Readings: Psalm 104:1-9, Job 38:1-7 (34-41), Hebrews 5:1-6, Mark 5:1-20
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, October 20, 2024
I'm continuing with a series of sermons I've titled “Jesus and Individuals,” taking a look at ways Jesus interacted with both individuals and groups of folk.
Our first sermon was about Jesus at Simon's house, when a lady of questionable morals anointed His feet, much to the disgust of the religious folk present. Then we looked at an encounter Jesus had with a group of Scribes come down from Jerusalem. We saw how they were warned by Jesus not to describe the things of God's kingdom as somehow being associated with any evil scheme, but rather recognize that His ministry was the real thing.
This time we leave the Jewish territories and travel to the land of the Gadarenes, a predominantly Gentile area of the country and we witness an encounter between Jesus and a man said to be possessed by a legion of demons. We also see the effect his healing has upon the locals.
THE TIME is immediately following a story about Jesus calming the Storm. On the same days as Jesus controls the chaos of the natural world, He also brings calm to a troubled soul who is a danger to himself and feared by those who are around him.
THE PLACE is a graveyard somewhere between the two cities of Gerasa and Gadara, near the Eastern shore of the lake of Galilee in the borderlands between Arabia and Judea.
THE CIRCUMSTANCES. Inhabiting this graveyard is a man in a miserable condition. He is living among the dead. He is unclothed and uncontrollable. He is strong and though people have tried to bind him, he breaks free. He is a danger to himself, inflicting self harm, and violent towards anybody who comes near. People are very afraid of him.
In our day we would probably suggest he had severe mental problems. Some of the mentally ill homeless folk in our cities, especially those who exhibit violent behavior, evoke a similar response of fear and repulsion to people not accustomed to dealing with them. Thankfully for this man, Jesus is not among those who were intimidated. The man even recognizes something about Jesus that causes him to reach out. Though in the man’s mind are many voices, somehow the light of God's love breaks through when Jesus enters the scene.
It's a dark story. As a teenager I used to watch many of the movies that came out of the Hammer Horror studios. Films that were often populated with vampires and werewolves and dark forces of the undead in draughty mansions and graveyards where the thunder and lightning would magically appear at the most dramatic moments.
In this story Mark tells us that night is drawing in, darkness is falling. Back then demons were thought to be most comfortable in lonely and desolate spots, in dark hollows and lonely caves where no human usually trespassed at night. It was a perilous place, at a perilous time, and the man was a dangerous man.
When the man speaks, it is in horror movie fashion, with multiple voices, representing some kind of internal struggle. “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the most High God?” This is in response to Jesus first attempt to release him from his predicament, an attempt that had been unsuccessful because the man was in deeper trouble than at first imagined.
Further conversation takes place, and the man tells Jesus, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” This revelation offers a striking explanation of the terrible situation the man was in. The term legion would at least mean a battalion of 2000.
There are some fascinating aspects to this story. The area of the country that they are in is one that had fallen heavily to Roman occupation. The legions had conquered this region and that's why it was known as Gentile territory. That's why there were people there farming pigs, an animal unclean to the Jews, but presenting no dietary issue to Romans and Greeks.
This is also one of the first times Jesus and His disciples extend their ministry outside of the boundaries of Judaism. It is only later in the story that He begins instructing His disciples to take the gospel message to Jerusalem, Samaria and the ends of the earth. There is the hint here, that His mission was about a lot more than the locality in which He had been raised.
Then there's the fact that this legion of demons comes before Jesus and bows down. There is a hymn in our hymnbooks... “At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow, every tongue confess Him, King of Glory now.”
The demons recognize His authority and power... at a time when, as we saw in Jesus’ confrontation with the Scribes who came up from Jerusalem... the religious authorities were suggesting He was the one who was in league with the devil. Yet here we see God's Kingly power subduing imperial domination, here we observe the beginning of a religion that would eventually dominate the Roman empire.
Returning to the encounter, the unclean spirits that the man gives voice to, beg not to be sent out of the country but to be allowed to possess a herd of pigs that are grazing nearby. It is a considerable herd, about 2000, the same size as a Roman legion. Jesus gave them permission, and the whole herd jumps off the cliff and are drowned in the same waters Jesus had earlier calmed during the storm.
In our day we may be more comfortable describing the man’s condition as a sickness, rather than him being demonically possessed. Even though our culture has a fascination with the dark side... we have a problem with the notion of evil.
Our literature and movies and TV programs are filled with material that focuses on the living dead and the occult and vampires and monsters. Many classic movie franchises, from Star Wars to Harry Potter, to Lord of the Rings to the whole Marvel Universe, are stories about another worldly struggle between good and evil. Such tales give a voice to our fears and maybe a window on our subconscious. But how we translate that into daily life, how we deal with the demons of terrorism and war and drug abuse and Human Trafficking... well … that's a different matter. It has said that are two dangers we can make in regard to evil.
The first is to focus too much on it and end up demonizing everything. Every moral failure becomes a battle with the devil. Those who we disagree with become not just wrong, but agents of Satan. We discover secret plots where none exist. We give the Devil and his minions far more credit and power than they deserve.
The second mistake is to mystify it to such a point that we deny it. That evil becomes a matter of perspective, rather than something to be wrestled with and overcome. That we attribute everything to causes we can explain and believe that we have the power to cure all things... even the darkest desires of the human will, without reference to God.
The Lord's Prayer offers us a helpful perspective. Every week we pray “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” Such acknowledges that, not only can we be our own worst enemies and make wrong choices, but that there are also forces and powers that can destroy us. We may not describe those powers as “demons” but the cycles of addiction and abuse and anxiety that cause untold suffering and the loss of life, in the lives of families and communities and individuals are surely things from which we need deliverance. And the power of prayer and the gift of God's Holy Spirit are truly remarkable resources available to every disciple of Jesus Christ.
Witness the effect of Jesus ministry upon the man. It was remarkable. His storm is over. The people of the village, verse 15, “They came to Jesus and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the legion.” But we also read of their reaction. “And they were afraid.”
Some who were particularly afraid were the owners of the pigs who had just lost their livelihood. I'm guessing there has never been a compensation scheme for victims of exorcisms! It tells us something about the way the world works that they were a whole lot more worried about their pigs than they were delighted by the miracle of a man now in his right mind.
When the Kingdom of God invades the kingdoms of this world, there can be economic ramifications. Imagine for instance if coffee growers or garment manufacturers in the third world were paid the same wage as their counterparts in developed countries. Surely such would be a fair way of doing things.
But we also know that the price of coffee and clothes would go through the roof. Our prosperity is partly due to global economic inequality. We are not so keen on others receiving benefits that may take away our privileges. We would be more likely to complain about rising prices than rejoice at their rising standard of living. In a similar way, the pig owners are not at all pleased and want Jesus out of their neighborhood.
Other folks were simply frightened by the encounter. This encounter with evil was not something they wanted to deal with. We easily become accustomed to the way things are. We don't like radical change. Everything and everybody has their place. Some may not be in a good place, but please, don't upset the apple cart!
Jesus and the disciples do as they are asked. They leave the area. They walk away. But they leave behind an incredible seed for the Kingdom in the person of the man they have delivered. The man begs the disciples to take him with them. Jesus refuses to do so.
Instead, the man is told, “Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and what mercy He has shown you.” In this way the mission to the Gentiles would continue. Seeds were being planted that later Christian evangelists could build upon. For we read, “He went away and began to declare in the Decapolis (that is in the ten Greek/Roman Gentile cities in that region) how much Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.”
The man was moved from being in a place of darkness to becoming one of the first Christian missionaries to the world outside of Judaism. The name of Jesus, even during His earthly ministry, was becoming known in places you would never have expected.
SOME TAKE AWAYS FROM THIS ACCOUNT
Firstly, The mission of Jesus, and therefore of the Church, involves confronting evil, however such may manifest itself. Such is not always comfortable, not without anxiety or fear and involves us in having to trust in the authority and love of God as our source. Ministry isn't always pretty or decent and in order. When the light shines in the darkness, we don't always like what the light reveals.
Secondly, The mission of Jesus, and therefore of the Church, can bring disruption as well as peace. When powers are challenged and injustice is opposed, there are losers as well as winners. We may not want to go there. But the command of Jesus is clear. Go into all the world and make others my disciples.
Thirdly, The mission of Jesus, and therefore of the Church, is totally dependent on the work of God's Holy Spirit, to bring healing, to deliver from evil, and to calm the storms that threaten to destroy us.
Yet just as evil and violence and fear are a reality, so is the Cross and the forgiveness that is offered to us in Christ, and the power of His resurrection is a force to be reckoned with. Though it is not yet, there will come a time, as already spoken of in the hymn I referenced, when “At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow, every tongue confess Him, King of Glory now.”
Until that day we are called to do, as did that delivered man, to go home to our friends, and our families and our communities and tell them how much the Lord has done for us, and what mercy He has shown us. And all to the glory of God. Amen.
The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
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