Mark 5:2-5 NIV
[2] When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him. [3] This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, 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. [5] Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.
Since the post-Second World War era, there have always been elements of youth culture that have thoroughly spooked more conservative elements in the church. In the 1950s it was the arrival of rock and roll. In the 1960s it was the hippie subculture and the so-called sexual revolution. In the 1980s it was the punk and goth subcultures. In the 1990s it was rap, rave and grunge. In the 2000s it was Emo and Chav. In the 2010s it was the explosion of social media and the obsession with influencers.
Now, in the 2020s, we are seeing a gender and sexual rebellion, where our youth are throwing off the ‘shackles’ their parents wore and being as non-conformist as they possibly can. Egged on by heartless individuals for political or financial gain, they are exploring their ‘gender identity’ to the point of abject confusion.
I have no doubt that many in the church will stand in utter condemnation against these movements – after all, we always have.
But not one of them at their very worst could hold a candle to the demoniac in these verses.
Not one.
When I was a child in the 1980s and we came across a group of punks, we sometimes crossed the road to avoid them. It wasn’t just the Mohican hair cuts, piercings, leather jackets and studs, it was also their propensity for random acts of violence and vandalism. They were simply unpredictable.
Older people were frequently frightened in the 1990s if they were waiting in a queue and found themselves waiting beside a goth, who resembled an extra from a horror movie. They may have been harmless – they were too introverted and sensitive to harm other people – but they triggered fear in those who didn’t understand them.
But this demoniac would have terrified all who knew of him.
We might look at people from these subcultures and wonder if somehow they were beyond redemption, if they had rebelled too much, if they had gone too far.
But this passage teaches us one thing and it does so with glorious clarity:
No-one is beyond the reach of the Gospel. God wants all people to repent (Acts 17:30; 1 Timothy 2:3-4).
Even them.
So let’s start exploring this event by looking at A Fearsome Man.
A Fearsome Man
Mark 5:3-5 NIV
[3] This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, 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. [5] Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.
Cemeteries were usually outside of cities – for obvious reasons. I can imagine anyone living on the city walls would have been truly disturbed by this man. It would have been like living in a nightmare. He clearly had issues with his mental and spiritual health that were way beyond anything that medics in his day could have dealt with.
However, we can see alarming similarities between the predicament of this poor man and aspects of contemporary sub-cultures.
That is not to say that anyone caught up in them is possessed by a demon. It is more likely that this is not the case.
However, what this man shows is the painfully destructive regime that satan brings into the lives of any who follow him in his many guises.
I realise that I am about to share some very difficult, and perhaps controversial, truths. But in order to gain the freedom that Christ can bring, we must hold an x-ray up to our current situation and identify where things in modern culture are not correct.
The first thing we see is a fascination with death. This might be something that we quickly identify in the goth/horror communities. However, there are also disgusting people who run online communities where those who are struggling are encouraged to think that they are not worthy to live and should take their lives.
That is nothing less than demonic.
There are also morbid death cults who live their lives backwards, with memorial feasts for the dead and altars to ancestors. They focus too much on what has gone before, and do not look towards the glorious future we have in Jesus Christ.
Even within the church, there is sometimes a glorification of Christian leaders and theologians who are long dead, rather than seeking to live for Jesus in the now.
That is all wrong. As the angel said to Mary after the resurrection:
Luke 24:4-5 NIV
[4] While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. [5] In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?
You won’t find Jesus in a graveyard. A graveyard is for dead people.
Jesus is alive!
The second thing we see is that he was impossible to restrain. He was a strong and a wild man. His fellow citizens tried to restrain him, but he broke the chains.
Although we shouldn’t see people restrained with chains nowadays, we see people casting off their moral constraints with abandon:
Proverbs 29:18 NIV
[18] Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint; but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom’s instruction.
Ephesians 4:18-19 NIV
[18] They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. [19] Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.
If you try to restrain these people to keep them on the straight and narrow, you are the one our culture deems to be in the wrong, not the other way around. We simply don’t have the right anymore to point out to people that they are in the wrong.
Despite the fact that we are trying to save them from harming themselves.
The verse also says (in the original Greek) that he was impossible to tame. That is, no-one could do anything to make this man conform and behave like everyone else. He was, quite simply, wild.
Look at our culture nowadays. Look at how people are actively encouraged to behave like brute beasts towards each other. Look at how people are turning a blind eye to disgusting behaviours, and justifying them by saying that in someone’s own home, between consenting adults, anything goes.
The Word of God says ‘No’.
The Word of God says we are accountable to God and to each other for how we behave.
If we want to follow Jesus Christ, we must obey Him. Nothing else is possible.
Ephesians 4:20-24 NIV
[20] That, however, is not the way of life you learned [21] when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. [22] You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; [23] to be made new in the attitude of your minds; [24] and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Fourthly, we see that he was hopelessly alone. The Bible talks of him roaming across the hills and the graveyards, devoid of human company and fellowship, because he would have scared them all away.
Being alone is never a good thing. Lonely Christians are easy prey for the enemy. How much more those who don’t follow Jesus?
That is why we see this in Hebrews:
Hebrews 10:23-25 NIV
[23] Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. [24] And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, [25] not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
In Western cultures, everything is there to support someone who chooses to become a hermit and lives entirely alone. They don’t even need to leave their homes. Even their food can be brought to them.
As Christians, we must stand against this. Even online communities cannot ever replace face-to-face contact. The greatest encouragement comes when we gather together.
Think about it: when it was mandated by our government that we could not go out, who was it that suffered the most? Was it not those who lived alone? Even if they had online contact with other human beings, it was just not the same.
Loneliness is not a good thing.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 NIV
[9] Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: [10] If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. [11] Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? [12] Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
Loneliness is a killer.
As Christians, we must do all we can to combat it.
Fifthly, we see a modern plague about which the church has done far too little: that of self-harm.
The Bible is unflinchingly clear: this demoniac was cutting himself. He was self-harming.
These days it seems like we have invented a thousand ways to harm ourselves, for instance: addictions, eating disorders, unnecessary surgery, painful procedures to alter gender, body modifications, self-abuse and the like – as well as the awful situation where people do it because they don’t value themselves at all, are in chronic despair and causing themselves physical pain seems to be the only thing they can control.
However, in Bible times, self-harm by cutting was actually something used in idol worship (1 Kings 18:28; Hosea 7:14), or other religious rites (Jeremiah 41:4-5) to prove the deep sincerity of their emotions.
But God’s people were commanded not to do it (Leviticus 19:28; Deuteronomy 14:1-2).
Deliberately indulging in behaviour towards yourself that you know is harmful is the absolute opposite of loving God, our neighbours and ourselves (Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 22:34-40; Mark 12:29-31; Luke 10:27; Romans 13:8-10; Galatians 5:14). God loves each of us deeply. We cannot love Him or our neighbour and not love ourselves.
We don’t know why this poor man was harming himself through cutting. It may have been an act of devotion to a false God. This was, after all, not a majority Jewish area.
But it could also be that this man was deeply frustrated with his condition and could do nothing to change it, so physical pain was the only thing he felt he could control.
Either way, this was a pretty desperate situation.
If you can identify with his predicament, if you know what it feels like to believe that the only control you feel over your life is when you cut yourself, then I have news for you that could change everything:
You might not love yourself, but Jesus loves you – more than you could ever know. He bore wounds much worse than yours could ever be. He did it to heal you (Isaiah 53:5).
You might feel like no-one loves you – not even yourself – but there is and neither will there be a greater demonstration of love for you than the love Jesus showed by dying for all your sins, your faults and your failings on the cross.
Won’t you accept that love today?
Lastly, we see that he was impossible to understand. Communication is absolutely critical.
The Greek word used here makes it plain that instead of words, this man used animalistic cries, shrieks and screams.
It must have sounded horrific.
We might think that there are few people who behave like this nowadays.
But have you ever been on social media?
Fine, none of it consists of cries, shrieks and screams. But much of it is angry, frustrated, nonsensical drivel, triggered by conspiracy theories rather than facts.
Equally as unnerving as the rantings of a seriously disturbed man.
I know it’s deeply uncomfortable to admit, but do you see the correlation? There are aspects of our culture in how this man behaves.
Why?
Because this is what happens when you turn from God and let satan run amok in your life.
However, even if you find yourself in this tragic situation, hope is not lost. You are not too far gone. Why? Because we move on from a fearsome man to An Awesome Power.
An Awesome Power
Mark 5:6-13 NIV
[6] When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. [7] He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!” [8] For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!” [9] Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” “My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” [10] And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area. [11] A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. [12] The demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.” [13] He gave them permission, and the impure 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.
As we approach this incredible miracle, there are a few things we must notice.
The first of these is Jesus’ intention.
Consider this: the first and only person Jesus healed on this entire trip was a pagan demoniac.
Not a city mayor or counsellor.
Not a religious leader.
Not a member of the great or the good.
But a pagan demoniac.
Luke even says this about him:
Luke 8:27 NIV
[27] When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs.
So how did this man deserve the high honour of being the first man healed by Jesus in the Decapolis?
He didn’t. He was thoroughly undeserving.
That was the point.
What’s more, everything Jesus ever did was intentional. Nothing was ever by accident. As I noted in the previous post, the storm on the lake had been for the disciples, but the journey had been for this man.
Let that sink in. Here was a man about as lost as it was possible to be, but Jesus led His disciples across Lake Galilee, and through a storm, just to heal this one man.
That is how much Jesus loves the lost He came to save:
Luke 19:10 NIV
[10] For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
He could not have been more sick, but Jesus came to heal him:
Luke 5:31-32 NIV
[31] Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. [32] I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
If we came across a man like this, we have to be honest: we would be tempted to cross the street to avoid him.
Not Jesus. He crosses a lake and a storm to save him.
Notice too Jesus’ Interaction.
The very first words Jesus is recorded as saying – certainly to this man – are to cast his many demons from him.
His first priority was not to drive this poor, naked, scarred and likely dirty man from him, despite his manic behaviour, but to rescue him from his many demons.
Do you see that?
It isn’t just the sinner that is Jesus Christ’s first priority but their salvation.
And that is so important.
Nowadays, there is a chronic misunderstanding of the Gospel.
When Rev Billy Graham was preaching in massive crusades in stadiums across the world, there was one song that could be heard at every single rally:
Just as I am, without one plea
But that Thy blood was shed for me
And that Thou bidst me come to Thee
O Lamb of God, I come, I come
And that is beautiful.
But in our modern day, we have forgotten why we come. It isn’t just to be accepted as we are – which we are. It is also to be changed into the likeness of Christ. It is to be made whole. It is to be healed. It is to be changed.
That is why we come.
Jesus didn’t see this man’s mania or his raving or his dirty, likely infected self-inflicted wounds as a legitimate expression of his chosen identity as the neighbourhood madman.
No! He saw a man who was deeply suffering in the devil’s grip and sought to free him as his first priority.
Now that is truly beautiful.
But we also see Jesus’ action – what He did.
And this is truly incredible.
The power and authority of Jesus Christ over all things causes this demonised man to fall to his knees before Jesus and for the demons inside him to plead for clemency.
Note his name: Legion. A legion was a Roman battalion of eight hundred to one thousand soldiers.
The rapper Jay-Z famously rapped about having ninety-nine problems. Sorry, dude, this guy had more. A whole lot more.
But I want you to see something here. ‘Legion’ had hundreds of demons. They had reduced him to a scarred, bloodied, broken, naked, gibbering wreck.
Yet every one of those demons – every last stinking one of them – cowered in dismay at the face of Christ.
I’m sure everyone in Gadara and the other Ten Cities of the Decapolis had written this man off as impossible to save. A maniac. Criminally insane. Dangerous to know. Beyond redemption. Impossible to save.
Yet Jesus only has to say the word and the untameable is tamed.
The demons were desperate to avoid punishment by being sent to the Abyss. Jesus gave them permission to go into a nearby herd of pigs – unclean for Jews but bred for food by the Gentiles living nearby.
Jesus agreed.
And what happened next teaches us everything we need to know about what happens when satan has his way. Either the demons drove the pigs to do it, or the pigs were so overcome that they saw no other way out. Whatever the cause, those poor pigs stampeded down the steep hillside and drowned themselves in the lake.
Leaving behind them a naked man, clothed in his right mind for the first time in who knows how long.
Saved.
Redeemed.
Rescued.
Healed.
Free.
Too far gone for Jesus?
Not a chance.
This should be a moment of incredible joy and celebration, right? A man has been saved! Hallelujah!
But not everyone saw it that way. Because after a fearsome man and an awesome power we see A Worrisome Reaction.
A Worrisome Reaction
Mark 5:16-17 NIV
[16] Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man—and told about the pigs as well. [17] Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.
Here we see the second of three pleas in this passage. The demons plea for rescue from the Abyss. But here the locals plead for riddance from Jesus.
And this is an all too human reaction.
I had a friend who used to be a drunkard. I went to school with his daughter. He became a believer and stopped drinking.
His wife, however, did not react well to this. She told him, ‘You being drunk all the time was hard enough. But now you’ve found religion? I can’t take any more!’ And she divorced him!
That is quite common for people when Jesus changes their life dramatically. Often the people around them – sometimes even their loved ones – struggle to cope.
The people from Gadara and the rest of the Decapolis were Greek speakers. They were likely predominantly Graeco-Roman in their philosophy and mentality too. Theirs was a naturalistic mindset, with a mythology and a ritualistic religion that made no demands at all on their lifestyle.
The very concept that someone could be changed this radically just did not fit their worldview.
And so yes, seeing those drowned, bloated pig bodies floating in the lake would have been jarring.
But equally as shocking was this madman who had caused them nightmares now standing beside Jesus in his rightful mind. Their science and their knowledge would have no understanding of this, no reference point for them to get to grips with it. The power that made this change take place was far greater than anything they had ever seen.
And they were frightened of it – even more than theyhad been of the naked, raving demoniac.
So they did something that defies logic. They kept the man who once haunted their dreams and scared them witless, but sent away Jesus, who had brought only peace and sanity.
And Jesus respected their wishes. He left.
There is a message here for all of us.
We cannot assume that the power Jesus Christ has to change lives for the better will always be welcome. Our courts, parliaments and media have made this abundantly clear. There are times when we will find ourselves rejected, or even persecuted, because of the Gospel message that no-one is beyond its reach.
John 15:18-20 NIV
[18] “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. [19] If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. [20] Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.
But rejecting Jesus like this is never a good thing to do:
Luke 10:16 NIV
[16] “Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.”
Luke 12:8-9 NIV
[8] “I tell you, whoever publicly acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the angels of God. [9] But whoever disowns me before others will be disowned before the angels of God.
Hebrews 10:31 NIV
[31] It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
So we have seen a fearsome man, the awesome power that saved him and the worrisome reaction to his salvation.
However, there us one last part of this event that is often missed: that of A Winsome Preacher.
A Winsome Preacher
Mark 5:18-20 NIV
[18] As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. [19] Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people 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 tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.
The man once known as ‘Legion’ has been miraculously changed. His people have rejected the person who brought about that change.
So what will happen now?
The late Rev Billy Graham used to say that if your dog is chewing on a dirty bone, don’t just try to prise it out of his mouth – offer him a better bone from the fridge.
In other words, it’s never enough to tell someone that they are a sinner and their life isn’t good enough. You also need to offer them something demonstrably better.
In fact, Jesus taught this:
Matthew 12:43-45 NIV
[43] “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. [44] Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. [45] Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”
Now this man's house had been swept clean of demons, it had to be occupied by something. It couldn’t lie empty or the demons would come back.
That is what happened here. Jesus gave him an occupation – something to replace the terror that had come before.
So what would replace his demon-dominated life?
We see here his idea, which seems, on the face of it, to be a good one. The natives of Gadara certainly had no affection for him. He had no ties there. Why not follow Jesus? After all, Jesus had cast out his many demons and healed him.
But that was not Jesus’ idea. He had something different, and in a sense, more challenging, in mind:
Mark 5:19 NIV
[19] Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”
His idea was to send this man back to where he had not been welcome and tell the story of how he had been freed from his demons and his terrible life.
On the surface, that sounds like a tough task. How could this man gain any foothold in a city that had kept him outside?
Yet he obeyed.
And what happened next is quite wonderful:
Mark 5:20 NIV
[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.
He didn’t just go to Gadara, he want to all ten cities of the Decapolis.
There were three results this.
Firstly they received him. This man is accepted as one of them. They listened to him.
Secondly, they believed him. And why not? The evidence of a miraculous transformation was right before their very eyes!
Thirdly, they marvelled at him. Quite simply, they saw the change that had taken place in this man’s life, they could not deny it, and so it became something that caused them to be amazed.
Crowds from this area of the world had come out of curiosity to see Jesus (Matthew 4:25). Likely people in these cities would have heard of Him.
Now, in this healed, exorcised man, they saw what He could do.
What we see here is a testimony to what Jesus can do with a life.
Before he was changed, this man could barely talk. Now he preached the message of what Jesus did for him in ten cities.
Before he was changed, this man was harming himself and causing terror to others. Now he was being a source of joy and wonder to others.
Before he was changed, this man was a loner. Now he is telling multitudes of people about the change that Jesus had brought about in him.
Before he was changed, he had no purpose and was likely just surviving from one day to the next. Now he had a purpose – to share the glory of what Jesus had done.
This man was not theologically trained. The Bible doesn’t say if he was eloquent or a great speaker or well educated. He hadn’t been with Jesus for very long.
But it didn’t matter. What he had was the story of how Jesus had changed his life. And that was enough.
That was all he needed.
Conclusion
On November 18,1993, the influential grunge band Nirvana recorded a live unplugged set for MTV. Led by their severely trouble lead singer Kurt Cobain, bassist Krist Novoselic and drummer Dave Grohl, backed up by several backing band members, gave what is regarded as one of the best live performances of their career, and certainly one of the most powerful of MTV’s ‘Unplugged’ concert series.
During that set, Kurt Cobain sung a cover of a song called ‘Jesus Doesn’t Want Me For A Sunbeam’, about how the song writer believed Jesus didn’t want a man like him because he was too bad. It was very poignant. Kurt was a heroin addict. His band’s music was full of existential rage.
A few months later, Kurt Cobain was dead. He had taken his own life. He left behind a wife, who also had serious struggles with substance abuse, and a daughter.
He was just twenty-eight years old.
There are many nowadays who believe they are rejected by the church and, quite wrongly, rejected by God. This leads to them taking some incredibly bad decisions that affect their lives and the lives of those around them.
Rather sinisterly, it has also led to the growth of the satanic church in America.
What can we do?
How can reverse this?
Well, let me start by telling you this, based on the immutable Word of God:
You are not too far gone for Jesus.
You are never too far gone for Jesus.
Here we see a fearsome man – the type of man who was absolutely the stuff of nightmares. If anyone should have been too far gone, it’s not you, but it should have been him.
We also see an awesome power that freed him from every last one of the demons that tortured him. That power was the power of Jesus Christ.
We see, yes, a worrisome reaction, as the people of Gadara are terrified of the power that healed this man.
But we see what God can do with a life that wants change, as this man, once a raving, demon-possessed lunatic becomes a winsome preacher.
If Jesus can do that with him, what can He do with you?
So please, don’t reject Jesus, because He has not rejected you. He came to earth, died on the cross and rose from the dead to save you.
You are not too far gone for Him.
But I wouldn’t go any further.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I am not demon-possessed, but I see parts of my life in this man you healed. Thank You with all my heart that I am not too far gone for you. I want to come to You now. Heal me and set me free, I pray. Amen.
Questions
What aspects of this man’s life can you identify in your culture, or even in your life?
Why is it so important that Jesus came to Gadara for this man? What does say about His love for us?
Do you feel like you are too far gone for Jesus? Will you come to Him now?
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