Wholeness Restored
Mark 5:1-20
As Halloween approaches, it seems appropriate to study the Gerasene demoniac. In Mark 4, Jesus explained to his disciples that seed sowers (gospel sharers) recklessly sow the gospel in many soils. Then he took his disciples across a stormy sea to the gates of hell to sow the seed in soil that surprisingly multiplied tenfold.
The man from Gerasene sounds like a Halloween character. He was possessed by a legion of demons (a reference to the Roman military unit that consisted of 6,000 soldiers), lived in a cemetery, exhibited superhuman strength, cried out constantly, and was self-destructive. He undoubtedly appeared to the disciples and to us as a man living in hell.
Sadly, our society consists of many people who, though living, are experiencing hell; they live in conditions that lack God’s presence. Some are homeless and hungry. Some are wracked with illnesses that steal or exaggerate strength. Others cry out consistently with extreme pain and express a variety of self-destructive behavior. We do not have to look far to see demons in our day.
A simple command from Jesus changed everything. The villagers came and discovered the demon-possessed man sitting with Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. The demons were gone. Jesus stormed the gates of hell and redeemed a captive of Satan’s legion! He made the man whole.
The man wanted to go with Jesus, but Jesus gave him a different assignment: “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you” (v. 19). He went to Decapolis (the “10 cities”) and told others about Jesus. He did not possess seminary training, years of Sunday school education, or hours of pew-hardened exegetical instruction. He simply had a life changed by Jesus, a testimony that praised and pointed to God, and a love for people who needed to know God.
The world around us often looks as foreign as a man living among the tombs. Cultural expressions in music, television, and movies; the way people treat and talk to one another; national immorality. Too often it drives us to seek sanctuary in our sanctuaries. But Jesus calls us to storm the gates of hell outside our sanctuary doors with a compassionate testimony about what the Lord has done for us.
What demons has Jesus cast out of you and who have you told?
Scudder– Lessons in the BSL series for the fall quarter are being written by Steve Scudder, former director of missions for Savannah River Association.