Dwell in the Word Mark 5:1-20
As we dwell in Mark 5:1-20 consider these questions:
1. How does the setting of the story, particularly the presence of pigs and the location near the Decapolis, emphasize that Jesus is ministering in a predominantly Gentile area? What significance does this have for understanding Jesus' mission?
2. In this story, Jesus encounters a man possessed by a legion of demons, showcasing His extraordinary power over the spiritual realm. How does this account further demonstrate Jesus' authority and ability to bring deliverance from even the most formidable spiritual bondage?
3. What is the significance of Jesus instructing the healed man to go and share his testimony with his friends, rather than allowing him to physically follow Jesus? How does this reveal Jesus' strategic approach to spreading the message of His mercy and deliverance? How can we apply this principle in sharing our own faith journey with others?
Transcript:
Alright, so we have landed here in chapter five with this detailed story. As you saw when I was reading it, this is long for the Gospel of Mark. That's a lot of verses here for this story. And there's a lot of important details in here that we need to catch. Now, remember, the previous story was Jesus calming the sea. And so they have been on the boat and now they're coming to the other side and they end up in this area near the Decapolis. Now, the Decapolis was 10 independent Greek cities. The idea here is that they're going to someplace that is not filled with mostly Jewish people. We can get this from another little detail that we get a little bit further on. What do they have here? Verse 11, Now, a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. Now, remember, pigs were ceremonally and ritualically unclean for Hebrew people. They would not have raised them. Clearly, Jesus is in a Greek area. And so what happens here? He gets out and there's this man who is clearly obsessed by demons. Now, we don't know the ethnicity of this man, but we can imply from the way the story is told that he's probably of a Greek background, right?
Because why else would we bring up that they're near the Decapolis? Why else would they bring up the pigs? It's just telling us that there's this general feel of this story that this is outsiders that Jesus is going to. And it's foreshadowing the truth that Jesus is going to go to the Gentiles when his apostles proclaim the Gospels to the Gentiles, and all the Gentiles... Or not all the Gentiles, but a substantial number of Gentiles come to faith in the Lord Jesus after his ascension. So this man comes up to Jesus, and he recognizes him. So even demons in foreign areas, not just Jewish areas, recognize who Jesus is. Of course they do. He is the son of the most high God. And so Jesus is telling this demon to come out. Well, it turns out Jesus asks him, What's your name? And he says, My name is Legion, for we are many. So there's many demons that are possessing this man. And that's the idea that we're meant to see with how the story is set up here, because this man is able to do things that we would probably classify as unhuman. He's able to break the chains and the shackles.
And so to get the idea that there are many demons here. And again, we have this escalating nature of the way the stories are told. These happen to Jesus, and Mark is putting them in this order, which I'm sure is the order that they happened in. But he's telling different stories. He's leaving out some details and adding others to magnify who Jesus is here, right? And so Jesus is showing just how awesome His power is because He's able to cast out more than one demon. He has power even over this, even in an area outside Israel. And these demons leave the man and go into the pigs. We saw that unfold as I read it. And so, this is just an amazing thing. And even these people who aren't Hebrews are just afraid of what Jesus is doing. They don't understand. They're outsiders. They don't know probably the stories about the coming of a Jewish Messiah. They don't understand. But what do they do? They want Jesus to depart from their region. They want Him gone because this is an amazing power. And that is what we're meant to feel here, is that this Jesus who is doing these things is so powerful.
It's beyond description. People can tell who He is, but it's a little bit scary. There's some fear here. They understand that Jesus is not like an ordinary man. He is able to command demons, even to go into pigs and have them run into this water. The thing that we want to look at, though, is the response of the man. He wants to follow Jesus. This outsider wants to get in the boat and go along. He wants to be with Jesus. But what did Jesus do? It says that He doesn't permit him to come along. And what does Jesus tell the man? Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you. And so, what did... What was the command? To share the good news, to share how you have been rescued from this demon possession, how you have been rescued from the shackles that were on you when Satan was in control. And so, the response of this man is to leave. And he proclaimed it. He told how much Jesus had done for him, and it says that everyone marveled.
He proclaimed the good news. He shared what Jesus had done. And so while you and I aren't being obsessed by many, many demons and having superhuman strength to destroy chains, we have been shackled in our sin and in our unbelief. And God, through the Holy Spirit and the power of the word, has come to us and freed us of those shackles by grace through faith. And the command to us is the exact same as it was to this man. Go tell your friends. Tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you. And that's the application for our lives. Again, even though we don't have these demon possession stories, we do have the story of how we have been bound by sin and unbelief, and we have been rescued from that by our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. So may we go out today and may we share that good news knowing that just as the Spirit has worked in us, it will work in others. May we trust that truth and proclaim what God has done to free us.
