enough demons in this man to drive 2,000 pigs crazy. Eugene Lowry, in his sermon, “Cries From the Graveyard,” paraphrased the man’s answer like this: “I feel like 6,000 soldiers inside me … Sometimes they all march left, sometimes right … sometimes in all different directions. I’m pulled one way, then another. There’s an army inside me, and I think I’m losing the war.”
Finding out the name of the demons did not result in their leaving the man. But they knew that they were ultimately going to be defeated by Jesus, because they next entered a bargaining process in which they asked to be sent into a herd of 2,000 pigs that was on a nearby hillside. Demons wanted to inhabit something, anything; if a human being was not available, then pigs would have to do. Jesus granted the request of the demons, which led to their destruction. The pigs rushed into the lake, destroying both themselves and the demons, who could not survive in water.
There were some men there who were tending the pigs, and when they saw what happened they ran into town and told other people about it. Soon a crowd of troubled citizens gathered. They were not happy with the fact that they had lost their pigs, which were their source of income. It didn’t matter to them that a human life had been saved. While you might have expected them to congratulate Jesus on a job well done and celebrate the man’s freedom, they didn’t do that. Neither did they invite Jesus into their community to work on some of the other sick folks who needed healing. They didn’t even seem to be grateful that the man was no longer a threat to himself or others. Instead they were afraid, afraid of Jesus.
Maybe they were afraid of the power of Jesus, who could overcome the demons that had been so powerfully present in the man who lived in the tombs. And so they begged Jesus to just go away, to leave their country, to go back across the lake and leave them alone. The gospel, the good news, had come to them, and it had caused upheaval; the good news didn’t seem so good to them. It had disrupted their social and economic situations. And they would just as soon not have to deal with it, thank you very much.
But the gospel was definitely good news to the man called Legion. After the demons left him, he got cleaned up and dressed, and sat down to talk with Jesus. And he begged Jesus to allow him to go with him and become one of his disciples. But Jesus said no. Instead, he told the man to go home and tell people what the Lord had done for him and how he had shown him mercy. This man would become the first missionary to the Gentiles, because his home, the area known as the Decapolis, or Ten Cities, was a Greek region.
The man evidently did exactly what Jesus told him to do. He went home and began to tell other people, anyone who would listen, about what Jesus had done for him. And people listened. And they believed. And they became followers of Jesus. In Mark 7, we read that Jesus went back to the area of the Decapolis, and when he got there, people welcomed him and asked if he would heal another man who was in need. Jesus, of course, did that. Then it says, “Jesus gave the people strict orders not to tell anyone. But the more he tried to silence them, the more eagerly they shared the news.”
It’s amazing what Jesus can do, isn’t it? He met a man whose family and neighbors had given up on him, a man who had given up on himself, who had been possessed by a legion of demons, and Jesus brought healing and wholeness to him. And as a result, an entire region became receptive to the gospel, and more than that, became proclaimers of that gospel themselves. From the tight grasp of Satan, to the warm embrace of God, a man was transformed. And in his story we find a message.
We have all encountered Jesus Christ and been changed by the experience. Perhaps Jesus cast out some kind of demon that possessed you, whether it was addiction, or greed, or jealousy, or lust. Perhaps Jesus healed you of depression or obsession or some other emotional or mental disorder. Maybe Jesus gave you confidence or courage or healthy self-esteem that allowed you to accomplish more in life. Whatever it was that happened, since you have known Jesus, your life has been different.
And now Jesus calls you to share that story with other people. Tell someone what Jesus has done for you. That is what evangelism is all about. It isn’t standing on a street corner with a megaphone asking people, “Are you saved?” It isn’t knocking on doors and handing out pamphlets. It is not having a nicely formatted plan of salvation to share with people. Evangelism is simply one person telling another person how Jesus changed their life. That isn’t so scary to think about, is it?
Jesus Christ has the power to transform lives. He has the power to overcome the evil that is in our world and in our lives. Jesus can set us free. We have the same mission that the man who was healed was given that day: to go and tell what Jesus has done for us. We are to let people know that there is another way of life, a better way of life, through the power of God in Jesus Christ. So commit yourself to going and telling, to sharing the story of what Jesus has done in your life. When you do that, someone else may come to know Jesus for themselves and their life might be transformed. They might also be set free through the redeeming power and love of Jesus.
