Who is Jesus?
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Please turn in your Bibles to Mark 5:1-20. This fall we began a journey together through the Gospel of Mark, where we have been asking if there is any good news. As you’re finding our passage for today, I want to quickly remind us of where we’ve been on this journey since we took a little break to celebrate Advent and Christmas.
The Gospel according to Mark is most likely Peter’s testimony, whispered to Mark through prison bars as Peter waited to be executed. What we are reading is meant to feel fast paced with not all the details because Peter didn’t know how much time he had left. He was telling us what he remembered with one purpose in mind: he wanted people to know who Jesus was. And from the very first sentence in Mark it was clear: Peter believed Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God. The rest of the Gospel goes on to explain why Peter could believe it from what he had seen, what he had witnessed Jesus do.
In the first 4 chapters we saw Jesus prove time and again that Jesus has authority over sickness, demons, and even nature. He can do exactly what God can do, and that the Kingdom Jesus came to establish was nothing like the kingdom that the Jewish people were expecting. Jesus consistently reached out and invited those who were outcast and marginalized into community. Where the religious leaders tried to maintain holiness through their piety and purity laws, Jesus pushed back and showed how God cared more about people than their religious practices. This Messiah was not what the people were expecting, but he was what they desperately needed.
Last week Charles brought us a timely message about Jesus’ authority over the wind and the waves as proof that Jesus can do exactly what God can do. The mindset back then was that no god could have authority over sea, and land, and people, and spirits. Every people group had several gods for each part of their life and world. The only God that claimed to be the Most High God of the whole Universe, was the God of Israel. So the fact that Jesus could heal the sick, cast out demons, and silence the wind and waves… these were clear proofs that Jesus was indeed as powerful as the Most High God. The last line of chapter 4 reads: They (the disciples) were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” The disciples, who had been walking with Jesus for a while and already seen him do amazing, powerful, counter cultural things: they asked Who Is This? Over the next few weeks as we look forward to Easter, we will be discovering the answer to this question through the rest of the Gospel of Mark: Who is Jesus? And what difference does that make in my life? Now let’s listen in to the very next thing that happens after Jesus stills the storm and the disciples ask, “who is this?”
Mark 5:1-20
They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. 2 When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him. 3 This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. 4 For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.
6 When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. 7 He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!” 8 For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!”
9 Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”
“My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” 10 And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.
11 A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. 12 The demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.” 13 He gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.
14 Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. 15 When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. 16 Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man—and told about the pigs as well. 17 Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.
18 As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. 19 Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” 20 So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.
Let us pray.
In order to grasp the breadth and depth of what Jesus does in this historical account, we need to understand some cultural background. The region that Jesus and his disciples land on in their boat is in is part of the Decapolis, a region mostly inhabited by Gentile people (which are people who were not Jewish). It was a common belief at this time that tombs were inhabited or haunted by evil spirits and people in nearby villages would bring gifts to try to appease these spirits so that they would not cause problems. It also a common ancient belief that demons or spirits were tied to specific locations and did not move from region to region. From a Jewish perspective, tombs were unclean, the Gentile land was unclean, and demons or unclean spirits were also unclean.
The first few lines of this story that describe the man possessed by demons provide a tremendous amount of detail when most of Mark tends to be brief and to the point. As we read along, by the time you get to the third sentence you might be wondering “why are we still talking about how bad this guy is?” and then you see the word shatter. In English we read that he broke the chains and fetters used to bind him, but a closer reading of the Greek could read “the chains he tore apart and the shackles he completely shattered (broke in pieces, crushed, smashed).” In the original language it catches you by surprise and almost sends shock-waves down your spine. This guy had super-human strength because of the demons that possessed him. He was terrifying.
The disciples had just been terrified as Jesus calmed the storm, and now they were facing a man who seemed untamable and was equally terrifying. Have you ever been in a situation where it felt like things could not get worse and then somehow they do? You’re in a stormy situation and then it feels like the horde of hell are trying to shatter your life into pieces? The disciples must have been about to lose their minds with the fear. What is Jesus going to do?
The man, however, as soon as Jesus is present, runs to him and prostrates himself in a way that communicates Jesus is the one with authority here. The body language does not match the words, however, as the demon possessed man SHOUTS at the top of his lungs “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!” While this might seem like a simple enough thing to say, these words reveal that an enormous power struggle is taking place. In ancient thought, names equaled power. When you spoke someone’s name, you were invoking everything about that person: their family history, their political or social status, their gifts and strengths. Names were powerful. By speaking the name Jesus, Son of the Most High God, the demons were trying to show they had power over Jesus. Even the phrasing they used “In God’s name don’t torture me” was a common phrase used to curse someone if they did not comply. The demons were used to being in charge and they wanted it to stay that way.
This is the only instance in all of scripture where Jesus asks a demon for a name, which would have been necessary for controlling the demon in ancient thought. But Jesus doesn’t even need to use the name once the demons tell him. Jesus probably asked so that the disciples who were standing there listening would understand how significant this power struggle really was. One Jesus against a legion of demons. A Roman legion had somewhere between 5000-6000 troops. The hordes of hell were in a standoff against the Son of God.
This legion attempts to wield its power against Jesus and when it fails and asks permission to destroy some pigs. They didn’t want to be tortured, and somehow the pigs seemed like a better option. Why does Jesus say yes? Ancient Jewish tradition taught that demons could die or be trapped by water. By going into the pigs, the demons were either destroyed or trapped and powerless. The Jewish people felt a strong correlation between pigs, paganism, and persecution. Their people in recent history had been given the choice to eat the flesh of pigs or die a brutal death at the hands of the ones who had invaded their land. Seeing the pigs destroyed by the demons might have felt like redemption to the disciples. Since Jews considered pigs to be ceremonially unclean (not dirty), we can safely assume this was a Gentle community, one that likely raised pigs for their meat and trade. Pigs reproduce quickly, 2000 pigs may not have been a huge economic loss. It was enough, though, to catch the attention of the neighboring village.
These people asked Jesus to leave because they were terrified of the power he wielded over this demon possessed man with superhuman strength. The legion of demons who had this one man in captivity for so long were now captives themselves to the Son of God, Jesus. And Jesus set this man free from captivity so that he could go home to tell everyone what GOD had done for him so that they could be free from the captivity of sin. The disciples had asked in the boat on the way here “Who is this?” and Jesus answers that question in his instructions to the man who had been demon possessed. Go and tell what GOD has done for you.
Who is beyond God’s redemptive reach? Is there someone in your life who you think is beyond repair? Too wild or abusive to change? Jesus sees a hope and a future where we can see only chains.
Though Jesus was so tired he had to be carried into the boat and slept through a storm, it seems the only reason he came to the other side of the lake was to heal and send this man out as an apostle. As soon as Jesus sends the man away, they get back in the boat and leave! This single man might be the reason why even today you can go to the Decapolis and see church after church after church
You matter to God. The whole Decapolis mattered. The demoniac mattered. And Jesus who is God cares enough about you to face the hordes of hell to see you set free.