Son of the Most High God

Freedom In Christ

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1 They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. 2 And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. 3 He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, 4 for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. 6 And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. 7 And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” 8 For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” 9 And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” 10 And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. 11 Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, 12 and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.” 13 So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.

14 The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. 15 And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. 16 And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. 17 And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. 18 As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. 19 And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” 20 And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled. – Mark 5:1-20 ESV

After their harrowing night on the Sea of Galilee, the disciples sailed to the eastern shore and arrived in a region known as Gerasene. It seems unlikely this was their original destination when they set sail, but the storm must have blown them off course. Yet, in God’s sovereign will, He orchestrated everything that had happened, including their arrival at this desolate place.

The disciples, exhausted from all the rowing and bailing of water they had done during the storm, were probably glad to be on dry land. But before they could relax, they found themselves in yet another tense and potentially dangerous situation. Mark records that as soon as Jesus stepped out of the boat, “immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit” (Mark 5:2 ESV). There were no crowds of people eager to watch Jesus perform yet another miracle. No scribes or Pharisees dog His steps, anxiously seeking evidence to use against Him. 

Jesus was welcomed by a greeting party of one: a demon-possessed man. In his gospel account, Matthew describes a second demon-possessed man, while Mark and Luke only mention one. This seeming discrepancy is likely nothing more than Mark and Luke focusing on the one man who showed the greatest transformation after his encounter with Jesus. While Matthew records Jesus casting out demons from both men, he provides no details regarding what happened next. Yet Mark and Luke recount that one of the men was dramatically impacted by Jesus’ deliverance.

To help his readers understand the violent nature of the situation, Mark describes the man in great detail.

This man lived in the burial caves and could no longer be restrained, even with a chain. Whenever he was put into chains and shackles—as he often was—he snapped the chains from his wrists and smashed the shackles. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Day and night he wandered among the burial caves and in the hills, howling and cutting himself with sharp stones. – Mark 5:3-5 NLT

Mark’s mention of chains and shackles reveals that this man had probably become a threat to the community. Their attempts to bind him had failed, and this poor man spent all his time wandering among the dead and despised by the living. Mark wants us to understand how hopeless this man’s situation was. He was out of control. His life was not his own. Yet when the man saw Jesus, “he ran and fell down before him” (Mark 5:6 ESV).

You can almost sense the battle going on within this man. He saw Jesus, and in his desperation, ran to him for help. Somehow, the man recognized that Jesus could do something about his hopeless condition. Probably naked, filthy, and covered in scars, the man must have been a frightful sight to behold. His sudden appearance and shocking condition must have made the disciples step back in revulsion and fear.

But as the man knelt before Jesus, a voice came from his body that was not his own. The demon controlling him 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” (Mark 5:7 ESV).

Whatever spark of humanity remained in this man was overwhelmed by the presence and power of the demonic forces residing in him. And Mark makes it clear that Jesus knew what was wrong as soon as He saw the man. He didn’t need to hear the demon speak to know that the man was possessed. As the man knelt before Him, Jesus said, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” (Mark 5:8 ESV), and this forceful command prompted the demon to speak.

In the same way Jesus recognized the presence of a demon, the demon recognized the presence of the Most High God. He addressed Jesus by His proper title and revealed his understanding that Jesus possessed a power greater than his own. The demon had met his match in Jesus and knew it. When Jesus addressed the demon and demanded to know his name, the demon revealed that he was not alone.

“My name is Legion, for we are many.” – Mark 5:9 ESV

This poor man was being tormented by a host of demonic beings, which explains the extreme nature of his condition. Jesus alluded to this very kind of situation in an address He gave to the scribes and Pharisees. In attempting to expose the unrepentant and adulterous condition of the people of Israel, Jesus compared them to a man possessed by a demon. Even if they could somehow remove the demon, they would find themselves worse off than before. Their unrepentant hearts would leave them exposed and an easy target for the enemy.

“When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, seeking rest but finding none. Then it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’ So it returns and finds its former home empty, swept, and in order. Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before. That will be the experience of this evil generation.” – Matthew 12:43-45 NLT

Mark provides no details regarding this man’s past. We don’t know how he came to be possessed or how long he had suffered under this condition. But his circumstances were aggravated by the presence of many demons. However, as plentiful and powerful as these demonic forces may have been, they were no match for Jesus, and they knew it. They begged Jesus not to cast them out, and they alluded to the fact that they knew a day would come when God would punish them. They knew their days were numbered, but they had no desire to suffer their fate prematurely. Interestingly, the demon(s) pleaded with Jesus by the name of God.

“In the name of God, I beg you, don’t torture me!” – Mark 5:7 NLT

The demons knew that God had a future judgment in store for them. The apostle John was given a vision of what will happen to Satan and all those who aligned themselves with him. The day will come when Jesus, according to the will of God the Father, will deliver a final blow to Satan and his minions, casting them into hell where they will remain for eternity.

Then the devil, who had deceived them, was thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur, joining the beast and the false prophet. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. – Revelation 21:10 NLT

Fearing the worst, the demons begged Jesus to allow them to leave the man and possess a herd of swine. Their greatest fear was that Jesus would consign them to their future fate prematurely. Rather than having to face eternal torment, they begged that Jesus would let them take up residence in the pigs. When Jesus agreed, the results were immediate. The 2,000 pigs, suddenly possessed by demons, hurled themselves off a nearby cliff. As Jesus alluded to in His address to the scribes and Pharisees, a dispossessed demon is left to wander until it can find another soul to possess. With the deaths of the swine, these demons would be forced to seek out another host to torment.

But freed from the demons’ control, the man “was sitting there fully clothed and perfectly sane” (Mark 5:15 NLT). He had been radically transformed; so much so that when Jesus prepared to leave, the man begged that he might be allowed to go with Him. But Jesus had other plans, encouraging him, “No, go home to your family, and tell them everything the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been” (Mark 5:19 NLT).

The man obeyed Jesus and immediately set off to the surrounding towns and villages, “to proclaim the great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed at what he told them” (Mark 5:20 NLT). He had his work cut out for him because people from a nearby town were upset about what Jesus had done to their herd of swine. They even begged Jesus to leave, fearing that He might do more damage.

Mark notes several times in this story when Jesus was approached by those who begged or pleaded with Him. The first instance was when the demons begged (parakaleō) Jesus not to torment them. The second is when they begged Jesus not to cast them out of the country, but to allow them to possess the swine. The third was when the townspeople begged Jesus to leave the region. The fourth and final instance was when the man begged Jesus to let him become His disciple. Interestingly, everyone got exactly what they asked for from Jesus, except the man. The demons were cast into the swine just as they had asked. Jesus left the region, just as the townspeople had requested. But the man was not allowed to go with Jesus. Instead, Jesus commissioned him to carry the news of what He had done: “Tell them how much the Lord has done for you” (Mark 5:19 ESV). This formerly demon-possessed man now possessed a calling from Jesus Himself. He had purpose in life and a mission to spread the good news of all that Jesus had done for Him. 

The demons were forced to wander until they found another victim. The townspeople focused on their loss. But freed from the demons and his chains, the man could use his restored voice to shout the praises of the One who had set him free. He had experienced the truth of Jesus’ claim when He had read from the prophet Isaiah in the synagogue in Nazareth.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” – Luke 4:18-19 NLT

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Day 47 – Matthew 8:28-34; Mark 5:1-20

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Terror On the Hillside.

Matthew 8:28-34; Mark 5:1-20

“And the crowd began pleading with Jesus to go away and leave them alone.” – Mark 5:17 NLT

Jesus and His disciples had been sailing across the Sea of Galilee to the eastern shore when they encountered the severe storm. He miraculously calmed the storm with a word from His mouth, leaving His disciples “absolutely terrified” (Mark 4:41 NLT) according to Mark’s account. They couldn’t believe what they had seen Him do. They talked among themselves, saying, “Who is this man? Even the wind and waves obey him!” (Mark 4:41 NLT).

Clarifications, Not Contradictions

With the sea calm and their minds in turmoil, the disciples finish their journey and land on the eastern shore near the region of the Gerasenes. While Matthew calls the place Gadarene, there is really no contradiction between the two accounts. Recent archeological finds have revealed the remains of a former village called Gersa near the area where Jesus and His disciples would have landed. Nearby are ancient tombs and a steep, cliff-like feature as described in the story. This village would have likely been part of the region overseen by the much larger city of Gadara, which would have meant it was in the region of the Gadarenes. Mark and Luke may be describing the region based on the people who lived there, the Gerasenes; while Matthew is using the name of the people who oversaw the entire region. In either case, we are dealing with a area occupied primarily by Gentiles in Jesus’s day, which would explain the presence of pigs, considered unclean by Jews. Another apparent contradiction is that Matthew’s account speaks of two demon-possessed men, while Mark and Luke talk about only one. More than likely, there were two, but one was more prominent and memorable than the other. He was the one whose demon called himself “Legion” when Jesus demanded he reveal his name. Mark and Luke provide greater detail than Matthew, but the stories are the same and the endings are virtually identical.

These two men were both possessed by demons. As a result, their lives were miserable, forced to live in isolation in a graveyard, avoided by all those who knew them, because of their violent behavior. Yet, when Jesus arrives, they come out to meet Him. Mark describes one of the men as having supernatural power, giving him the ability to snap any chains that anyone managed to place on him, and the strength to break shackled and bonds with ease. No one was strong enough to subdue him, so everyone simply avoided the area in which they lived. But as Jesus and the disciples disembark from their boat, these two demon-possessed men come out running and screaming down the hillside toward them. You can only imagine what they must have looked like to the disciples. Their appearance had to have been shocking. They would have been filthy, probably naked, with wild hair, long beards, and untrimmed nails. The poor disciples had just recovered from their ordeal at sea to now encounter two demon-possessed madmen running straight for them. Mark tells us they bowed before Jesus and one of them screamed, “Why are you interfering with me Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In the name of God, I beg you, don’t torture me!” (Mark 5:7 NLT). I would love to have seen the faces of the disciples as all this was taking place. They were probably standing behind Jesus, like a group of children hiding behind their father. Or perhaps they had backed off and stood at a distance as Jesus dealt with the situation. But they had to have been scared and confused by the whole situation.

But the disciples weren’t the only ones who were scared. The one demon who spoke to Jesus revealed that there were actually many demons in the man he possessed. And they all feared Jesus because they knew who He was. They acknowledge His as the Son of the Most High God. They knew He had power over them, so they begged Him to send them into a herd of pigs rather than send them back to hell. Jesus obliges and the demons leave the two men and take possession of the pigs, causing the entire herd to go crazy and cast themselves off a nearby cliff into the sea. Again, think of the looks on the faces of the disciples as all this came down. As if the demon-possessed men were not enough, now there were pigs involved, which were unclean to all Jews. This must have been like watching a horror movie to these poor men. But again, they were not the only ones experiencing fear.

The poor herdsmen, having seen what had happened to the two demoniacs and, more importantly, to their pigs, ran back into the village and the surrounding countryside telling everyone what they had seen. Soon a crowd gathered. By now the two men were fully clothed and in their right minds. The pigs were long gone. Mark tells us, after taking stock of the scene, the people were all afraid. So they began to plead with Jesus to go away and leave them alone. What an interesting response. Here were two men who had once been demon-possessed and now they were completely healthy and whole. But the people were afraid. While at one time they had feared the demoniacs, now they feared Jesus. He was an enigma to them. He was like nothing they had ever encountered before. He obviously had power. They were seeing the proof of it right before their eyes. But He scared them. His very presence had disrupted the status quo of their lives and caused them anxiety. They preferred things the way they used to be. They were more upset about the loss of the pigs than they were joyful over the new-found freedom of the two men. So Jesus and His disciples got back into the boat and left. And He would never return to this area again.

As the disciples sailed away with Jesus, leaving the townspeople standing on the shoreline, they had to have been blown away by all they had seen. Not only did Jesus have power over the physical elements, He had power over the spiritual world. Even Satan and his demons knew who Jesus was and they feared Him. They had to submit to Him. This had been quite a day for the disciples. They had a lot to process and think about. Their knowledge of Jesus was expanding each and every day. Their understanding of Him was increasing at a rapid pace. And they weren’t exactly sure what to do with Him. Like the people back on the shoreline, they were wrestling with all kinds of issues. Jesus was rocking their world. He was turning everything on its head and disrupting their comfortable world. Which is what He still does today. Coming to Christ is one thing. Growing in Christ is another.  Peter reminds us, “Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment” (1 Peter 2:2 NLT). The disciples were growing. They were learning. They were re-learning much of what they thought they knew about the Messiah. And it was proving to be a fearful, faith-stretching process. Their knowledge of Jesus was growing, and so was their faith.

Father, continue to stretch my faith and increase my understanding of just who Jesus is. I want to grow in my salvation. I want to have to wrestle with the reality of who He is and what He is capable of doing in my life. Don’t let me get comfortable with the status quo, but continue to stretch me – even if it scares me or makes me uncomfortable. Amen.

Ken Miller

Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org