Gerasenes is Gergesenes in KJV or Gadarenes in ESV.
War is happing the whole time through espionage and propaganda. Mark 5:1-20 is but a skirmish and a flash point in the between God and the enemies.
Paul reminded us in Eph 6 that we are constantly at war.
Today’s topic is the fourth installment in the Transforming Encounters with Jesus in Mark’s Gospel. The text is Mark 5:1-20.
When Jesus performed miracles, there were some who claimed he did so with the power of the devil. Jesus warned against the unpardonable sin.
A. The Stage (5:1)
In Mark 4:35-41 we read about Jesus stilled the storm that threatened safety of the seasoned fishermen on the boat.
B. The Demoniac (5:2-5)
Just when they thought the worse was over they met a demoniac when they landed. Mark provided a classic description of a demon possessed man.
- Severe personality change. He sat quietly after the demons were cast out. Before that he ran around naked terrorizing the neighbourhood.
- Anti-social behaviour. He lived in the tombs. He terrorized the living and lived with the dead.
- Spiritual insight. He recognized and declared Jesus as the Son of God. It is an irony that the disciples could not recognize Jesus moments ago. Such spiritual insights are not common in a human being.
- Super-human strength. He could not be bound by shackles and chains.
- Torment. v5 reveals this man was tormented and cried day and night. He was in deep torment from the inside. The people who hurt us are sometimes hurting first. Because of their choice to defy God they are constantly tormented and they inflict torments on other people.
- Tendency toward self-destruction. He was bruising and cutting himself in stones. In Mark 9, the father told of his demon possessed son who tried to cast himself into fire.
C. The Face-off and the Take-off (5:6-13)
This demoniac rushed towards Jesus. We know not if the trapped man came desiring to be set free or the demon came to cause mischief and to terrorize.
The demons pleaded with Jesus! (5:7-8, cf 8:29)
Jesus asked for their name. Evil is easier done in anonymity. Yet, the demons responded. The man was tormented by many demons. The word beg appears many times in this passage. The demons begged not to be sent to another region. This may suggest a form of hierarchy or structure among the demons and that they may be territorial. They begged to be sent into pigs and 2,000 pigs went into the lake and drown. 2,000 pigs in the Malaysia context today is about RM1.5 million.
Jesus had no problem allowing the demons to go into the pigs. He valued the soul of this tormented man more than 2,000 pigs. The man was delivered and was in his right mind.
The pig herders were beyond themselves. They ran back to the village. It was a economical and ecological disaster. When more people came and saw the formerly demon-possessed man was sitting quietly in his right mind and were afraid. In their fear, they begged Jesus to leave.
D. The Residents’ Response (5:14-17)
Response dominated by fears of
- Material loss?
- Societal disruption?
- Loss of Control?
E. the Released Request (5:18-20)
The ex-demoniac requested to follow Jesus as his disciples. Jesus granted the first two request to the demons and the townspeople. But he did not allow the ex-demoniac to follow him. Instead he asked him to go home and tell them what God has done for him. He accepted him as His disciple but commissioned him to be an evangelist.
What was Mark trying to do? He was writing to the gentiles in Rome and the Greeks. The Greeks believed in a benign spiritual world. Mark gave this account of the demoniac in details to show that the spiritual world can be malicious. In this account, we see the dark side of Satan in this particular flashpoint in the war.
In 2 Cor 11:12-14, Paul wrote about those who false teachers.
Mark through this passage authenticated the divinity of Jesus Christ. It is not about the power of the demons. It is about the power of Jesus Christ.
- We are in constant and daily spiritual warfare.
- We are not to dabble in occults. Hasbro has a game on the ouija board. The Bible told us clearly and categorically not to have anything to do with divination and witchcraft. There are people who blame everything to the demons. We are at war without any home ground advantage. Every time we want to God’s things, the whole ‘stadium’ jeer us. When we do something against God’s will, they cheer us on. We sin for our wrong accord. We sin because of the choice we make.
Importance vs information
- influence and control towards destruction. The demons are not omnipotent. There is no middle ground. The reality is that as long as we are not set free by Jesus Christ we are under the influence and control of the enemy.
- destroys man’s reflection of God
- have great spiritual insight
- greatly desire to enter and control and physical body
- look forward to their future with great dread
- reluctantly submit to Jesus as Lord of all
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