This has always been a tough passage for me. It's difficult to picture the awful sight of this man, with an evil spirit, bloody, out of control, and apparently strong and frightening. Although we cannot be sure why demon possession occurs, we know that evil spirits can use the human body to distort and destroy a person’s relationship with God. These evil spirits had entered the man’s body and were controlling him.
This demon-possessed man’s condition was clearly hopeless without Christ. He no longer had contact with society, but lived among the tombs. This could refer to a type of graveyard with caves hewn into the rock. People with hopeless conditions, such as this man, could find shelter in the caves. People had tried to restrain his violent acts. The man had been put into chains and shackles. But he snapped the chains and smashed the shackles, indicating power not his own, but derived from the demons that held him. This man was so strong that no one could control (or overpower) him.
His screaming was more of a shriek—the voices of the demons. The hitting of his skin with sharp stones refers to gashing and hacking at his body, leaving him bloody and covered with scars. These horrible actions occurred constantly. He was indeed a frightening creature. The man did not run to escape Jesus, but ran to confront Jesus and scare him away as he would do to anyone else who ventured into his territory. When he came close to Jesus, the man fell on his knees, not in worship, but in grudging submission to Jesus’ superior power.
Jesus commanded the demon to give him its name. The answer revealed that there were many demons. A legion was the largest unit of the Roman army; it consisted of three thousand to six thousand soldiers. The demons knew they had no power over Jesus; so when they saw Jesus, they begged him again and again not to send them to some distant place or into the Bottomless Pit. The demons knew they had to submit to Jesus’ power and authority, and they knew that he could seal their fate by returning them to the abyss.
While Jesus granted the demons’ request to enter the pigs and destroy the herd, Jesus stopped their destructive work in people, and particularly the man they had possessed. Jesus also showed his disciples, the townspeople, and even us who read these words today the absolute goal of Satan and his demons. They desire total and complete destruction of their hosts.
The man who had been possessed begged to go with Jesus. The man’s request meant that he wanted to be one of Jesus’ followers, with Jesus as a constant and close companion. But Jesus had other plans for him. As Jesus had done when he healed the leper and the paralytic, Jesus gave this formerly demon-possessed man his life back. He could go home, something he could not do before.
Often Jesus asked those he healed to be quiet about the healing, but he urged this man to “go and tell” what the Lord had done for him. Why the difference? This man was returning to his home in a Gentile region. Jesus knew the man would be an effective witness to those who remembered his previous condition and could attest to the miraculous healing. Through him, Jesus could expand his ministry into this Gentile area. Jesus would not remain in the region, but he did not leave himself without witness.
Although the man was healed and able to travel with Jesus, Jesus sent him on a mission. And the man wasted no time. He started off to visit the Ten Towns of that region. Ten cities, each with its own independent government, formed an alliance for protection and for increased trade opportunities. These cities had been settled several centuries earlier by Greek traders and immigrants. Jews were a minority in the area. Many people from the area followed Jesus. This former madman may have been known throughout the region. So when he returned to that same region, his testimony had results—everyone who saw and heard him was amazed.
SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)
Never underestimate the power of evil. Be vigilant in my shepherding duties as the pastor here at COV. Come against those who would bring harm to the body and oppose the work of evil. Pray. Pray. Pray.
"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." Ephesians 6:12 (ESV)
Be on guard. Stay alert. Dial in. We have an enemy who wants to destroy an semblance of good. We have an enemy who wants to oppose the work of God and the people of God.
"Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." 1 Peter 5:8 (ESV)
"The thief (Satan) comes only to steal and kill and destroy. (Jesus) I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. John 10:10 (ESV)
PRAYER
Lord, do a great work at COV on Sunday. Bind the evil one from preventing folks from being in worship. Draw people here and speak too hearts. Heal marriages. Give people the courage to do and follow through with whatever You speak to their hearts about.
"Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts..." Hebrews 3:7-8 (ESV)
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