When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured. Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and left.
(verses 34-37)
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I’ve often thought of this passage as a New Testament horror story. It’s got all of the creepy trappings of graveyard and wild-eyed lunacy and croaking demonic voices. But the real horror comes in geography.
The demons plead with Jesus “not to order them to go into the Abyss” (verse 31) – or, as Mark simply puts it in his account, they beg him “not to send them out of the area” (Mark 5:10). And Jesus grants their request. He gives them permission to go into a nearby herd of pigs – so that’s exactly what they do. You can imagine the demonic presence, that legion of sinister personalities, swarming the pigs, infesting their brains and bodies, terrorizing them through and through, resulting in them charging forward pell-mell, crashing into one another in blind terror, rushing off the cliff’s edge to their death in the lake-water below. The pigs died. But the demons were still geographically present.
The pig-herders rushed off to report the terror in the nearby town. Over time they had gotten fairly comfortable with the presence of the crazed demoniac living in the tombs. Often, they’d tried to chain and bind him, but with super-human strength he’d broken all bonds, each and every time. They’d ended up striking a certain truce. They simply gave him a wide berth.
But this new development was different. Everyone gathered. They surveyed the scene: the hillside emptied of pigs, the carcasses floating near the shore, the desolate tombs, the broken chains. They took it all in, perceiving the dusty, lonely, sinister oppressiveness of it all. And in the midst, they saw the man sitting there, clothed, in his right mind, a smile on his face and intelligence in his eyes. And seeing him there, just like that, the crowd was terrified.
“Leave us alone,” they pleaded with Jesus. “Hit the road. Give us a wide berth. Exit this region. Stay away.”
So, Jesus complies. In this is the horror. That swarming demonic contingent is still present. But Jesus, they’ve sent away. The story illustrates the tragic foolishness of human choices that push away the Lord.
Meanwhile, shalom has taken up residence in the life of this man who had previously been invaded by fractious discord. Filled with sanity and joy he passionately begs Jesus that he might travel with him, leaving that region far behind.
Ironically, his is the only request Jesus denies. For the sake of those who have chosen against him, Jesus sends the man back home to share with family everything God has done for him and to live out among them the mercy he himself has so abundantly received.
Darkness settled in that region. Human choices and spiritual forces of wickedness coalesced to put up barriers to the kingdom. But the Lord planted one of his newly redeemed agents within that enemy territory to shine light into darkness.
In that is hope. Who knows? Did some of those folk later became members of the fledgling early church, tracing their own redemption back to the testimony of a raving lunatic who ended up clothed and in his right mind? Eternity will tell.
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Lord, give me eyes to see spiritual realities, ready to engage in your kingdom work. I offer myself to you right here, in this very region you have placed me. Use me, O Lord.
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Reflect:
We, too, each live in enemy territory. Ask the Lord to use you today for his purpose. Then, watch for the opportunities. Bear witness in word and deed.
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Photo by Wendy Scofield on Unsplash
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