Mark 5: 1-20
Some
background that might give some insights into this reading.
Jesus has
crossed the lake. He is now in mainly Gentile area.
Jewish people
would hear this passage and know the man was ritually unclean, he is living
amongst tombs and near pigs.
There is also
the connection with Roman occupation.
Legion, the
name of the demons – note: the man is not named, but the demons that inhabit
him are.
Legion, the
name of the demons, is also the name given to a Roman regiment of six thousand
soldiers[i]
There are
other military allusions in the story.
·
‘a
herd of pigs’, the term for a herd is also the term, in Greek, for a band of
new recruits.
·
later
Jesus ‘dismisses’ the pigs, also a military term and
·
the
pigs ‘charging’ into the lake, is the same word as used for charging into battle.
For people hearing
this when Mark was collecting stories and writing them down, the connection to
Roman rule would have been clear.[ii]
I wonder if one
of the demons for the people of Israel was Roman occupation and rule.
When Jesus
drives the demons out, they inhabit some pigs. Pigs were not food for Jewish
people, so probably there to feed the roman soldiers. So, the Jews hearing this
story would have cheered, but the owners of the pigs, and those they were to
feed would not have been so happy.[iii]
Mark notes that
the man could not be bound or subdued. People had tried chaining him up, but he
always managed to break the shackles. Some Bible translations read: as he could
not be controlled.
I wonder who tries
to control us?
Who does our
culture try and shackle and subdue and control?
The story is a
healing story with a backdrop of occupation, control, and defilement set in an
area of Israel with a large gentile population.
…………..
How does this
passage speak into our lives?
One thing
that stood out for me when I first read this story is that the man is not
named. He a man with an impure spirit who he would cry out and cut himself with
stones. [Mark 5]
I wonder how
people name you or talk about you?
The bossy one
loud,
quiet,
difficult
or maybe the
deaf man,
the blind
woman,
the child who
can’t sit still
I have heard
people referred to as the wheelchair lady or the skateboard kid.
These ways of
naming people, including ourselves, are rarely helpful.
Just as the
humanity of the man Jesus healed had been denied, we deny our own
and others
humanity
when we see a
single factor rather than the fullness of a person’s life and character.
The way we
name people by one characteristic gives a one-dimensional view of the person,
and implies that all people who
Are in
wheelchairs
Or blind
Or from a particular
racial group
Or all the same.
What have you
been called?
was it or is
it helpful?
………….
However we
understand the demons that possessed him, this man was different. We may no
longer talk about demon possession, but something was happening in the life of
this man for him to be living outside his community. The community Jesus tells
him to return to, so he likely knew people in that place, and the family or friends
or others may have been bringing him food and visiting him while he was living
in this bizarre sounding situation.
The people
see him transformed, the people present are afraid – who can drive out demons; and the people the man returns to are amazed.
When have you
been amazed at the work of Jesus in your life?
Have you been
afraid of Jesus working in your life?
The man was
cutting himself, today we would call this self-harming. Why might people do this?
I wonder how
much we harm ourselves; not only physical cutting, but risky behaviour or like
me too much yummy food and not enough exercise. What about all the times we
haven’t fully followed doctors’ orders for medication etc.
In what ways do
we hurt ourselves?
In what ways do
we hurt other people?
In this
story, as with many of the healing stores, Jesus sees beyond what others see in
this man,
Jesus sees beyond
the self-harm and the living in the graveyard
Jesus sees
beyond whatever behaviours led him to be living this way.
Jesus sees
him as more than being demon possessed.
Jesus sees the
person.
I wonder what
demons we live with
Demons that
keep us chained
Demons like
fear, hate, and greed
Demons like
racism, sexism, and homophobia
Demons like anxiety, depression and addictions
Demons that
prevent us from living fully as the people God made us to be.
Just as Jesus
saw beyond the naming of the man as impure, uncontrollable and self-harming;
Jesus sees beyond the names we call ourselves or take on from others.
I know there
have been times in my life when
I have
wondered about my usefulness
I have wondered if my family and friends would be better off without me
I have wondered if my family and friends would be better off without me
There have
been times when I wondered why God would call me to be
a lay
preacher,
a Presbytery secretary
a Presbytery secretary
a Minister of
the Word
there have been
times when I have been named by others, and myself, as
useless and
stupid and
clumsy and
slow.
But God has
not named me those things.
God names me,
and you
as beloved
as beautiful
as precious
child
as blessed and
as a blessing
today what do
you want to be released from?
listen for the
name God has for you...
[i]
https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=4229
[ii]
Binding the Strong Man, Ched Myers, p 191
[iii]
https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=4229
