Mark 5:1-20
Sermon Notes
3 Big ideas:
1. Jesus has all authority over evil.
2. Jesus will go to great lengths to track down people who otherwise would be beyond reach.
3. Those whom Jesus has saved have a story to tell.
1 John 3:8b says, The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
Now, we see Jesus doing just that.
5 They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes.
This was part of a territory known as the Decapolis, or ten cities, which had been basically overrun by Gentiles and Gentile culture. As we’re about to see, there are several indications in the text itself that this was an “unclean” place for Jews.
Jesus is going to this unclean place to reach a particularly unclean individual.
2 And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. 3 He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, 4 for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.
Three things that make this man particularly “unclean”:
First, notice that he has an “unclean spirit”. That is, he is demon possessed. His body is inhabited by demons.
Next, notice it says he has been living among the tombs.
Third, if you look down at verse 11 you’ll notice that this man was not only living among the tombs, he was also living among a herd of pigs.
6 And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him.
“The Greek verb for “fell down before him” denotes prostrating oneself before a person to whom reverence or worship is due, even kissing his feet or the hem of his garment.”
James Edwards put it like this: “When demonic meets divine, it is a no contest event.”
7 And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?
The demons always know who Jesus is…
1:24 (When Jesus encounters a demon possessed man in the synagogue… “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are––the Holy One of God.”
3:11 “And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.”
But in this particular instance, this man uses a unique title for Jesus: Son of the Most High God.
In Judaism, “Most High God” was a way of distinguishing the God of Israel over and above the pagan gods of the nations.
And since we are in Gentile territory, where they worshiped a plurality of gods, this is a clever way of emphasizing that Jesus is not just the Son of a God; He is the Son of the MOST High God––Higher than any of their other gods.
I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” 8 For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”
This is a highly ironic moment.
In pagan religious practice, it was believed that if you could use the precise name of your adversary, you could gain mastery over him.
The demoniac is attempting to specifically identify Jesus (which he does), and then evoke the strongest appeal to authority he can think of, which is “I adjure you by God…”
But the irony is, the true God he is appealing to is the very one who is standing right in front of him.
9 And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.”
Legion is a military term. A Roman legion had over 5k soldiers.
That doesn’t necessarily mean there were 5k demons in this man.
But, at the very least, we know that this man was so overrun by demons that he had lost all sense of personal identity. It was truly a sad situation.
10 And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. 11 Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, 12 and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.” 13 So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.
Why would Jesus give the demons permission to destroy the pigs?
Two speculations:
First: It wasn’t time for him to destroy demonic forces completely. That day is coming. And the demons knew it.
In fact, in Matthew’s parallel account of this incident, it says the demons said, “What have you to do with us… Have you come to torment us before the time?”
So both parties knew that Satan’s kingdom was on borrowed time. The end was near. But Jesus honors the fact that that day was not today. So He allows them their request.
Second, it’s possible that by allowing the demons to enter the pigs and kill them, Jesus was putting on full display what the demons intended to do to this man. Their presence in him meant his total and utter destruction, if it wasn’t for Jesus.
This also highlights the fact that, while the loss of the pigs was a tragedy for the farmers, there was something exceedingly more important at stake: the rescue of a human soul.
Jesus will go to great lengths to rescue a single person.
Jesus has gone to great lengths to rescue you and I.
If we use Ephesians 2 as a template, we see that before Christ found us, we were spiritually, what this man was literally.
We may not have been literally living among the tombs… but…
Ephesians 2:1–10 (ESV):
2 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked,
We may not have been inhabited by demons, but according to verse 2 we were…
following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind,
We may not have been excommunicated from society, and living among the pigs, but according to verse 3 we were…
by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
That is, we were collectively relegated to the other side of the lake, away from the presence of God. Away from His grace and goodness.
And we were by our very nature unclean.
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
It’s easy to read a story like this and imagine ourselves as part of Jesus’ band of followers.
Or maybe as one of the pig herders, watching in horror as our pigs drown.
Or maybe just as a casual townsperson grateful to have the crazy guy taken care of.
But in this story, you and I are most accurately represented by the demoniac.
We were destitute. We were enemies of God. We were out of our minds, unable to choose God on our own.
And Jesus did the unthinkable. He went to the other side, through a storm, just to find us.
He stepped into our world, into our brokenness.
Took on frail human flesh, endured temptation, endured the cross
To rescue us.
But there’s more to the story.
And there’s more to our story.
14 The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. 15 And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. 16 And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. 17 And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region.
On the theme of fear…
Jesus calms the storm, the disciples are no longer afraid of the storm but they are filled with reverent fear of Jesus.
Jesus rescues this man from demonic possession, the townspeople are no longer afraid of this wildman, but they are filled with reverent fear of Jesus.
Someone greater than the storm is here.
Someone greater than the demons is here.
18 As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. 19 And he did not permit him
Why not let this guy come?
Jesus had other plans for him.
but said to him,
“Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” 20 And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.
If we’ve encountered Jesus and been delivered from evil and sin, and been transformed… we have a story to tell.
Notice who Jesus told this man to go tell…
“Go home to your friends…”
Oikos in Greek.
Notice what he told him to tell them:
How much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.
For Dinner Group discussion:
Do you identify with the demoniac in his need of Jesus to save Him?
Who are some people in your oikos––people you see regularly who need you to point them towards Jesus.
What are you currently doing to reach them and tell “how much the Lord has done for you”?
What would happen if you started praying for these people regularly?
What is at stake if you don’t reach those people?