Two weeks ago we took an introductory
look at exactly what the Bible says about the reality of evil, the
existence of Satan and his demons, and the spiritual warfare in which we
each find ourselves. I gave you some notes and scriptures to follow and
take home and read asking the Holy Spirit to speak to our hearts so that
we each might have more wisdom and guidance in "standing against
the wiles of the Devil."
I told you that the immediate reason
for such a sermon was to lay the foundation for preaching on Jesus'
amazing encounter with the man whom we find in this morning's scripture
in Mark 5, a man, broken in spirit, mind and body, whose personality had
been overwhelmed by the power of evil and then, set free by Jesus. This
morning, though, as we consider this passage, I want us to focus, not on
Satan and his demons, but on Jesus and his awesome power to overcome
them.
Let me ask a question: "How many
are familiar with C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia?" For
those who are not, both young and old, I encourage you to buy them and
read them. The Chronicles of Narnia are a series of seven books
in which several children periodically visit the sometimes strange and
unusual land of Narnia. Along with meeting the many diverse good and
evil characters in Narnia, one character stands out above all the rest.
His name is Aslan. He is a talking lion who is both creator and ruler
over Narnia. He is called the Son of the Emperor-Beyond-the Sea and
Maker of the Stars. In one book he gives his life in exchange for a boy
named Edmund who was tricked into being a traitor to his brother and
sisters.
Along the way we discover that Aslan
has many qualities similar to Jesus Christ in our own world. You will
notice from our first scripture in Revelation 5, verse 5, that one name
given to Jesus is "the Lion of the tribe of Judah" (5:5). As
their guide and friend, the lion Aslan, is wonderfully compassionate and
joyful, playful and personal. Yet, there is more. As their loving friend
he can also be awesome, solemn and stern. He is, as one character
describes him, both "terrible and good" at the same time.
Throughout the stories Aslan is depicted as a "wild" and
"undomesticated" lion in whose presence everyone feels both
danger and safety (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, pp.
64-65, 75-76, 123, 161, 180).
This "untamed,"
"undomesticated," "somewhat terrifying" attribute of
Christ is also seen in our scriptures today. For while Matthew 12, verse
28, tells us that when Jesus cast out demons by the Spirit of God that
the kingdom of God came into people's lives, everyone who sees such
things are not very happy about it. Let's turn now to our passage in
Mark 5. Jesus, who had just helped his fearful disciples cross the
stormy Sea of Galilee, now ministers to a man who is demon-possessed, a
man who has lost control of his own personality to evil spirits. Look on
your bulletin insert and we'll begin at verse 1 of Mark 5.
Mark 5:1-20
Then they came to the other side of
the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes. {2} And when He [that is
Jesus] had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the
tombs a man with an unclean spirit, {3} who had his dwelling among the
tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, {4} because he
had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been
pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could
anyone tame him. {5} And always, night and day, he was in the mountains
and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones. {6} When
he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him. {7} And he cried out
with a loud voice and said, "What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son
of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment
me." {8} For He said to him, "Come out of the man, unclean
spirit!" {9} Then He asked him, "What is your name?" And
he answered, saying, "My name is Legion; for we are many."
{10} Also he begged Him earnestly that He would not send them out of the
country. {11} Now a large herd of swine was feeding there near the
mountains. {12} So all the demons begged Him, saying, "Send us to
the swine, that we may enter them." {13} And at once Jesus gave
them permission. Then the unclean spirits went out and entered the swine
(there were about two thousand); and the herd ran violently down the
steep place into the sea, and drowned in the sea. {14} So those who fed
the swine fled, and they told it in the city and in the country. And
they went out to see what it was that had happened. {15} Then they came
to Jesus, and saw the one who had been demon-possessed and had the
legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid.
{16} And those who saw it told them how it happened to him who had been
demon-possessed, and about the swine. {17} Then they began to plead with
Him to depart from their region. {18} And when He got into the boat, he
who had been demon-possessed begged Him that he might be with Him. {19}
However, Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, "Go home to
your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you,
and how He has had compassion on you." {20} And he departed and
began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him; and all
marveled.
May God bless both the reading and
hearing of His Holy Word.
Did you notice the response to Jesus?
Not everyone was happy at what he did that day; nor is everyone happy at
what he still does today. Jesus, in this scripture, unsettles and
challenges us - some would even say, exasperates us. Many people like to
hear about a "namby-pamby," "buddy-buddy" Jesus, a
"gentle Jesus, meek and mild" who always comforts them and
never disturbs them, never challenges them beyond where they are at that
moment, a Jesus who never expects us to really take him seriously. But
that's not the real Jesus. You and I know that.
Yes, Jesus loves and accepts us
exactly the way we are when we come to him, but he doesn't want us to
stay the way we are. If he did, why would he have died on the cross for
us? Why would he both forgive us and expect us to forgive others? Why
would he command us to "deny ourselves, take up our cross daily and
follow him"? (Luke 9:23) Why would he tell us to set aside our own
selfish desires and to "seek first the kingdom of God and his
righteousness"? (Matthew 6:33)
The real Jesus cannot be just our
friend. He must also be our Lord, our Master, the one who convicts us of
our sin, changes us and liberates us from the demonic powers and the
destructive temptations and ways of this materialistic world. We cannot
domesticate the real Christ into a "Sunday, religious box with nice
songs and good feelings" and let him out once a week to comfort us
in our troubles. The real Jesus is the untamed and undomesticated Lord
of this universe, the king of kings, to whom one day every knee will bow
and every tongue will confess that He is Lord (Philippians 2:10-11).
Mark 5 gives us today three pictures
of this undomesticated Christ - first, when the evil spirits encounter
him; another, when the demon-possessed man is set free; and third, when
the people of his community actually ask Jesus to leave their town.
(adapted from an outline by Bill Self, "What Have You to Do With
Me?")
Do you see in those first seven
verses a picture of torment. When Jesus confronts this Gadarene
demoniac, the demons acknowledge Christ. They even know and proclaim him
to be the Son of God. I lot of people know who know who Christ is, but
are unwilling to publicly call on and follow him as their Savior. But
verse seven tells us that they see Jesus as a Tormentor. They want
nothing to do with him. In spite of the pain of their situation, it
seems easier just to keep things the way they've always been. Are we
ever like that? Do we, too, like these demons fear goodness? Do we feel
more at home with the agony and distress of spiritual and mental bondage
than with the terrifying goodness of Jesus Christ. Often underneath our
calmness and sophistication do we not sometimes prefer to hide, from God
and others, those inner weaknesses which torment us?
It doesn't have to stay that way. And
here is the next picture. Jesus is not only the tormentor of evil and
all it stands for, he is the Liberator from its power. If we let him,
like this man filled with the Legion of demons - if we open ourselves to
Christ and let him into even the deepest recesses of our being - those
places of torment and inner suffering, where maybe no one else knows us,
he will set us free. Just as Jesus expels these demons from this bound
and broken man, He will also deliver us from our places of bondage - our
addictions, our fears, our inner torment, those sins which so easily
beset us. (Luke 4:18-19; Hebrews 12:1)
Look at the wonderful testimony in verse fifteen of what others saw when Jesus had set this man free,
"Then they came to Jesus, and saw the one who had been
demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right
mind." I'm going to leave off the last four words right now."
(Mark 5:15) And then, in verse 19, how Jesus tells him, and us as well,
to "go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the
Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you." (Mark
5:19)
But there is a third and final
picture of the "Lion of Judah, the undomesticated Christ" in
our scripture this morning. Yes, he a tormentor of evil and, praise God,
a liberator of those who are bound, but this third image starts with
those
last four words of verse fifteen and continues through verse seventeen
(Stay with me, now. I'm almost done!):
"And they were afraid. {16} And
those who saw it told them how it happened to him who had been
demon-possessed, and about the swine. {17} Then they began to plead with
Him (that is Jesus) to depart from their region.
This is Jesus the Disturber, the one
who unsettles us. The one who calls us to put people and their needs
before money and things. They saw the healed man, but, first and
foremost, they saw the dead pigs, their livelihood. And when Jesus hit
their pocketbook, when Jesus got involved with their finances, they
asked him to leave. The did not want to deal with a God who could
disturb their way of life and Jesus challenged them, as he challenges us
today, to put persons before possessions, to put people's needs before
our profits. I thank the Lord that we live in a country where we have
free enterprise. But just because something is legal, doesn't make it
morally right. And these people were unwilling to change, unwilling to
put the good of society before the materialistic advantage of a few,
unwilling to let Jesus come in and be Lord of their lives.
This morning, the Lion of Judah, the
undomesticated Christ comes to us, not to baptize and bless our ways or
our viewpoints, but to torment that evil that has become such a common
and comfortable part of us. Likewise he has come to disturb those who
are satisfied in their own traditions and ways, who have put things
before God and his people. But even more, Jesus comes today as our
Liberator, the One who sets us free to be all that God created us to be.
The One who looks down into each of our hearts and minds and says to us,
"Let me set you free. Let me deliver you from yourself and your
sin, from Satan and from the desires of this world. Let me call you to
myself, so that you can go and tell others of the great things that the
Lord has done for you." Amen!
