No Strings Attached

They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. 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. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones. When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. 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!” For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!” Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” “My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area. A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. The demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.” 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. Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man—and told about the pigs as well. Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region. As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. 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.” 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.

Introduction

There was a TV episode where a specialized dog trainer or behavioralist goes to a young couple’s house to treat a Labrador who was hostile and had aggressive territorial issues over its food. If you don’t know, this man is named Cesar Milan, nicknamed the “Dog Whisperer,” seems to have a sort of magic with dogs. He’s well educated and experienced with dog breeds, behaviors, psychology and well known for rehabilitating the craziest and mangiest of dogs into what we’d consider a relatively normal dog. As a viewer, you are amazed and impressed that this man is able to come to people’s homes, meet these animals, and professionally and boldly get the dog to submit or change behaviors. It’s pretty incredible. However, this particular episode, Cesar makes some progress in getting the Labrador to lay down in submission while he showed the dog he’s the alpha by standing over the food bowl. All looked well until it looked like his hand got too close to the dog’s face and it went berserk and tore into his hand. He was alright overall and he backed the dog into a corner to show who’s really alpha again. Yet, his hand was bleeding, he was visibly in pain, and then he had to step away to ice and tend to his injury. He may have been The Dog Whisperer, he may have a sense of ability to master animals, but at the end of the day, he’s not invincible; he’s just a man.

What we find in today’s passage is a story of two men. One man is tortured, devoid of life and hope, steeped in darkness, isolated, naked, bruised, rejected, completely lost. The other man is gentle and humble, but wields unimaginable power and contains a heart overflowing with love and mercy. There are many other characters we should take note of: the disciples that are silently watching in the background, the herdsmen who run to the town and countryside to tell the people what happened; then there’s the people who come and soon enough ask Jesus to leave their land. There are so many levels to what is happening in this moment before us, but I’d like to simply focus on two: Identity and Perspective.

Identity

Mark, as he is writing this Gospel, is intentional in giving us some exposition on who this man is. From the various context clues, we find that they are not in Jewish territory, but Gentile territory. We also see that this man has been tormented for a long time, how long we don’t truly know. But, he’s been kicked out of his home. He’s been pushed out, as far as the tombs and hills. Not only that, someone chained him, hand and foot, to control him, to subdue him. They used violence to try and control the uncontrollable. Alone, cold, naked, wild, imagine if you’re only attempts at respite and relief from the hell you were going through was crying at the top of your lungs and cutting yourself with rocks, trying to get whatever evil inside, out.

It's heavy. It’s dark. It involves demons, a topic all too ignored in the church today. Any reader hearing this story is filled with dread and what kind of interaction Jesus is about to have with this man; this scarily powerful, possessed, man. As we see towards the middle and end, this man was known as the “demon-possessed man.” Who he was, was gone; ripped away and deformed, broken by the evil antagonizing his entire existence. This is a picture of an image-bearer, a human made in the image of God, who is far and away from God’s presence, from knowing who God is. This story also gives us a glimpse into the purpose of Christ’s coming, his fulfilling of God’s kingdom coming near, his plan for salvation and redemption.

When Jesus meets this man, the man runs to Jesus and falls at his feet. This is not an act of worship, but fear and reverence. Imagine if everyone you knew was locking you up, calling you mad, disowning you, beating you and throwing you away… at some point, you reach the breaking point where everyone you see and meet will do the exact same thing. They can’t be trusted. Whether it was the demons spiritual insight or they heard word of this man named Jesus, he cries out saying, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?” The demons, in flattery and or taunting, were trying to one-up Jesus by showing him they knew something about him, to put him in an inferior position. Whenever we see this happening in the Gospels or Scriptures, picture the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers at the Super Bowl. In a turn of events, the Chiefs catch wind of the 49ers playbook and they know the names to all of their plays. That in manner of speaking would put the Chiefs in an advantageous position…

Nevertheless, picture the scene: The man is yelling at Jesus and in the company of his disciples. This is a demon-possessed man, living among tombs, and cutting himself; he is the definition of someone “unclean” for the Jews. Jesus is not backing away nor does he seem fazed… Then the shouting stops for a brief moment. This man, the demons behind the blackened eyes, look at Jesus, and all they see are his eyes looking deep into the soul of the man, the human, the created being. The demons see their error, their futile attempt to get one over Jesus, and I would picture now the man is kind of crouching, getting up from the ground and maybe now he’s backing away. Now he’s shouting, “In God’s name don’t torture me!”

Jesus has one purpose: to see this man be delivered; to restore to him something once lost a long time ago. Constantly, the language we see is Jesus talking to the man, but the demons are the one responding. Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” “My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.”

Identity. We are created in the Image of God. The Lord knew our name and our story before time began, and he loved us. Psalm 139:16, “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Psalm 72:12-14 “For he delivers the needy when he calls, the poor and him who has no helper. He has pity on the weak and the needy, and saves the lives of the needy. From oppression and violence he redeems their life, and precious is their blood in his sight.”Allow me to declare something for you and over you today, you are precious in God’s sight. You are fearfully and wonderfully made, and even in the darkest and ugliest pit of Hell, even there the Lord will come, find you, and deliver you. We all are not impervious to the bite and sting of evil and sin. We all suffer the day-to-day burdens of trying to survive, work, be a part of family, keep the church alive, having friends, isolation, anxiety and depression. This is nothing new. Possibly, and I’d bet on it, the preacher last week and maybe the preacher next week will agree in one way or another. But my friends, your identity matters so much to Jesus, so much to the Triune God, that even in the midst of demon-possession, he sees the soul of the tired and desolate man or woman.

Isaiah 43 declares to us, “Now this is what the Lordsays— the one who created you, Jacob, and the one who formed you, Israel— “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you and the rivers will not overwhelm you, When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched and the flame will not burn you. For I am the Lordyour God, the Holy One of Israel, and your Savior. I have given Egypt as a ransom for you, Cush and Seba in your place. Because you are precious in my sight and honored, and I love you, I will give people in exchange for you and nations instead of your life.” In this case in our passage today, it was 2000 pigs. Imagine, being one of the farmers who knew of this man, and sees the amount of demonic presence and power within this one man was enough to lead a whole herd of pigs to their deaths. That’s real. But the point of what Mark is writing and telling us is not about the ecological and economic disaster that comes from the pigs’ deaths. The point is the heart of Jesus to show this man who he is: loved and valuable.

Perspective

One of the strangest things in this story is who Jesus seems to listen and respond to. The word “begging” shows up three times: when the demons beg Jesus, the people of the town and region beg Jesus, and the once demon-possessed man begs Jesus… Perspective… I’ll be honest, one of my greatest struggles is seeing things from God’s point of view. Maybe it comes from my education, maybe it comes from the rebellious attitude and personality I had growing up with parents who wanted the best for me, but I thought I knew what was best for me. I struggle with thinking that my view and my plan is better; I’ll be the first to tell you that it is a rare phenomenon and occasion where my plan and my view was the right one.

Here, we’re seeing three different moments where Jesus is being asked, being begged to do something. For us on this side, it would seem obvious the kind of responses Jesus would have to what the people were, even what the demons were, asking of Jesus. We would think that the demons asking Jesus something is silly, because why would Jesus listen to them or even have an interaction with them when he’s already freed people before and after this moment from demons without having a conversation? We would think that just because the people want Jesus to leave wouldn’t actually make him leave. I mean, we see him around his own people that don’t like him, but he continues to preach the gospel and convict people’s hearts! And especially, a man that has been freed from the oppression of demons in his life, sees this powerful Jesus, this powerful Lord and literal Savior, and he wants nothing else but to follow Jesus; to be with him every day of his life. Of course! Jesus would say YES to have that faithful of a disciple!... And yet… What we’re seeing here is that everything is backwards…

Jesus grants the request of the demons... Jesus grants the request of the people… and he doesn’t grant the request of the man.

Perspective… For the Christian, this is hard, because it entails a challenge and call to humility and trust. We can see with certainty, through the grace and mercy of God, that we have been bought by Jesus. Our identity is rooted in the Lord of all creation, the Son of God. We are disciples and children of the Living God!... Yet sometimes, as hard as it may be to reaffirm our identity, and who we are in Christ, it is even harder for that mental affirmation and acknowledgment to reach down to our heart, spirit and souls… a deep aligning of our values and behaviors with Christ by living a life that is wholly given to the Lord; living a life of trust that his plan is better than what we can come up for ourselves.

There are moments where I do struggle to understand Jesus, who would permit the demons some thing that they were asking for. In my view, … I’m wondering why?... But as we read, it’s not about Jesus giving demons permission… at the heart of what Mark is telling us, it is the fact that Jesus has authority over demons, and the spiritual realm, so much so that nothing happens without his permission. His goal was to see this man liberated, freed and restored. The people of the town and the region came and begged Jesus to leave. And He does so! Why? Because their hearts and their spirits are not yet ready to hear and receive the message that is soon gonna be coming from one of their own.

Lastly, there is the man who not too long before this moment was living among the tombs, alone in darkness. He’s freed by the living God made flesh, and we find him sitting at Jesus’ feet, no longer possessed by demons, but possessed with a hunger and a desire to live alongside Jesus every waking moment. This man doesn’t even know every single detail about Jesus or His Gospel, about his miracles, about his healings. All he knows is that this man has the power to free him; that this man before him could see who he was underneath that darkness; and that this man restored to him something that no one else, and nothing else ever could: He gave him a new life. He gave him hope. He showed him mercy. And this man wants to go with Jesus; wants to be a faithful disciple, (when even Jesus’ own disciples were not truly yet believing or having faith in him). This man wanted to follow Jesus right now, and you would think the moment he begged Jesus to go with them, Jesus would have had the biggest smile on his face, and say “yes, let’s go!” But that’s not what happens is it? What happens is Jesus says no, to the one person in the story that Jesus should’ve said yes to… Rather, what I think he should’ve said yes to… He says no. Why?... Perspective… The perspective of Christ, his view, his heart is so much greater and grander than the limited view and perspective that I have. What Jesus has in mind from the beginning of time till the end of time will always be greater and more beautiful and majestic than the most beautiful thing I could ever conjure up. The details of his plan, outweigh the most marvelous details of any small, feeble plan that we come up with for our lives. If I may be so bold, we all struggle with the pride and arrogance of thinking that we know what we’re doing with our lives, but any attempt we do to control and follow our plans to the letter will be futile. They will pale in comparison to the wonderful and glorious plan that Jesus has laid out for us: his followers, his children. When he says no to this mab, he is saying “go home to your friends and to your family. Go to the people who thought you had no hope and go … give them hope… go to the people who would chain you up and tell them a message of someone who could liberate them from the chains in their lives… Go home and tell them of the Mercy that you have been shown… and the Mercy that is available for them too.”

And what ends up happening? He goes to his home. We can assume that much. But what has happened in this man’s life is much more beautiful to the point where he can’t just stop in his hometown; he goes to his home region, his country, that all these people who would know his story… this scary, horrible legend of a man, and they themselves would witness this man completely transformed and renewed and hear the name Jesus, and all that he has done and all that he can do… and it ends with the people being amazed in the 10 cities of the Decapolis.

What God has in mind for you and I is good and beautiful. Sometimes it may take us a while to catch it, to see it, to understand it… but being followers of Jesus, what I learned at least from this story, it’s not about knowing the plan… it’s about trusting that Jesus has in mind something good and trustworthy. His plan is holy and divine! What he sees, what he desires for us, since the very beginning, has been always been for our good, to show himself faithful, to show himself compassionate and merciful. That’s why the author of Hebrews, in deep conviction and revelation, tells us in chapter 2, “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” When he sends this man out back to the Decapolis, back to his home, his family, his friends, strangers, while they knew his story, and they had given him up to the power of darkness, Now he goes back to them with a message of the power of light, of life, the power of mercy, the power of compassion that they too might see themselves what freedom looks like, what new life looks like, what love looks like.

We are the children of God, though we may be blinded through the things that overwhelm us in our lives in our attempts to follow Jesus, in our striving to be holy and good and faithful as he is, we cannot earn salvation. We cannot earn holiness and glory, but it’s by the mercy of Jesus, by his love and compassion and especially sacrifice on the cross, that we are redeemed and he looks at us and doesn’t call us disappointments… he’s not ashamed of us… not disgusted or put off by us…, instead he comes closer… he sees who we really are and he says I love you I desire you to be free to know my love to know my mercy. As we respond to that Mercy we then must dive deeper into what it means to have the eyes of God, what it means to set our gaze on the things that God has set his gaze on; to challenge ourselves to look at the world and the people around us and learn to recognize the need of those are struggling; the needs of those who are fighting the fight against darkness and are failing… and how we can show up and show them Mercy, show them compassion, show them the kind of thing that Christ Jesus himself showed us. It’s not easy, it won’t be easy, but by the grace of God, through the power and presence of Jesus, we are able. My friends, we are able.