Hi everyone. Welcome back to the podcast.
Today's Gospel reading at mess is a bit of a longer one.
It's from the start of Mark chapter 5.
So we're looking at verses 1 to 20, here's the passage.
Jesus and his disciples reached the country of the gerasenes on
the other side of the lake and no sooner had Jesus left the
boat. Then a man, with an unclean
Spirit came out from the tombs towards him.
The man lived in the tombs and no one could secure him anymore.
Even with a chain because he had often been secured with Fetters
and chains, but had snapped the chains and broken, the Fetters,
and no one had the strength to control him all night, and all
day among the tombs and in the mountains, he would howl and gas
himself with stones. Catching sight of Jesus from a
distance, he ran up and fell at his feet and shouted at the top
of his voice. What do you want with me?
Jesus, Son of the most high God. Swear by God, you will not
torture me. For Jesus had been saying to him
come out of the man unclean spirit.
What is your name? Jesus asked?
My name is Legion. He answered for there are many
of us. And he begged him earnestly, not
to send them out of the district.
Now there was on the Mountainside a great herd of
pigs feeding and the unclean spirits begged him, send us to
the pigs. Let us go into them.
So he gave them leave With that, the unclean spirits came out and
went into the pigs, and the herd of about 2000.
Pigs charged down the cliff into the lake, and they were drowned.
The swineherds runoff and told their story in the town and in
the country round about and the people came to see what had
really happened, they came to Jesus and saw the demon ayack
sitting there closed and in his full senses.
The very man who had the Legion in him before and they were
afraid. And those who had witnessed a
reported, what had happened to the demon Iraq and what had
become of the pigs. Then they began to employ Jesus
to leave the neighborhood. As he was getting into the boat,
the man who had been possessed begged, to be allowed to stay
with him. Jesus would not let him but said
to him, go home to your people and tell them all that the Lord
in his Mercy has done for you. So the man went off and
proceeded to spread throughout the decapolis all that Jesus had
done for him and everyone was amazed.
So quite a well-known passage. You were the pigs, run off the
edge of the cliff, primary school kids and always enjoy
hearing this story. So what's the context here?
Jesus and his disciples have just been crossing the Sea of
Galilee to get to the East and sure.
So they're Crossing from the East, to the west.
And remember in The Last Story, the last part of Mark, he calmed
the storm in the middle of the night that was while they were
crossing the lake. Now, they've crossed the lake
and they've arrived in. The country of the gerasenes or
sometimes called gadarenes. This is a gentile area, we need
to keep that in mind throughout the entire passage Jesus has now
entered Gentile territory. These are not Jewish people.
This is the first time he's entered, Gentile, territory in
the gospel of Mark verse 2. No sooner had Jesus left the
boat. So as soon as they reach the
shore, the man with the unclean Spirit comes towards him.
Probably means the spirit has detected the messiah's presence
and go straight for him. Ins are Territorial and so he's
probably sense Jesus there and has come to defend his
territory. The man lived in the Tomb.
So this man appears to be completely.
Not even not partially, but completely demon possessed and
the demon is choosing to live in the tombs possibly either that
or the man is so afraid. He knows the damage to the demon
can do. So he himself may be his chosen
to go out and live in the tombs. So if you go there today even
now there's still these caves on the shoreline and many of them
were tombs that were used to bury the dead.
So it's quite a Looking area and demons do like to hang around in
Tomb areas. It says, no one could secure him
anymore, even with a chain. No one had the strength to
control him. So the community has tried to
restrain this man. That's demon possessed and he's
quite a violent, vocal demon have tried, but they can't
restrain him his true strong. So the man goes and lives out in
solitude. Verse 5 among the tombs and in
the mountains. So this guy will just wander
around the land every day. It's interesting to think, you
know, maybe this man might have had a family before this
happened to him, and now he just wanders around the land and he
howls and gashes himself with stones.
So that might seem like strange Behavior.
But it's indicates the demon has taken over the very center of
the man's personality and he's constantly tormented by the
demon. So the man is it appears is
trying to gas himself to, you know, as a way of stopping the
torment almost that the demons giving him.
So he's more of a danger to himself than to others.
It would appear Exorcist. Today, will tell you that in
serious cases, this can happen. When you've got this kind of
caching and violence. Hang on, so it's scary.
But there are it is part of the literature that this kind of
thing can happen in cases of serious possession.
So we also learned later it says in verse 15 that the guys
unclosed, so he hasn't got clothes on.
So it's an indication that is lost his human dignity.
So, the man comes up, he falls at Jesus feet.
Now, that's not necessarily worship, could just be an
acknowledgement of Jesus Authority.
Remember the same thing happened with a demon in chapter 1 of
Mark Falls at his feet. So it's a recognition that Jesus
has Authority and he says to Jesus.
What do you want with me? Jesus, Son of the most high God.
So the demon here is talking his surprised and afraid that the
son of the most high God has arrived on his territory.
So being a supernatural. Creature.
He knows that Jesus is the higher spiritual being.
Jesus hasn't used the top this title of himself yet.
Son of the most high God, but the demon recognizes him, he
might be the demon. Might be using this title here
to try and get control over. Jesus, some Scholars think that
when the demons do this, they're trying to, you know, in because
in that culture to you someones true name was to have power over
them. So possibly that's what the
demon is trying to get. He then says to Jesus swear by
God. So the demon here is trying to
get Jesus to make a promise swear by God that you will not
torture me. So the demons know that one day
God will overthrow them and torture.
All of them. They know that that's going to
happen to them. One day, that's part of the
final Judgment Day. There's elsewhere in the gospels
where the demons say to Jesus, have you come to torture us
before the time. So they know the time is coming
and the demons worried that the time has come because the
Messiah has arrived. Verse 8 for Jesus had been
saying to him come out of the man unclean spirit.
So Jesus has already begun trying to exercise The Man by
this point. So verse 9 now, Jesus turns the
tables he says, what is your name?
So Jesus wants to know the demons name so he can have power
over the demon and exorcists today, will sometimes, use
similar tactics and the demon responds.
My name is Legion. A legion is a Roman word,
meaning 6,000 men. Now is this the demons real
name? Probably not.
It's probably the demon trying to just be evasive or trying to
impress Jesus with a show of power.
For we are many. So we now learn that there's
many demons in this man but apparently there's one main one
that speaks for them. Verse 10, he begged Jesus not to
send him out of the district. So the demon recognizes that
Jesus has the power to send the demons away.
He knows that but the demon wants to stay in the district
which is interesting, this would imply that demons are
territorial, they like to hang around certain objects or areas
and they don't like to leave them.
Verse 11. There's a herd of pigs in the
area. We now discover now there's some
people have tried to say there might be some significance here
with pigs being unclean to the Jews.
And so maybe the pigs represent something.
I don't think that's the case. I think it's more just, we don't
often hear about pigs in the gospels, because the Jews didn't
have pigs in the Jewish territory but here in Gentile
territory. So it makes sense that the
Gentiles would have large herds of pigs.
So the happens to be pigs nearby and the demon begs Jesus send us
into the swine. Let us enter them.
So the demons would prefer to try to inhabit the swine rather
than to be sent away completely. So the demons can this an
interesting thing we learn from this.
Demons can though they prefer not to inhabit the bodies of
animals. Although they much prefer to
inhabit humans verse 13, so he gave them leave.
So Jesus actually gives them permission here.
Apparently, the demons could not go into the pigs and less Jesus
commanded them to or I allowed them to Elise.
There's a bit of a mystery here, as to what you know, how exactly
this would work, but it appears that I need to ask Jesus
permission and we now learn that the herd has two thousand pigs.
That's a lot of pigs. So no wonder the locals are a
bit annoyed later on. Because they've just lost their
main source of income. They charge down the hill.
Now this doesn't imply that all 2000 pigs were each inhabited by
a demon. That's not necessarily the case
here. That might not be two thousand
demons. But something happens to the
whole herd that Spooks the whole herd and they all run off the
edge of the cliff. So, notice what's going on here,
though? It appears that the demons try
to go into the pigs, but they can't properly control the pigs.
So, the pigs kind of end up being spooked and running off
the edge. And Probably the demons might be
destroyed in this process as well so they run off the cliff
and into the lake. So, back into the Sea of Galilee
that Jesus has just come out of verse 14, the swineherds,
runoff, or another translation, the herdsman fled.
So they go and tell it to everyone in the city and the
country. So they spread word quickly and
it appears within a couple of hours, people are coming to
Jesus to see what's happened. So, Jesus stays there for a
little while with the man who has been exercised and while
he's doing that the locals here about it and they arrived.
So this is a very short time span afterwards.
They saw the demon iac's, sitting there clothes and in his
full senses. So, they know this guy.
They've seen him in the in the caves and stuff, but they
haven't seen him in his right mind for a long time.
It's significant that the man is now clothed so that indicates
that his dignity has been restored his back to back to
normal if you like. The locals were afraid, the text
says, so they realized their look at Jesus.
They look at the man, they probably look at the pigs over
the edge of the cliff, and they realized that the story was
true, and that Jesus has indeed cast the demons into the swine.
So the witnesses say it. Now keep in mind, these are
Gentiles. They don't fully understand, you
know, demons and Jewish Concepts verse 16, these Witnesses then
go and tell other locals. Verse 17, then they began to
implore Jesus to leave the neighborhood.
So a few hours later, lots of locals of heard about it.
And Yeah, being a gentile area. They don't fully understand the
nature of demons and exorcisms. So the locals will hear about
this all they know really from their perspective, is that this
man, Jesus has worked some sort of miracle and now a whole lot
of their pigs and a whole lot of her commercial money is gone.
It could also be that they recognize that Jesus is a
miracle worker and they don't want to have to think about what
that means. They don't want him in their
land. They don't want to have to
change their lives so they asked him to leave.
Now at least they're a bit more pleasant than the people in
Nazareth because member elsewhere Nazareth.
They actually try to throw him off a cliff, which the locals
could have done here. But instead, they just ask Jesus
to leave and Jesus agrees to leave the area Verse 18.
As he's getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed
with demons begged him, that he might be with him.
So the man wants to become his grateful to Jesus for being
liberated as he would be and he wants to become a follower A of
Jesus, a disciple, he's ready to get into the boat with him, but
verse 19. Jesus would not let him.
Why probably? Because the man is a gentile and
at this stage, it's too early for Jesus to have Gentiles
amongst his inner circle, possibly possibly, because if he
had Gentiles in the Inner Circle, it might mean that the
Jews that Jesus has come primarily for reject Jesus if
they see too many Gentiles around him because the Jews did
not like the Gentiles. That's a possibility but instead
Jesus gives him a different Mission.
He says, go home to your people and tell them all that the Lord
in his Mercy has done for you and partially to correct.
The false understanding that the gerasenes have of what's
happened. Jesus wants this man to go back
and tell them what really happened.
Help them understand what they've seen.
And so he does that and the locals remember all they've
known this man for years as being the demon ayack and now
he's going around telling people that he's been liberated.
So probably this man's testimony would have borne a lot of fruit.
So the man goes around to the decapolis, which is in, which
means ten cities. And so that's a large, if you
look at a map, that's a large, Greek speaking region to the
east of Israel, mostly Gentile. So it's a large Gentile area
area that the man goes around. So this is the first Gentile
missionary in mark, this guy goes around the Gentile and
proclaiming the news about Jesus.
It's the only place in Mark, where Jesus tells a healed
person to spread the news. Remember, most of the time,
Jesus says, don't go tell anyone, but here Jesus says, go
spread the word. Although notice, he doesn't tell
the man to proclaim the identity of Jesus because think about it,
the Gentiles in this area, may not understand what Jesus
identity is what a messiah is. So Jesus doesn't tell the man to
do that. He says, go and Tell them what
has been done for you. And it would appear that the
man's testimony does have an impact on this area.
Because when Jesus comes back to this area in chapter 7 of Mark,
he gets a very different more welcoming reaction, so that's an
interesting connection. So, another interesting thing is
in verse 19, Jesus commands, the man to go and Proclaim what God
has done for him. But as we discovered in verse
20, the man ends up proclaiming what Jesus has done for him.
So it's possible. The man has made a connection
between the two God and Jesus. Now there's no catechism
references here. There's no direct references.
Although the version in Matthew of this story does have a bit to
say about it in the catechism. So I'd like to read out a quote
here from the Catholic commentary on sacred scripture
for the Book of Mark. It brings together a lot of the
themes of this passage really well and tells us perhaps what
it means to us in our lives today, I don't think it does a
reasonably good job of linking. This literal sense of the Text
with its possible application today.
So this is from the Catholic commentary on sacred scripture.
At First Sight, the first mission of Jesus and his
disciples to the Gentiles. Looks like a total failure.
Only one person has been won over and not a very reliable one
at that. The rest of the people have made
clear their desire to have no further contact with Jesus.
The disciples might, well, have concluded at that point, that
Jesus should simply give up on the decapolis and keep his
ministry within the bounds of Israel yet in the context of the
Gospel. So we can see the kingdom of God
breaking into this evil infested area.
This man's demons had cast a Pall over the whole region and
now they are banished. This, the tomb covered Hills
have lost their power to intimidate the next time Jesus
comes the whole region, responds to him differently and a way is
open for the healing of others. So often Jews.
Jesus. Chooses a person we would be
least likely to choose. Surely the Lord could find a
more respectable upright, man to be his witness in the decapolis
yet. He chose this man previously
known throughout the region for his degradation.
Now, visible to all, as he And full of joy.
The message he had to offer would have been very simple.
See the scars. I was the guy who cut myself on
how that night. I don't do it anymore.
But it would be hard to imagine a more eloquent witness to Jesus
identity and saving Mission a living witness is Jesus secret
weapon. A powerful means to being to
begin opening people's hearts to his teaching and his Works of
Mercy. Hearing the man's testimony,
people could conclude if Jesus can deliver this Wretched, Man.
Surely, he can free me, too. This episode is an example of
the demonstration of power. That accompanies any effective
proclamation of the good news. It reminds us that the most
important qualification to bring people into an encounter with
the living Christ, is not a theology degree, but rather the
ability to tell all the the Lord has done for you.
So I think that's a nice summary for us to think about as we
finish up this podcast, thanks again for listening.
If you think people would benefit from hearing this,
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passage or any other Bible questions.
I'll do my best to answer them. There's an email address.
Logical Bible study at gmail.com or you can leave a voice message
as well. That's all in the show notes.
Thanks again.