Introduction

The Episode

• A legion of demons, a herd of pigs plummeting off a cliff, and a man living in a graveyard on the outskirts of town -- these are the shocking images of this episode.

  • It is difficult to imagine a sadder depiction of someone made in God's image, but so obviously tarnished and seemingly beyond repair.

• As readers, it seems we should now say to ourselves: I don't know anyone this broken.

But What Are We Meant To See In This Episode?

• Though the narrative brings up interesting little questions -- How do demons work? How many tortured this man? What's up with Jesus allowing them to go into the herd of pigs? -- these aren't the reasons Mark recorded the story in such detail.

• So what are we meant to see in this episode? What is the focus?

1. Christological Emphasis: What do we learn about Jesus' identity?

• The episode is meant to be the sequel to last week's. Remember the massive storm and how the disciples feared for their lives? When Jesus calmed the wind and stilled the waters, they said to one another:

  • "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?" (Mark 4:41)

  • Their question hangs there, looming over our text today. Who then is this? Who is Jesus? This is the question of all of Mark's gospel. He launched his book with a statement about Jesus' identity:

    • "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." (Mark 1:1)

    • So Jesus is the Son of God, and as the readers of Mark, we know this truth, but the characters in the book are learning, coming to discover Jesus' identity.

The Demons

• Mark shows this truth in clever ways. First, notice what the demons said to Jesus. While Jesus commanded the unclean spirit to leave the man, it cried out with a loud voice:

  • "Why are you interfering with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In the name of God, I beg you, don't torture me!" (Mark 5:7, NLT).

  • So the demons know about Jesus! We've already seen this because way back in Mark 1, a demon in Capernaum's synagogue called Jesus "the Holy One of God" (Mark 1:24). And Mark told us the demons "knew him" (Mark 1:34). But this encounter takes things a step further, because not only do they know Jesus is the Son of God, but they beg him not to torture them. Matthew adds that the demons said:

  • "Have you come here to torment us before the time? (Matthew 8:29).

  • So Jesus is presented as the One who is more powerful than the most powerful demons, and who has an appointed time where he will bring them into everlasting punishment.

The Man

• And the story concludes with similar testimony about Jesus' identity. After the villagers ask Jesus to leave their region, the man begs to join Jesus, but Jesus denies the man. Instead, Jesus told the man to:

  • "Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you." (Mark 5:19).

• Jesus wanted the man to praise God for his newfound rightmindedness, so he told the man to tell others how much the Lord had done for him. It was the Lord God who was to get the credit.

  • The man, though, went throughout the region proclaiming:

    • ...how much Jesus had done for him... (Mark 5:20).

Jesus

• Mark wants us to see -- through the calmed storm and the delivered man -- who we are dealing with in Jesus. He is God who became one of us. He is the Lord.

2. Missiological Emphasis: What do we learn about Jesus' mission?

Crossing For One

• It should not be lost on us that Jesus crossed a raging sea for one man. The Good Shepherd had a lost sheep on the other side of Galilee, so he went to rescue him. He had invited his disciples to go to the other side of the lake (4:35). They went. They arrived. He delivered the man. And they left.

• Jesus' whole existence is his mission. That God became flesh, that Jesus is the Son of God Most High dwelling with humanity, speaks of this mission. He came to save us.

One Of Immense Value

• And Jesus made it abundantly clear how valuable this one man was to him.

• Many people have problems with the Sovereign Lord for allowing the demons to go into the herd of pigs. Some explain it away by saying these were Jewish herdsmen who were partaking in something Old Testament Scriptures forbade, the eating of pork. Others say Jesus was judging the Roman occupation since these swine might have been the protein source for the legions of soldiers in that area. And still others say Jesus needed to give the man visible evidence he was free of his demonic torturers -- they had left him and gone into the pigs!

• Whatever Jesus' reason for allowing something that, in our little view of things, is horrific, one thing is clear: Jesus valued the life of one human soul more than 2,000 livestock. The destruction of these pigs was an economic catastrophe for someone, but Jesus felt the price worth the gain of this man's eternal soul.

The Man Was A Seed

• But did Jesus really do all this for one man? Hardly. That one man, backed by a tremendous story the whole region ended up hearing about, had a powerful testimony. As he traveled through the ten-city region called the Decapolis, everyone marveled (20).
• Jesus said the word of the kingdom was like a seed going into the ground (Mark 4:11, 14, 26). On the right soil, that seed could produce crazy fruit -- thirty, sixty, or a hundredfold (Mark 4:20). It goes into the ground and, almost imperceptibly, produces a harvest.
• This man was a seed Jesus planted. Right there in the Decapolis, this man went and declared Jesus.

Our Response

• Jesus has gone to great lengths to reach you. And he hasn't reached you for you alone.

3. Therapeutic Emphasis: What do we learn about Jesus' help for us?

No Place Jesus Won't Go

• It's not that Jesus acted as this man's therapist, but he provided a therapeutic deliverance of the whole man. He put this man in his "right mind."

  • "...Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!" (2 Corinthians 5:17, NLT).

• I want you to see from this story how Jesus is willing to go anywhere to help you. This was not a place or a mission the Jews of Jesus' day would've wanted. The whole story wreaks of uncleanness -- tombs, demons, pigs, and Gentiles!

• But Jesus didn't care about entering into unwanted places to reach unwanted people.

No One Else Could Calm The Man

• No one else could calm this man. I'm sure he had tried to deliver himself but to no avail. And society had certainly tried to help him or at least tried to bind him.

• I have found, over the years, that I cannot control myself. It has only been by the aid of the Spirit, his working in my life, that self-control has come.

  • "I want to do what is good, but I don't. I don't want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. (Romans 7:19, NLT).

  • "Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 7:24–25, NLT).

How Does Jesus Help You?

1. Jesus Intercedes For You

First, even when you are not aware, he intercedes for you, just as he interceded for the man. Jesus lives to make intercession for you (Hebrews 7:25). He does this for you even when you are unaware of his intercession.

2. Jesus Reminds You Of Who You Are

Second, Jesus tries to remind you of your identity, just as he asked the man his name. I think Jesus was trying to break through to the man, grabbing ahold of the man's true identity. Often, when in our wrong mind, we believe the wrong things about us, things contrary to the gospel. Jesus wills to get us to think biblically about who we are in him.

3. Jesus Demonstrates His Power Towards You

Third, Jesus demonstrates his power for you in his death and resurrection, a far greater victory than was displayed when the pigs ran down the embankment into the water. His cross and empty grave are meant to remind you of the radical and powerful victory he wrought in delivering you from brokenness and sin.

4. Jesus Clothes You With His Righteousness

Fourth, Jesus clothes you with righteousness, rightness, and acceptance before God, just as he clothed the man. He cleans you and deposits his perfection into your mind and body. He makes you right with God.

5. Jesus Sends You Out To Testify

Fifth, Jesus sends you out to testify to what he's done in your life, just as he did for the man. The man was far from perfect, and he didn't know much, but he could declare what Jesus had done for him. We can do the same.