Sermon Tone Analysis

Welcome! Kyle; working through Mark’s Gospel.

As we’ve worked our way through this Gospel, the main thing we’ve seen again and again, is that Jesus is God’s King.

The King who has come to bring in the Kingdom, but a King like no other.

An unexpected King, a surprising King, and our passage today highlights that again.

In this passage, we see three different scenes and each scene highlights something different about what kind of King he is.

So we’re going to look at this episode through those three scenes.

And the thing we learn about him from the first scene is that He is...

The ‘unclean’ King (v 1-5)

Because of the place he chose to go: verse 1—the Gerasenes.

We know that it’s an unclean place because it is a gentile area, known as the Decapolis (which means 10 cities).

These ten cities were showcase cities of pagan Hellenistic (Greek) culture, and occupied by the unclean Gentiles.

Now, the term ‘unclean’ is a technical word in the sense that it means ‘defiled’.

Now, there’s a big biblical backstory to this: according to the OT worldview, there was a fundamental contrast between holiness and uncleanness.

God is holy, whereas those who oppose him are considered unclean.

And who are those who oppose him?

The Gentiles (anyone who wasn’t Jewish).

So Jesus the King, God’s Holy King, arrives in an unclean place, occupeied by unclean Gentiles: the Romans who had occupied Israel—wrongfully so.

Their very presence in the Holy Land would have been considered illegitimate and their very way of life viewed as wrong.

So the King, surprisingly, goes to an unclean place in Gentile territory.

We know that it’s an unclean place because it is a gentile area, known as the Decapolis (which means 10 cities).

These ten cities were showcase cities of pagan Hellenistic (Greek) culture and ideals, and occupied by the Gentiles.

Now, in this particular case, the gentiles in question were the Romans who had occupied Israel—wrongfully so.

And their very presence in the Holy Land would have been considered illegitimate and their very way of life viewed as wrong.

So the King, surprisingly, goes to an unclean place in Gentile territory.

So the place was unclean, but it gets worse: the theme includes not just the place but the Pigs!

This is an area that had around 2,000 pigs.

That’s a lot of uncleanness in one area.

This may surprise you because we like pigs.

But by Jesus’ day the pig had become a symbol of paganism (cf.

; ), and so something to be avoided, whether it was alive or already someone’s food, at all costs.

This, in part, is because Torah classifies the pig as an unclean animal and so forbidden for food (; ).

In fact, not just the law but also the prophets spoke against pigs.

For example, take a look at .

God spoke against the Jews...

So pigs were considered defiling.

Furthermore, the revulsion towards was increased by the strong-arm tactics of the Seleucids, who attempted to force Jews to sacrifice and eat pigs.

Finally, the boar was the symbol of the 10th Roman Legion.

The point is, not only was this an utterly unclean place it was filled to the brim with utterly unclean animals.

So pigs were considered defiling.

Furthermore, the revulsion towards was increased by the strong-arm tactics of the Seleucids, who attempted to force Jews to sacrifice and eat pigs.

Finally, the boar was the symbol of the 10th Roman Legion.

The point is, not only was this an utterly unclean place it was filled to the brim with utterly unclean animals.

Ben Witherington III, The Gospel of Mark: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm.

B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2001), 179.

, economy, Romans being fed and profits being made.

Yet Jesus goes there.

And yet it is the place where the King chooses to go.

The disciples, I imagine, were less than thrilled.

Having just survived a near death experience in a horrible storm, the disciples now find themselves in unclean territory surrounded by unclean animals.

As they disembark from the boat the smell of the pigs must have filled their nostrils and sunk their hearts.

Pigs, economy, Romans being fed and profits being made.

Yet Jesus goes there.

But perhaps, thinks Peter, Jesus has come to this unclean place to meet with the influential culture-shapers.

Yes, why, look at all these pigs—there must be about 2000 of them.

Perhaps the owner is nearby and Jesus will convert him so that he can use his wealth and influence for the Kingdom.

Well, a person does come along.

But probably not the person the disciples were hoping for.

You see, not only are they in an unclean place with unclean pigs, but they also meet an unclean person (verse 2).

Notice the details of the man Jesus encounters:

Verse 2: He has an impure, or unclean, spirit.

Remember, the essence of uncleanness is opposition to God—and this impure spirit is certainly opposed to God.

The man with the unclean spirit lives in the unclean tombs.

Tombs, where dead people were placed, were also considered unclean in Jewish Law.

That’s because holiness doesn’t just mean purity, it also means life.

God himself is full and perfect life, so that death is the very antithesis of holiness—so uncleanness is often associated with death.

Being in the tombs defiled you; living in the tombs made you unclean.

A naked man

This man had superhuman strength: read verses 3b-4.

This may seem implausible but there are recorded stories of superhuman strength when people are under duress.

Here’s just one example, posted by a well-regarded magazine, The Scientific American.

It’s about a man called Tom Boyle, who lifted a car off a cyclist:

A strong man

It was about 8:30 P.M. on a warm summer evening in Tucson.

Tom Boyle, was sitting in his pickup truck, waiting to pull out into traffic when a Camaro ahead of them hit the gas, spun his wheels, and jerked out onto the avenue with a squeal of rubber.

Boyle saw a shower of red sparks flying up from beneath the chassis of the Camaro.

And something else: A bike, folded up from impact.

The Camaro had hit a cyclist, and the rider, an 18-year old boy, was pinned underneath the car.

Boyle threw open the door of the truck and started running after the car.

After 20 or 30 feet, the Camaro slowed and stopped.

The cyclist screamed in agony, pounding on the side of the car with his free hand.

Without stopping to think, Boyle reached under the frame of the car and lifted.

With a sound of groaning metal, the chassis eased upward a few inches.

"Mister, mister, higher, higher," the cyclist screamed.

Boyle braced himself, took a deep breath, and heaved.

The front end lifted a few more inches.

"'OK, it's off me," they boy called out, and the driver of the car pulled him free.

At last, about 45 seconds after he'd first heaved the car upward, Tom Boyle set it back down.

Of course, there was a lot of celebration.

But the mystery was how Tom Boyle could lift something so heavy for so long.

To put it in perspective.

The world record for lifting a barbell is 1,008 pounds.

A Camaro weighs 3,000 pounds.

When we find ourselves under intense pressure, fear unleashes reserves of energy that normally remain inaccessible.

We become, in effect, superhuman.

An unclean man

This man was also violent: read verse 5.

It is an awful description of someone at their worst, at their most tormented, and their most helpless.

Unclean, violent, presumably naked, and alone.

This is the person that Jesus meets.

Mark wants us to know what kind of King we are dealing with: the kind of King who would travel across the sea to meet a man with an unclean spirit, who was living among unclean tombs, surrounded by unclean animals, in unclean Gentile territory.