Power To The People

Mark 5:1–20 (ESV)

They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes.

And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit.

He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain,

for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him.

Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.

And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him.

And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.”

For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”

And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.”

And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country.

Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside,

and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.”

So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.

The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened.

And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.

And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs.

And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region.

As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him.

And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”

And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.

If you are following along in the reading of Mark’s gospel, you will not that between the text that Pastor Mike Montijo preached so well last weekend (give it up for Pastor Mike) and the text we have before us today is one of the more notable scenes in the drama.

Jesus was asleep on a boat with His disciples when a storm arises. The disciples panic. Jesus wakes up and calms the storm.

The whole ordeal leaves Jesus’ disciples “filled with fear” and with a question on their lips; a question that provides the context for the scene we have before us.

Here’s the question from Mark 4:41, “Who is this that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

They said to themselves essentially, “That’s a lot of power. What does Jesus plan to do with it?”

I mean if he can calm a storm with a word, he can absolutely flatten Rome.

But, if he can flatten Rome He can also flatten us.

If this is truly God’s Messiah, this can get exciting. If it is not, this can get really scary.

In this next scene Jesus will begin to demonstrate for His disciples - whom He would soon endow with Kingdom Power - the purpose of Kingdom power.

So, today I want to look at this text together and achieve some clarity on the precise purpose of Kingdom Power.

And since it is Black History Sunday, I thought I’d borrow a phrase from our history.

I want to preach a sermon that I call, “Power To The People”

In the 1960s, young people started writing and speaking the phrase “All Power To The People” as a form of protest against what they perceived as the oppression of The Establishment.

The idea was that instead of political, economic, and cultural power being concentrated among a privileged few, that power should be more equitably distributed within society enabling a kind of empowered self-determination for oppressed and marginalized people.

The phrase at once called for the empowered establishment to relinquish power, AND for the marginalized to rise up and seize power.

The phrase “All Power To The People” simultaneously confronted the two major misunderstanding about power:

The misunderstanding that suggests that power is primarily for personal gain which leads to the misuse and abuse of power

And the misunderstanding that power is inherently dangerous which leads a kind of faux pacifism where we shy away from it.

The church today has similarly embraced a set of twin misunderstandings when it comes to the power that flows from the Kingdom of God.

One the one hand, we want to use Kingdom Power for self-centered, non-Kingdom purposes. And become disillusioned when we can’t access Kingdom Power for our own purposes.

One the other hand, we become afraid to move out for Kingdom purposes, a faux spiritual pacifism that refuses to confront the kingdom of darkness because we are not sure if we will receive from God the Power to see it through.

What we see in the text is that the release of God’s power in the earth is directly connected to God’s mission in the world to save the souls of men and women.

PRAYER

The Power of God Separates People From Their Problems

Jesus and His disciples are going to the Decapolis (a collection of 10 cities formerly part of Syria that were re-established by the Romans).

A lot of people in the Decapolis have a lot of problems: One big problem being that most of them are not Jews, but are Gentiles.

And as soon as they get out of the boat, they are confronted by a man with a huge problem: he is possessed by demons.

The language that Mark uses to describe this man are very important.

This man was likely not a Jew…but Mark does not refer to him as a “Gentile”

He is possessed by a demon, but Mark does not refer to him as a “demoniac”

This is not because Mark does not know this word.

There is a Greek word that means “demon-possessed person” or “demoniac”

In verses 15-18 when speaking from the point of view of Gersarens, Mark uses the Greek word “daimonizomai” to describe the man.

But when Jesus sees Him, Jesus does not see a “demoniac”. Jesus sees “A MAN” who has an unclean spirit.

2000 years before it became politically correct to do so, Mark is using “people first language”.

Mark affirms the man’s humanity

Mark affirms the man’s dignity

Mark affirms the being emerging wildly from the graveyard is HUMAN stamped indelibly with the Imago Dei…the image of God.

Beloved, the power of God helps us to see people right.

The power of God helps us to see that people are more than what they’ve been through.

The power of God helps us to see that people are more than what they did.

The power of God helps us to see that people are more than where they come from or who they voted for in the last election.

The power of God helps us to see that every human person is the outcome that divine brainstorm session when Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all got the same idea at the same time, “LET US MAKE MAN IN OUR LIKENESS AND IN OUR IMAGE”

The Power of God causes us to see that:

The being who walks up and down the streets of your neighborhood is not “Crackhead”, she is a WOMAN with a drug addiction.

That creature you saw on the 10 o’clock news is not “A Thug”, he is a young MAN with a lawless spirit.

When you look with the power of God, you won’t see an “Unwed Mother”, or a “High School Dropout” but a WOMAN and MAN who lacked discipline and exercised poor judgment.

When we begin to see people as ESSENTIALLY separate from their problems, that’s when the power of God can begin flow through us to help EXPERIENTIALLY separate the MAN and the WOMAN from their problem.

I love what Mark does in his use of language because he has a play on words in the text.

He introduces the man with people-first language (a man with an unclean spirit)

Then he shows us how the man’s neighbors see him (a demoniac)

But in verse 18, Mark takes that noun “demoniac” and turns it into a verb in the past tense

Let me show you what this would be like in modern parlance:

There was a woman with a drug addiction.

And all the people came out to see what happened to the “crackhead”

And when Jesus was getting into the boat “the woman who used to be a crackhead” said to Him.

That is the trajectory of the Power of God because the Power of God Separates People from their Problems.

The Power of God Elevates People Above Earthly Possessions

So, Jesus confronts the demon

and the demon begs not to be cast out into the wilderness, but rather into a herd of pigs nearby. Jesus grants the demon this permission and the demon gets into the pigs, drives the pigs mad and they jump off a cliff and drown.

Now the herdsmen who were keeping watch over the sheep have a problem.

And I used to think that was simply a personal financial problem. You know, their livelihood was just destroyed in one afternoon.

But as I researched the text, I began to realize that this was a larger economic problem in the region.

Pigs were a relatively easy animal to cultivate (they eat anything and live anywhere)

The pig was unclean to the largest segment of the population in this region (the Jews) and it was a delicacy to Romans.

The pig industry played a major role in maintaining the peace because it played a major role in provisioning the Roman soldiers.

THAT IS ALL TO SAY THE DEMISE OF THE HOG HEARD WAS NOT INSIGNIFICANT.

That’s why the herdsmen didn’t just go tell they’re boss, they went and told everybody.

And that’s why they asked Jesus to leave.

They didn’t care that their countryman was delivered because their comfort had been disrupted.

We have to recognize that Jesus intentionally juxtaposes this significant loss of earthly possessions with this significant deliverance for this human person.

Jesus is sending a clear message about Kingdom priorities

And the message is this: ONE HUMAN SOUL IS MORE VALUABLE THAN MANY EARTHLY POSSESSIONS.

Think about the reasons Christians skip opportunities to do outreach?

Because of our work schedules

And I gotta clean the house

And I gotta cut the grass

And Johnny has a game

And Susy has a recital

And we are so busy clinging to the accouterments and comforts of this world that we are unable to extend our hands to the lost people in it.

Will the power of God show up while you cut the grass and at Johnny’s Game and Susy’s recital? Maybe…but don’t hold your breath.

But, I can tell you the place where the power of God is always active and ready to be called upon is at the place of conflict where some ambassador of the Kingdom of God is battling to rescue a soul from the kingdom of darkness.

The Power of God Dedicates People To Their People

The man, having been cleansed of the evil spirit, wants to travel around with Jesus. But, Jesus tells the man to go home to his people and keep telling them about what Jesus has done for him.

Two things to recognize:

#1: Jesus doesn’t give up on these people even after they ask Him to leave.

#2: Jesus Christ himself…in the flesh…was not the right person to reach the people of the Gersarenes. But, this man who was from their could reach them.

How much more is God sending you to some sphere of influence…to some community of people

Not just to along to get along

Not just to advance your career

But, to take the good news about Jesus

God Purposes His Power To The People He Wants To Save

The purpose of the power is to rescue the souls of people from the clutches of a sin-sick culture and the eternal damnation to which the God of this world is determined to lead them.

God sends His power to rescue souls of lost men and women.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

to proclaim liberty to the captives

and recovering of sight to the blind,

to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Do we really want to experience the Power of God?

It’s time for us to start aligning our prayers to God's purpose.

Let’s stand together and get in alignment with the purpose of the power of God.

Let’s call on the power of God together. Pray this prayer:

Help me see your image stamped on every human being.

Help me value people above all worldly things.

Help discover my people and take the good news to them with boldness.

Power to the people!