Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction:
Scripture Reading:
I once heard a fascinating story on NPR explaining the psychological effects on solitary confinement.
Solitary confinement is a form of imprisonment where a prisoner or inmate will be in an isolated cell from other inmates usually to prevent the inmate from harming others.
There have been studies down that correlate Solitary Confinement and mental illness.
Solitary confinement is a form of imprisonment where a prisoner or inmate will be in an isolated cell from other inmates usually to prevent the inmate from harming others.
It is often reserved for unruly inmates who have repeated violations, have caused riots, or even have murdered others.
Many times it is for dangerous criminals.
Scripture Reading:
And many people have argued that this is a form of cruel and unusual punishment because of the psychological effects it does to a person to be isolated and separated from others.
According to the Journal of American Academy of Psychiatry, Solitary confinement can produce many mental disorders.
It has been observed that people in solitary confinement reported great fear and anxiety, suicidal behavior, schizophrenia, hallucinations, weight loss, depression, and a loss of personal identity.
It can cause fear, anxiety, suicidal behaviors, having hallucinations,
In the interview I heard, an inmate was saying he was someone else.
Tried to attempt suicide.
The secular world may list some of these things as mental illness, but do not have a category for the spiritual of supernatural.
I believe that in some of these cases, some of these inmates may experience a form of demonic oppression and even possession.
And as we turn to our passage this morning, Jesus encounters a man who lived in solitary confinement in the tombs.
A man who was demon oppressed and demon possessed.
He was fearful.
He was schizophrenic.
He was out of control.
He was disillusional.
He was dangerous.
He was suicidal.
And Jesus meets such a man.
Recap
Just as Jesus has the power to calm a violent storm, we see in this text how Jesus has the power to calm a violent man possessed by demons.
And just as Jesus has show his divine power over nature, he shows his divine power over the demonic.
And we see how Jesus has the power to change.
Has the power to make a dead man live.
And Jesus still does that today.
Scripture Reading:
Just as Jesus has the power to calm a violent storm, we see in this text how Jesus has the power to calm a violent man possessed by demons.
This is the reading of God’s Holy Word.
Unclean meant cermonial defilement.
I.
The Demoniac (vv.
1-5)
The Jewish Talmud gave four signs of madness: (1) walking about at night, (2) spending the night on a grave, (3) tearing one’s clothes, and (4) destroying what one was given.
Akin, Daniel L.. Exalting Jesus in Mark (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary) (p.
105).
B&H Publishing Group.
Kindle Edition.
This man fit that description.
I remember we would go to LA as a church to do homeless ministry sometimes.
And there were some interesting individuals on Skidrow.
I remember talking to one man who claimed to be the president and that aliens were going to invade the earth.
Now some would say they were just high on some drugs, and that is possible.
But sometimes I think to myself, some of these people on the streets who talk to themselves, who are high, who really have some bizarre behavior, I wonder if there is any spiritual dimension to that.
Again, secular culture will just want to give a simplistic answer to that.
The drugs.
Schizophrenia.
Isolation syndrome.
Multiple personality disorder.
But again, could there be some spiritual forces at work to keep people oppressed?
And I believe so.
And this man was oppressed.
The Location (v. 1)
The disciples had a long night with Jesus where they almost lost their lives at sea, and now Jesus brings them to the eastern shore of Galilee to a Gentile region called Gerasenes.
Because of textual variants, the exact location of the city has been debated.
The ancient Greek manuscripts, translations, and quotations of the New Testament vary among “Gerasenes,” “Gadarenes,” and “Gergesenes.”
The same variants appear in the parallels in Matt 8:28; Luke 8:26.
“Gerasenes” is probably the original in Mark and Luke, “Gadarenes” in Matthew.
The well-known city of Gerasa, however, was some thirty-three miles from Lake Galilee, and it is improbable that its territory extended to the lake.
Kersa is possibly related to the Greek name Gerasa, and there are steep hills and cave-tombs about a mile to the south.
If Gerasa is to be identified with Kersa, it was probably in the tetrarchy of Philip (Luke 3:1) but was only a mile or two north of the area known as the Decapolis (v.
20).
Uncertainty must remain, however, except for the fact that Mark placed the miracle somewhere on the eastern shore in predominantly Gentile territory.
The “Decapolis” was a loosely connected group of ten Gentile cities that had been set free from Jewish domination by the Roman general Pompey when he occupied Palestine in 63 B.C.
Jews believed that Gentiles were considered unclean.
And places of the dead were considered unclean as they arrive in a location near a tomb.
And an unclean man meets the disciples and Jesus.
This man was scary.
A. He was scary (v. 2)
A. He was scary (vv.1-2)
As soon as they arrive and Jesus step out of the boat, there is a scary looking man charging them like a zombie.
Mark describes the man as having an unclean spirit.
Unclean could mean that the man was ceremonially defiled because he lived in the tombs, but Mark often uses unclean spirit to refer to demonic possession.
And imagine if you were with Jesus.
You were terrified by the violent winds on the boat.
You were terrified by the Son of God in the boat.
And now you are terrified by a violent man charging you like a scary life taking zombie.
Luke tells us the man was naked.
Luke
An unclean demon possessed man living in an unclean and scary place charging you.
It looks like a scene from a dark and scary movie.
And Jesus is in enemy territory and will once again display his power to the disciples.
Not only was the demoniac scary, but this man had unusual super Samson-like strength...
B. He was strong (vv.
3-4)
B. He was strong (vv.
3-4)
Tombs may have been the caves beside the sea.
And the text says that no one could bind him even more.
The village people chained this man like an animal and no one could do anything about it.
The word in other translations is no one could tame him.
He lived like an animal.
He had power to break the shackles and chains.
And no one was able to subdue and bind him.
He was scary, unusually strong, but he was also suicidal.
C.
He was suicidal (v. 5)
Day and night he was talking to himself and crying out.
He was isolated and he was screaming.
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