So they arrived in the
region of the Gerasenes, across the lake from Galilee. As Jesus was climbing out of the boat, a man
who was possessed by demons came out to meet him. For a long time he had been homeless and
naked, living in a cemetery outside the town. As
soon as he saw Jesus, he shrieked and fell down in front of him. Then he screamed, “Why are you interfering
with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Please, I beg you, don’t torture me!” For Jesus had already
commanded the evil spirit to come out of him. This spirit had often taken control of the
man. Even when he was placed under guard
and put in chains and shackles, he simply broke them and rushed out into the
wilderness, completely under the demon’s power. Jesus demanded, “What is
your name?” “Legion,” he replied, for
he was filled with many demons. The demons kept begging Jesus not to send them
into the bottomless pit. There
happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding on the hillside nearby, and the
demons begged him to let them enter into the pigs. So Jesus gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and
entered the pigs, and the entire herd plunged down the steep hillside into the
lake and drowned. When
the herdsmen saw it, they fled to the nearby town and the surrounding
countryside, spreading the news as they ran. People rushed out to see what had happened. A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, and they
saw the man who had been freed from the demons. He was sitting at Jesus’ feet, fully clothed
and perfectly sane, and they were all afraid. Then those who had seen what happened told the
others how the demon-possessed man had been healed. And all the people in the region of the
Gerasenes begged Jesus to go away and leave them alone, for a great wave of
fear swept over them. So Jesus returned
to the boat and left, crossing back to the other side of the lake. The man who had been freed from the demons
begged to go with him. But Jesus sent
him home, saying, “No, go back to your family,
and tell them everything God has done for you.” So he went all through the town proclaiming
the great things Jesus had done for him. (NLT)
What do you
do with a crazy man? (My wife maintains
she married one!). In a very real sense
the disciples were confronted with their boss, Jesus, whom they couldn’t
understand. He did things…very strange
and wonderful things. They had just
docked at Gadera after a really weird and frightening experience on the
Galilean Sea. It was weird in that they
went through a storm that was so violent the boat was sinking; but they had to
go down in the ship’s hold to wake Jesus up!
He almost slept through all the excitement, but got up to tell the waves
and the winds to “hush”…and they did!
Weird!
Docking at
the Gerasene side they no sooner got the boat tied up than they were confronted
by a wild, shrieking madman. His hair
was matted; he was naked, except for clinging parts of broken chains that
couldn’t hold him down. He was not in
his right mind…to say the least.
His “home”
was living in the tombs that dotted the hillside. The man was like a wild animal, growling and
threatening. Had I been one of the
disciples it would’ve been a hard call to decide which craziness I wanted…the
almost certain death of drowning back on the Sea of Galilee, or this mess.
When the man
saw Jesus the fear started pouring out of him.
In a spiritual “tug-of-war” the demons surrender to Jesus and beg him
not to send them to confinement in the abyss…the place Revelation calls the
final prison for Satan and all his demons.
They chose to enter the pig herd, and that drove the pigs mad…they went
over the cliff.
The man was
healed, and when the townspeople got wind of how this had played out they came
and begged Jesus to leave town. This is
a story of destruction, deliverance and decision.
Destruction
Sin is
destructive; what an understatement! We
all have pictures in our minds of
In America
today we are seeing a quickening pace of total depravity’s toll as we tear God
out of public life. The more proficient
we get at removing prayer, Godliness and
holy living from this generation, the more certainly we will see more and more
Columbines, Darfurs and personal slides down the dark slope of the ride to the
abyss. It is not a pretty picture of a
bright tomorrow for the land of the free!
The
destructiveness of sin running unchecked in the tombs of American media and
behind the closed doors of our communities will bring us down! We, as a nation, are as naked and unhinged as
the Gaderene madman! Destruction!
Deliverance
Jesus dealt
with the man’s fear by confronting him with who he really was; he asked him to
disclose his name. Whether you view this
as entirely a spiritual issue, or a psychological one, it was a masterful way
to begin the counseling session. Can you
possibly NOT think of all your life and the kind of person you are when someone
asks you that personal question?
Jesus does
that kind of thing. His presence creates
a moral crisis. For the demoniac, being
required to announce his character, disclose who he really is…there was only
one outcome, submission to Jesus. The
demons knew his strength…it was only a matter of how – they were going to
do this easy, or they were going to have it hard.
In the
curing of this poor tortured soul we see the principle once again in Scripture
that when you meet Jesus you are never the same again. And that sword cuts both ways; some people
are left for the better, and some decidedly for the worse. Whoa, preacher! You’d better explain that one. Glad you asked, there was destruction…sin’s
slippery slope – and there was deliverance…Jesus’ healing the man – it creates
the need for a…
Decision
The
townspeople were left for the worse; why?
They decided against the Savior, just
like America is doing today. It couldn’t
have been just the loss of a few pigs…it was more, much more.
Seeing the
crazy man sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and sane, was scary. They preferred the wild screams of the man
rather than entertaining this kind of radical transformation. They wanted normal, even if it was painfully
gross; Jesus doesn’t do “normal”.
We do the
same thing when we start to hear about becoming a radical Christian, sold-out
for Jesus. You know, if you really start
to believe in who Jesus really said He was, then you’ve got to entertain the
notion that he could radically change YOU too!
That is scary!
Of course
it’s scary! A little boy asked his Mom
where she and he came from. She gave him
the old “stork story”…the great feathered bird dropped Mom and her little guy
in a white napkin from the sky.
Skeptical, the little guy called Grandma, “Where did you come from?” he
asked. “Oh, I was found under a rock,
darlin’”, she replied. Later that day
the little boy was walking with his best friend from the neighborhood. His friend asked him, “What you thinkin’
‘bout? You look so sad.” The little boy said, “It’s disturbing…there
hasn’t been a normal birth in our family in three generations!”
It’s hard to entertain radical
stuff! The townspeople chose fear over
faith. They opted to live in the
tombs. The demoniac came out of his fear
and began operating in faith. It changed
his life! Where once he roamed the
tombs, fear driving his wildness, robbing his life – now, his one desire was to
follow Jesus and return to the sanity of loving his creator and Lord. This was a man who moved from fear to faith!
This is what
we do today…we come to the table and sit down with the One who is able to
radically-transform our lives. Come, eat
– let the chains fall away…be found sitting at the feet of your Savior, in your
right mind and clothed with his righteousness!
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