Sermon from October 15, 2000
Many years ago, I received a $50 check in the mail with a kind note. The woman writing said, "I don't know if you remember me, but you really helped me at a bad time in my life. My life is good now, and I want you to accept this gift as my way of thanking you for what you did for me." I remembered her phone call well, but I did not think I deserved the praise or the $50 for that matter, until I learned the rest of the story.

We had talked less than an hour that day. I remember her sounding concened about her marriage, but not unreasonably upset; the fact was that her husband had left her for another woman. I had thought she was calling from her Wilmington home; in the letter she explained that she had called me from out of town. Even though she was upset during our conversation, I did not learn until I received the note that she had called me as one of the last things she would do before she took her life. I could not remember anything I had said, so you can imagine my feelings when she said, "I hung up from talking to you and felt that I could go on living." That was God's grace to her and me.

On another occasion we stood with a family as they buried their 20-year-old son, a student at the Air Force Academy. His car had for unknown reasons crossed the centerline and hit a flatbed truck head on. In one of the days that followed I sat with the boy's mother in the backyard of their country home, and the anguish of her heart came out in hard words spoken softly and all the more terrible for their softness.

She said, "You know, Bo, there are days when I want to get in my car and go right out there on the road and drive it into a telephone pole. Do you think God would forgive me, if I did that?"

In both of those lives circumstances had gone terribly out of control, and the human anguish in both had become almost unberable. I tell you these stories to create an emotional context in which to hear another of the most memorable sequence of stories in the history of storytelling. Would you turn with me to Mark 5?

The sequence actually begins in Mark 4:35-41, when Jesus' disciples found themselves in a storm that threatened to take their lvies and Jesus' life. Jesus, unaccountably was sleeping through the whole thing, and they woke Him with the accusatory question, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" That sequence continues with three more out-of-control episodes in Mark 5.

Today and next Sunday, we will look closely at all three events. As always, I want you to have as clear an idea as I can give you of what purpose they serve in the story Mark has told us about Jesus. Remember first that this sequence of stories opens a new segment in the Gospel of Mark. The authority of Jesus dominates the first four chapters of Mark. Chapter one presented HIs demonstration of authority, chapter two the challenge to His authority, chapter three the rejection of His authority, and chapter four His authority to judge.

Chapter four ended with the storm at sea, an event that serves as a kind of hinge for the story Mark has told. If the first four chapters have to do with the authority of Jesus, the next four have to do with His identity. I know you remember the question that ended chapter four. "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"

What do you mean, "Who is this?" You disciples left gainful employment to follow Him. You bucked official Judaism and enormous social pressure to stay with Him. His message had taken root and begun to grow in you. You are the ones made privy to the meaning of His parables. And now you say, "Who is this?" Are you saying that you really are in the dark about this man you have made these sacrifices for?

That is the question that haunts the next four chapters of the Gospel of Mark: Who is Jesus Christ? Those men could never be disciples in the fullest sense until in the fullest sense they knew the true identity of Jesus. Neither can you and I. How well do you actually know the Man you sing and pray to and profess to trust for the eternal well being of humanity? Knowing Him more truly more than justifies the patient approach I have taken to the Gospel of Mark. We have no authoritative access to Jesus other than Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The hours we spend together in reading Mark may be a crossroads in your life on which the meaning of your whole life depends.

So, "Who is this?" With this question guiding us let's look at the next out-of-control episode in Mark 5:1-20. I will read through the story, stopping to make brief comments, and then I would like to finish by reflecting on the significance of the story.

Verses 1-3 start us off. They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain. It sounds like he was dangerous to others or himself or both. We use straightjackets for people like that. Their methods were less humane.

Verses 4-5 say, 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. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones. You can imagine what mothers told their children about playing down by the cemetery. Then came his encounter with Jesus and its unexpected results.

When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won't torture me!" For Jesus had said to him, "Come out of this man, you evil spirit!"

This is the third time that Mark reports what a demon said about Jesus. In Mark 1:24: "You are the Holy One of God." In Mark 3:11: "You are the Son of God." And now here, "Jesus, Son of the Most High God." Also, the demons here echo something the demon in Mark 1:24 had said. What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? Here the demon says, "Swear to God that you won't torture me!" The demons acknowledge Jesus' authority. They fear He will torture or destroy them. And they call Him by unthinkably exalted names: the Holy One of God, the Son of God, Son of the Most High God.

So far, the only others to use language like that about Jesus have been Mark in the opening line of the Gospel: The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; and the voice from heaven at Jesus' baptism: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased." Nowhere does anyone say explicitly what it means to call Jesus the Son of God. The story Mark is telling will fill that name with its proper content. The next thing to happen here shows it to be the name of someone with huge powers.

The Jesus asked him, "What is your name?"

"My name is Legion," he replied, "for we are many." And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.

A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. The demons begged Jesus, "Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them."

He gave them permission, and the evil 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. That will get your attention. You can imagine what it would be like if 2000 pigs rushed down a steep bank of the Brandywine and were drowned in the river. We would want to go and see the place for ourselves. They did the same back then, and three things took place when they did.

First, verses 14-15 say, Those tending the pigs 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 saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. Do you remember the disciples' reaction after Jesus had stilled the storm at sea? They were terrified. Here again there is fear. The terrified disciples had asked each other, "Who is this?" It is no strain on the imagination to say that the Gerasenes were asking that too, although perhaps in a more irritable form: "Who does he think he is?"

In any case Mark did not leave to our imaginations what they actually said. The pig shepherds related what had happened to the man and to their herd, and verse 17 tells us the second thing that took place. Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region. At the very least He was interfering with business.

Again, we might ask, "Who is He that out-of-control wind, wave and wild man obey Him? Who is He that head hunter and head of state will call Him Lord?" Dismissing Him from our lives will not be as easy as the frightened Gerasenes had thought.

For the time being Jesus complied with their wishes, and as He made ready to sail, a third event took place. Verse 18 says, The man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, "Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you." The man did that. Verse 20 says, He went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him.

What is the purpose of this story in the Gospel of Mark, and what does it mean to us? Let me start with a brief reflection on what it might mean to us. If this episode shows us what Jesus Christ is like, you can understand why people would be eager to see Him come again into our world and again and exert His full authority and love over human life. It will mean liberty for those held in bondage by chains on their flesh and by chains on their spirit.

But that is not the whole story. If this episode shows us what Jesus Christ is like, you can understand why people would not be eager to see Him come again into our world and again and exert His full authority and love over human life. It will mean an interruption of some of their cherished ways of doing things, including a drop in the net asset value of their portfolio.

Let's face it: those Gerasene citizens actually preferred to keep their 2000 pigs for market, even though it would mean that pathetic figure in the graveyard would continue to haunt their town and the nightmares of their children. That is the price you pay for a stable economy.

But if Jesus Christ shows us in the flesh what God's kingdom looks like, then delivering the man in the graveyard matters more than a stable economy. Misguided zealots got it right when they thought Jesus came to bring a revolution; they got it wrong when they thought it would be a revolution by force of arms. It was a revolution in values that placed people higher in value than money. Just by being part of Christ's people we are committed to those values, however unconvinced our hearts are about them.

Here is a second reflection on this episode. The freeing of the demoniac belongs to a constellation of episodes from Jesus' life that suggests the real battle facing God's people. The zealots who hoped Jesus was about to lead an armed revolution thought the great enemy of God's people was Rome with its eagle banners and occupying legions. Redepmtion meant ridding Israel of Rome so that Israel could live under God's rule.

Jesus thought and acted otherwise. In the language of the Apostle Paul the actions of Jesus said, Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms, (Eph. 6:12).

For Jesus the enemy was not Rome but Satan. Before He began His public ministry, Jesus did battle with Satan's temptations for 40 days in the desert. When Peter tries to dissuade Him from going to the cross, He will say that Peter is on Satan's side. Jesus also said clearly what He understood His exorcisms to mean in Mark 3:27: "In fact, no one can enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the stong man. Then he can rob his house."

Jesus saw His action with the demoniacs as taking back from the devil what properly belonged to the God of Israel. Economic priorities that would have been just as glad to leave the demoniac alone among the tombs served the purposes of Satan. The real enemy of Israel and the Church is not Rome or Muslim terrorists or Bill Clinton or a degraded movie industry; it is Satan, and Jesus Christ has defeated him decisively. That same victory can be reproduced in His people over and over.

Finally, how does this episode help us to answer that governing question about Jesus in Mark 5-8: "Who is this?" Does it contribute to a better grasp of the identity of the Man whose authority chapters 1-4 celebrated? See for yourself.

When the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him, do you remember how Jesus answered him? Verse 19: "Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you." No doubt the man was disappointed, but verse 20 tells what he did. He went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him.

"Tell them how much the Lord has done for you." Coming from Jesus' lips, whom do you think He meant by the Lord? He could only have meant the God of Israel, the One who delivered Israel from Egypt and from Babylon, who spoke by the prophets, and who gave the Torah. But when the former demoniac told his story in the Decapolis, he did not, according to Mark, talk about the God of Israel; he talked about Jesus.

He was not making any profound theological statements. He was just telling his story. With Mark it is a different matter. He was very much making theological statements, but he simply imbedded them in the story he was telling about Jesus. He does not scream; he whispers. But he whispers the unthinkable. He has allowed into his story a subtle identification between Jesus and the God of Israel.

Was he just being careless or did he do that on purpose? If he had been careless, why didn't someone else catch it and correct it? If he did it on purpose, what exactly was he saying about Jesus? As so often happens in Mark, he teases us into asking questions which he abruptly drops. We may be in a hurry; he was not in a hurry.

Having read together this episode, I ask again: Who do you think Jesus was or is? How well do you actually know the Man we sing about and pray to and profess to trust for the eternal well being of humanity?