Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction
Last week we saw Jesus and His disciples out in a boat at night, when a ferocious storm blew in.
In that passage, we saw Jesus’ disciples really did not understand who Jesus really was.
And they did not understand His immense power!
I can’t blame them, because there are many times in my life when I really don’t understand the immense power that Jesus really has!
In our passages last week, this week, and over the next couple of weeks Jesus is going to reveal more and more of His mighty power.
If you have your Bibles, I want to encourage to turn with me to Mark chapter 5.
And we’ll begin reading with verse 1.
This morning we pick up the story where we left off last week.
So, in order to get the power of this story, let me set the stage.
Jesus and His disciples were sailing across the Sea of Galilee.
Jesus was asleep in the back of the boat.
A huge storm began to swamp the boat.
The disciples were afraid—cowardly.
They woke Jesus up and accused Him of not caring about their situation.
Jesus calmed the storm—it was completely calm.
Jesus asked them why they were so cowardly, and why they still were faithless.
Now the disciples—people who had been with Jesus for a while—were “terrified!”
They were shocked that the wind and the waves obeyed Jesus’ commands!
Gerasenes or Gadarenes?
NOW—look at verse 1!
There is some question of the exact location.
Mark and Luke both refer to the area of the Gerasenes.
This was would have been on the eastern shore of the Sea about the middle of the lake, near the city of Gerasa—some 30 miles from the Sea of Galilee.
Matthew says the even happened on the southeastern shore of Galilee in the region of the Gadarenes near the city of Gadara which is 5 miles from the Galilee.
Mark and Luke seem to have the best argument for the exact location—the shore closest to Gerasa is made up of steep clift like areas that are filled with caves.
Archaeologist have discovered a small chapel that dates back to the fifth century A.D. This suggests that the area had some religious significance to the early church.
Jesus and the Demoniac
As soon as Jesus stepped out of the boat He is met with a man that is demon possessed.
Now here too we have a conflict between the gospels of Mark and Matthew.
Mark and Luke say there was ONE man.
Matthew says there were two men.
It was not uncommon for demon possessed people to live away from others our in the caves which were often used for tombs.
Perhaps this man was the worst of the demoniacs.
Look at the characteristics of this person.
Characteristics
He lived among the tombs—isolated from others.
No one could bind him—supernatural strength.
No one could subdue him—supernatural strength.
Night and day he wandered among the tombs in the hills—sleepless and restless.
He would cry out all the time—eerie, loud cries and moans.
He often cut himself with stones—self-mutilation.
The Man’s Reaction to Jesus
The man runs to Jesus and falls on his knees before Jesus—the demons know exactly how Jesus is.
He shouted—at the top of his voice—asking Jesus what he wants to do.
This is apparently the demon speaking.
Notice that the demon acknowledges exactly who Jesus is, “Jesus, Son of the Most High God.” Then the demon begs Jesus not to torture him.
Jesus Response to the Demon
Mark lets us know that the first thing Jesus did was command the demon to come out.
Yet we see them having a conversation.
Jesus asks the demon’s name—this lets us know Jesus knows every being—both the angelic ones and the demonic ones—He knows them all!
The demon says his name is “Legion for we are many.”
The Romans used the term Legion to describe a group of 6,000 soldiers.
Here, it is used to tell us there was a lot of demonic beings possessing this man.
Finally, the demon pleads with Jesus not to send them out of the area—this could be translated, do not send us to a desolate place where we cannot torment something.
Luke records their pleas as, “they begged him repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.”
This was thought to be a place of final confinement, and was a place where they could not torture anyone.
The Abyss is referred to in Revelation 20:1-3.
Now comes the fun part of the story.
The region that they are in was filled with Gentiles.
So it should come as no surprise that there were herds of pigs on the hillside close by.
Look at verse 11.
Legion, begins to beg Jesus to allow them to go into the pigs.
Look at verse 13.
So Jesus allows Legion—the demons to go into the pigs!
The demons come out of the man, and go into the pigs.
And the entire herd of pigs—around 2,000 of them in number—rush down the steep bank into the lake and they all drown.
Can you imagine the financial loss?
Can you imagine being one of the herdsmen—one of those responsible for caring for the pigs—maybe they would be held responsible for the loss.
Look at their response.
The Response of the Herdsmen
The herdsmen run off and to report to the people all that has happened!
As you can imagine all the people come out to see this strange thing that happened.
The Local People’s Response
But what they find, is the man that had been possessed by Legion, just sitting there.
He was fully dressed, and he was in his right mind!
This should have excited them.
It should have thrilled them to see this man’s suffering relieved, but instead they are afraid!
This terrified them.
Can’t you see it now?
The people come out want to know what happened!
They begin to ask questions and verse 16 tells us what happened next.
Notice that it says, “Those who had seen it. .
.”
Who were those “who had seen it.”
There were the herdsmen—they had seen at least part of the ordeal.
And of course there were the followers of Jesus.
Perhaps those who were in the other boats that traveled across the sea with Jesus’ boat or even His disciples told their story.
What we know is that they told the towns people about what happened to the pigs, and they told them what happened to the demon possessed man!
Once again, their response is one of fear!
Look at verse 17.
Why did they want Him to leave?
Why were they not excited about the miracles He performed?
Were they afraid of further financial ruin?
Or were they afraid this man would challenge them to change the way they lived there life?
For whatever reason, these people pleaded with Jesus to leave their region!
They wanted NOTHING to do with Him—so they missed Jesus!
QUESTION: How many people around us struggle with accepting Jesus for the same reasons?
QUESTION: How many of us miss Jesus working in our lives for these same kind of reasons?
Demoniac’s Response
The one person in this story that did not miss Jesus was the demon-possessed man!
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