A Strange Miracle

Mark 5

They came to the other side of the sea, to the region of the Gerasenes.  And when he had stepped out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met him.He lived among the tombs, and no one could restrain him any more, even with a chain, for he had often been restrained with shackles and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and the shackles he broke in pieces, and no one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always howling and bruising himself with stones. When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed down before him, and he shouted at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” For he had said to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.”He begged him earnestly not to send them out of the region. Now there on the hillside a great herd of swine was feeding, and the unclean spirits begged him, “Send us into the swine; let us enter them.” So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine, and the herd, numbering about two thousand, stampeded down the steep bank into the sea and were drowned in the sea.

The swineherds ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came to see what it was that had happened. They came to Jesus and saw the man possessed by demons sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the legion, and they became frightened. Those who had seen what had happened to the man possessed by demons and to the swine reported it. Then they began to beg Jesus to leave their neighborhood. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed by demons begged him that he might be with him. But Jesus refused and said to him, “Go home to your own people, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and what mercy he has shown you.” And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone was amazed. (Mark 5)

I was a witness to so many of the amazing things that Jesus did. But I have to say that, of all his miracles, this was perhaps the strangest one of all. I will explain.

But first, let me set the scene. To begin with, you must understand how shaken we already were by another miracle of Jesus, one that had just occurred. Oh, and by the way, you should know that I am one of his followers, what you will, in your time, call “apostles.” And no, I am not one of the prominent ones whom you likely know so well, but instead, one who is mostly in the shadows. I prefer the background and I hope to stay there. So, probably, by your time, I will have been long forgotten.

Anyway, what was the miracle that had just occurred? You will remember, I hope, that it involved a terrible storm and that Jesus, asleep in our boat, had to be awakened to save us by calming the wind and the waves. We had never seen anything like it, and our amazement did not, I assure you, diminish over time. We still talk about it. And I have to say that the fear of that experience has not left me. I even have had bad dreams, picturing myself back in that boat. And I must add that, today, returning to the boat to go across the lake made me really think!

But, as we arrived on the other side, the Gentile side, our attention was immediately drawn to a strange figure. The figure appeared to be a man, yes, a man, who was running toward us as we tied up our boat.

Actually, my first thought was to get back in the boat! I mean, this man was not only strange, as I said, but he was also extremely fearsome. Totally naked, skin blackened by the blistering sun, covered in hair and dirt, he ran at us as if to attack. Broken shackles were on his wrists and ankles, indicating that he’d been imprisoned at some point.

Oh, and to make matters worse, he was screaming! Yes, he was running at us, screaming at the top of his lungs. My first reaction was to close ranks with my brothers, and to look to Jesus to see what he might do. I hoped he would retreat from this menacing figure, but, of course, with Jesus, we never knew what to expect.

Bowing before Jesus, the man cried out, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” That’s what the man was screaming. And then, I realized that Jesus had already spoken, charging, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”

It was then that I could tell that the strange voice was not the man’s voice. No, not at all. Instead, the guttural words came, not from him, but instead, from an evil spirit inside of him, what we in our time call a “demon.”

And so began an exchange, a conversation of sorts, between the demon and Jesus. It was almost as if the demon, in truth, many demons, called “Legion” were bargaining with Jesus. You can read about the exchange and about what transpired.

Mosaic from Basilica of Sant Apollinare Nuovo

Ravenna, Italy 6th century

Meanwhile, those of us who had accompanied Jesus were cowering behind him, still terrified.

You know the rest of the story, how Jesus drove the demons out of the man, and how they entered the swine. But, as usual, I had some questions. First, did the demons die when the pigs drowned? Honestly, I don’t know. And could Jesus have killed the demons outright? I don’t know that either, though I can tell you that, to my knowledge, Jesus never killed anyone. But was this different? I mean, these were agents of Satan, not men.

More questions: I, of course, will never know how the demons singled out this particular man. Was he especially susceptible? Was he a bad person to begin with? Was he being punished?

All that I can deduce is that he was sent out of his village, exiled to live alone among the tombs. Was that before or after the demonic invasion? I don’t know. Clearly, though, he was not welcome back among his fellow citizens. And just as clearly, he had totally lost all self-control. The demons dominated him.

And truthfully, what did the man want of Jesus? Many people healed by Jesus asked for his healing touch. But not this man. Did he want to rid himself of the demons? I will come back to that in a moment.

Before going on with more questions, let me add some observations. First, this entire experience was extremely repugnant to us, good Jews that we were. I mean, we were already outside the borders of our own land, in a place of unclean people, some of whom herded pigs, and one of whom was contaminated by demons and was living among the dead. It would be hard to violate more kosher laws than we noted in just the first five minutes after our arrival.

But Jesus was not deterred. No, good Jew that he was, Jesus nevertheless put himself into the heart of this situation, not fearing exposure to any uncleanness nor to any danger from the man or the demons. He clearly had the power recognized by the demons as the “Son of the Most High God.” It’s certainly ironic that no one else seemed to know that.

I have to add that the whole experience was just so strange and so out of the ordinary. That’s why, I believe, the townspeople begged Jesus to leave. The loss of the swine was one thing, but the exorcism of the demons was beyond anything they could imagine. In a word, Jesus showed a supernatural power that frightened them.

And what about the man? Did he want to rid himself of the demons? If he did, he certainly did not say so. I mean, everything in this situation was instigated by Jesus, not the man, nor the demons inside of him. Jesus, coming ashore, immediately recognized the demons and he wasted no time in confronting them.

It makes me wonder if the man had, at the beginning, even been comfortable with the demons. Maybe at first, he didn’t even notice. Perhaps at the beginning, their presence was not so dominating, and maybe more demons joined as time went by, slowly rendering the poor man helpless against them. Actually, I began to wonder if he could even speak for himself. Because all of the conversation between him and Jesus was in that other-worldly voice that was not a human voice like any I’d ever heard. I honestly don’t think that the man could speak!

Perhaps that’s why Jesus acted as he did. Perhaps he understood that the man was a captive of the demons and could not speak for himself. Perhaps his life had long been submerged under the weight of the evil within him.

You will note that, once he was cleansed of the demons, he certainly was grateful. You may remember that he wanted to join us, leaving behind the life with his own people. I’m quite sure that his neighbors were hoping for just that. And I have to add that now, when he spoke, his voice was that of a human man, entirely different from the demonic voice we heard before.

What does it all mean? Well, we had time to reflect on what had happened, because we quickly left. Was this encounter the only reason for our journey? Or did Jesus, realizing the fear among the townspeople, realize that there was little that he could do there?

I was reminded that, in Nazareth, the same thing happened. Jesus was rejected there and found little opportunity to share the Kingdom of God with his own family and friends.

And I was also reminded that Jesus was passionate to release captives. In fact, as he announced his ministry, he made it a point to free anyone and everyone from any prison.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4)

This man was clearly a captive of the demons. And Jesus wasted no time in releasing him. Could it be that each one of us is subject to a captivity of sorts? If so, Jesus wants us to be free.

And one more thing: when we landed and disembarked, and when the man rushed up to us, Jesus knew, instinctively, that he was possessed. The rest of us simply thought he was crazy and we wanted to avoid him. But Jesus knew, just like the Legion knew, and the battle was on. What does this mean to me?

It means that the fight against evil is a deadly serious one, one that Jesus can and will win. Jesus wasn’t attacking the poor man; no, he was attacking the evil presence within him. In fact, Jesus never attacked people. He might call them out, as he did the scribes and Pharisees, but he never attacked them. Actually, he forgave them, even including those who would crucify him.

But demons? That’s different. They are minions of Satan and Jesus will give everything he has, including his very life, to defeat evil in the form of Satan and his demons. There will be no forgiveness for Satan.

If that’s not reassuring to you, I don’t know what could possibly be. Because, if you wonder if, perhaps, a demon or two are making their home inside of you, and inviting more to join them, then look to Jesus, and he will free you from your captivity.