Mark 5:1-20 - The Filthiest Bible Story

The Kingdom of God has invaded to purify the defiled.

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Gospels: Week 5 - Jesus' power over creation, demons, hunger and unbelief

CONTEXT: Today's episode comes immediately after Jesus calmed the sea, which we read about yesterday.

Mark 5:1–20 (NASB95)

¹ They came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes.

² When He got out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him, ³ and he had his dwelling among the tombs. And no one was able to bind him anymore, even with a chain; ⁴ because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. ⁵ Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and gashing himself with stones.

⁶ Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him; ⁷ and shouting with a loud voice, he said, “What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me!”

⁸ For He had been saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” 

⁹ And He was asking him, “What is your name?” And he said to Him, “My name is Legion; for we are many.” ¹⁰ And he began to implore Him earnestly not to send them out of the country.

¹¹ Now there was a large herd of swine feeding nearby on the mountain. ¹² The demons implored Him, saying, “Send us into the swine so that we may enter them.”

¹³ Jesus gave them permission. And coming out, the unclean spirits entered the swine; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, about two thousand of them; and they were drowned in the sea.

¹⁴ Their herdsmen ran away and reported it in the city and in the country. And the people came to see what it was that had happened. ¹⁵ They came to Jesus and observed the man who had been demon-possessed sitting down, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the “legion”; and they became frightened.

¹⁶ Those who had seen it described to them how it had happened to the demon-possessed man, and all about the swine. ¹⁷ And they began to implore Him to leave their region.

¹⁸ As He was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed was imploring Him that he might accompany Him. ¹⁹ And He did not let him, but He said to him, “Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.” 

²⁰ And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.

Heidelberg Catechism

Q&A 1

Q. What is your only comfort in life and in death?

A. That I am not my own,

but belong—

body and soul,

in life and in death—

to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.

He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,

and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil...

Summary

We left off our reading in Mark's gospel yesterday with him describing the disciples as very much afraid after witnessing that even the wind and seas obey Jesus. But their night was just beginning, and things would quickly get worse for them.

It was quite likely dark by the time they came to the other side of the sea, and now they were in Gentile country. Mark, using his trademark fast paced style indicates that when Jesus got out of the boat, immediately a man ran from the tombs with an unclean spirit to meet him. This was a mad man that no one was able to bind, even with chains and shackles. He constantly screamed among the tombs and gashed himself with stones.

But then an amazingly remarkable thing happened: this man, previously unable to be contained or controlled, ran up and bowed before Jesus. This legion of demons who'd posessed a gentile man recognized what neither the disciples nor any other Jew at this point had: that Jesus is the Son of the Most High God.

  Dig Deeper  

This story is filthy. Literally.

Everything about it is unclean, starting with its location in the country of the Gerasenes. That's not so helpful for us as we read it 2,000 years later, but the name of the surrounding towns gives a big clue to the problem: the Decapolis - a very Greek sounding name simply meaning the Ten Cities. Jesus and His disciples disembarked their boat in Gentile territory, which immediately rendered them unclean by Jewish law.

Then they're met by a man possessed by an unclean spirit, who just happened to have had his dwelling among the tombs - unclean by virtue that all of his neighbors there were corpses. Then there's the fact that there was a large herd of swine feeding nearby on the mountain - beasts very different from our modern farm animals that topped the list of uncleanliness by Jewish dietary regulations.

But there's a point to all of this filthiness. Walter Wessel writes, "Through Jesus, the kingdom of God is invading and purifying the defiled realm of Satan."

After encountering Jesus the Son of the Most High God, the previously uncontrollable man who had been demon-possessed was observed sitting down, clothed and in his right mind. Ironically, this frightened the people of the Decapolis even more, so much so that they implored Jesus to leave their region.

John Calvin aptly summarizes what this filthy story means for us: “Though we are not tortured by the devil, yet he holds us as his slaves, till the Son of God delivers us from his tyranny. Naked, torn, and disfigured, we wander about, till he restores us to soundness of mind.”

AAA Prayer (About)

• ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, the Most High God, who sent us His Son to deliver us from the devil's tyranny;

• ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that having been "restored to soundness of mind" by Jesus, you will keep yourself clean and pure;

• ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

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