This morning I was meditating on the passage from Mark 5. This passage follows right after the miracle at the sea where the wind and waves rage in a storm and Jesus and His disciples were in a boat, right in the middle of the storm. Jesus was asleep. His disciples wake Him up and He silences the wind and the raging sea and they say, “Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey Him!”
I believe this backdrop is important as we read further. Mark 5 is about a demon possessed man who terrified everyone in the town. “No one was able to restrain him”, the Bible records in verse 3. “No one was strong enough to subdue him.” (verse 4) The people in the town had tried to restrain the man by binding him in shackles and chains but he “snapped off the chains and smashed the shackles”. Yet the Bible says “when he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and knelt down before Him. And he cried with a loud voice, “What do You have to do with me Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You before God, don’t torment me. For He had told him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”
In the verses following this, we read how Jesus drove out the legion of demons into a herd of about 2,000 pigs that rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned there (verses 11-13). 2,000 pigs!! Now picture that!! Jesus needed 2,000 pigs to allow the demons to flee into. You can imagine what a horrifying man with enormous strength this madman would have been before he got delivered. Imagine a huge herd of beefy pigs making a mad dash for the sea and drowning in it. This must have been a terrifying sight for the herdsmen who were watching over the pigs. Suddenly the peaceful herd of 2,000 pigs had turned violent with immense power to drown themselves on a large-scale suicidal mission. If this had happened in our times, I can imagine this news would have been on front page headlines! This bizarre set of events reached the ears of the inhabitants of the town. Now instead of rejoicing over the return of sanity of the mad man and restoration of the town’s peace, the people in the town were afraid. Afraid of what? Of Jesus!! Of His power.
Interestingly, the country of Gedarenes, where Gerasenes is located means “walled or surrounded”. Their ‘walled’ town was not ready for His miracles. They were not ready for a supernatural intervention from Jesus. They were truly a people within “walls”, cocooned in their own limitedness, enslaved to their own ‘demons’ in the form of the madman. They were apparently a people who were complacent about their bondages. They had learned to live with these. When suddenly Jesus turned their world upside -down and inside-out. He did not fear what they feared. He did not try to contain this man using man-made tools- shackles and chains. Jesus saw right through this man. He did a deep, permanent work in his life than no man could do. Jesus changed his life- forever!!
So what was the difference between the reaction of the madman and the people of the town? The mad man saw Jesus at a distance and came running to Him and knelt before Him- although this was the act of the demons within him submitting to Jesus, it was an act of submitting to authority. Even the demons knew who Jesus was- and they trembled and feared Him. The people of the town came to know who Jesus was from the miracle that just took place. Yet the Bible records: the people saw the man sane and were afraid! (verse 15). Instead of marveling a miracle that had just unfolded before their eyes their reaction was that of fear. Jesus made the people of the town uncomfortable.
I cannot help but think that there were certainly more people in that town that needed healing and deliverance. That needed the shackles to come off from their lives. But they had built walls around themselves that they were unwilling to allow Jesus to break through to reach their hearts. They begged Jesus to leave their town.
I love that this passage follows after the miracle of Jesus calming the raging sea and waves. No one could subdue the storm. But even the wind and the sea obeyed Jesus. No one could subdue or overpower the man who was possessed with many demons. Even the demons obeyed Him and went out from the man and into the herd of pigs. These things which intimated people did not intimidate Jesus.
The disciples were terrified when they experienced the storm in the sea. “Don’t You care that we’re going to die?” they told Jesus. Yet Jesus stilled the storm. The people in the town were terrified of the demon possessed man. He was too strong for them. Yet Jesus delivered the possessed man. He returned to a sane state. He was found by the people in the village “dressed, and in his right mind”. There was no more beastly raging. No more terrifying scenes of ripping off his shackles. Just peace and normality in a town otherwise ridden with fear of ‘the madman living amidst the tombs’.
This brings me to reflect: when Jesus comes seeking me out to help me rid of the storm raging within me and give me peace, how do I respond to Him? Do I beg Him to leave me alone? Or do I like the madman acknowledge His greatness and let Him work in my life, do a permanent change and set me free to be everything I am called to be?
Perhaps you don’t have a storm raging within you. Perhaps you struggle with a bondage of some sort. An addiction. An unhealthy habit. A harmful obsession that keeps you bound. If Jesus were to come to you today to gently rid you of that which is holding you back and set you free to be sane and in the right mind, would you let Him do His work in you? Or would you build a wall around you like the people of Gerasenes?
Prayer
Father, I see that sometimes I hold back from You and Your power instead of trusting You with things I struggle with. I decide to let You do Your work in me and break through those walls I have raised around me and reach my heart. I want to trust You to do Your complete work within me. Help me to trust You Jesus. Amen.