Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
Emotion Tone
Anger
0.55LIKELY
Disgust
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Fear
0.68LIKELY
Joy
0.54LIKELY
Sadness
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Language Tone
Analytical
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Confident
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Tentative
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Social Tone
Openness
0.88LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.49UNLIKELY
Extraversion
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Agreeableness
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Emotional Range
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Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
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Anger
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Bible Verse
Context
When we read this text, the first thing that we see and notice is the miracle.
And everybody loves a miracle.
It is what people focus on
But there is a bigger story that this text is telling.
The text presents a conundrum (a problem, puzzle, riddle, a contradiction)
Problem 1 – The Contradiction of Miracle
Text is not just about the man who was healed but...a family, a community, a village, a town and a group of people.
It is about how easy it is to reject Jesus because of Fear and Complain
Destruction Of The Pigs - Economic Resource
When we read you notice that a man (if you read Mark, Luke) was healed, or men (if you read Matthew) were healed.
But the healing led to another problem, the destruction of the herd of pigs (2000)
The pigs symbolises the economic resource and prosperity of the family, people and country
Why did Jesus allow the pigs to be destroyed?
Bearing in mind that these pigs were the source of livelihood (an economic resource) of the people
In essence:
Why heal our brother and allow the destruction of our livelihood at the same time?
Why did you not permit the demon to enter into the ground, or the grave, or the sea?
Why did you allow us to take one step forward and 99 steps back?
What is the point of this miracle?
Problem 2 - The Contradiction of Law
Mark states that the region is the country of Gadarenes (Ga-da-re-nes) located in the Decapolis (a city containing ten regions).
The region was a Gentile region meaning Jesus, being a Jew, was not meant to be there
The situation and conditions at Gadarenes were forbidden by Jewish traditions on the following basis:
Unclean spirit
Dwelling among the tombs (among the dead)
Lived in the Gentile town
Pigs (2000) were in the vicinity
These things are deemed unclean by the Levitical laws i.e. the ceremonial laws (see Leviticus 11)
Israelites were deeply concerned about ceremonial cleanness before God
There are strict Jewish ceremonial laws that forbid a person from touching or coming in contact with people, objects or animals that are deemed unclean
Being unclean was often a result of a physical action i.e. what you touched or ate, or a function of a condition i.e. bodily discharge, skin disease, sickness of the mind.
When a person was deemed unclean, such a person could not come into the presence of the Lord
The effect of being unclean was that you were ostracised (to exclude, banish, excommunicate from society, friendship, conversation, privileges, or country)
It means you were SEPARATED
We can become separated from God by our actions, thoughts, or words and thus we are symbolically unclean
So when Jesus went into this region, He was, in fact, going against, or in breach of, a long-standing holy tradition.
However, all these things and actions are telling us something greater than the miracle
It is revealing to us a relationship that God has with us, which is A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP
But this text shows us the people rejected Jesus because of Fear and Complain
Fear and Complain
Just last week, I got a call from Nigeria between 5:00 and 6:00 am and the first question I asked myself was “who is sick and who has died”.
Immediately I was consumed by the news that it was my brother who was sick and was in the hospital because he has a condition.
I became so angry and annoyed because I was battling another issue here (which is a miracle and I will give the testimony soon).
The next thing I noticed was that I started complaining, grumbling, cursing, lamenting etc.
I grumbled to God saying why would you give me something that I was asking for and then land me into another issue?
While I was dealing with this, on Wednesday my brother called me from Canada telling me that his car was stolen.
Now the irony of this was that he and I just spoke the night before (Tuesday night), and he was calling me from the same car.
This was my Lailaps – my STORM moment!!
Then I prayed and asked God, what are you trying to teach me?
Then I realised what it was and is.
It was in my sermon!
When something traumatic occurs, when you are in the Lailaps, you will feel two common emotions:
Fear
Complain
These emotions were felt by the people when Jesus (God) was involved in their situation
Fear
Fear: (the Lemma Transliteration) φοβέω (Phobeō).
vb. to fear, be afraid.
Refers to the state of being afraid or the experience of becoming frightened
This word originates from (the Root) - φόβος (Phobos).
n. masc.
fear, terror.
Refers to the emotion elicited by a sense of alarm or danger or anticipation of a negative experience
This fear is the same fear the disciples felt in:
Mark 4:40–41 (NKJV)
40 But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful?
How is it that you have no faith?”
41 And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”
The text tells us that the people felt FEAR
when they saw the effect of the miracle of insurmountable proportions of the healing of the demoniac
Fear is a strong psychological emotion which evokes a strong physiological response and change
We become tense, our blood pressure increases, our breathing changes
When we feel fear we respond with either flight or fight reaction
For this text, I want to focus on the fight response
To fight does not always mean you exchange physical blows
Fight can be verbal i.e. abusive words or to complain strongly:
Grumble
Accuse
Criticise
Denounce
Disagree
Lament
Moan
Oppose
Protest
Complain
We notice that when the disciples were in the storm, they were afraid (felt fear).
But when they saw the situation not getting any better, they complained to Jesus!
To complain is to express ingratitude or discontent in an unjustified way
The book of Exodus 14:10-12 demonstrates the interplay of Fear and Complain
Our text indicates to us that the people complained – expressed discontent – to Jesus by pleading (imploring) Him to leave
Result
Sometimes pain or loss can seem so unbearable that we are blinded to the good favour of God
We want or tend to distance ourselves from Him
But when we feel hurt, pained, lost or loss, when we feel emptiness, when we feel down and out when the Lailaps crashes on us, that is the time we run to Jesus and not from Jesus
That is the time to invite Him in and not to shut the door at Him
That is the time we remain under His will
Revelation
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