MARK 5:1-20 (READ VARIOUS TRANSLATIONS) APRIL 27 TH, 2016

Transcription

1 1 BEHIND THE BOOK Connecting to the Bible (Observation) MARK 5:1-20 (READ VARIOUS TRANSLATIONS) APRIL 27 TH, 2016 RESOURCES: THE NEW INTERNATIONAL COMMENTARY ON THE NEW TESTAMENT THE PILLAR NEW TESTAMENT COMMENTARY NIV APPLICATION COMMENTARY NEW AMERICAN COMMENTARY MARK 1-8: TIM CHESTER MARK: 9-16: TIM CHESTER MARK: 1-8: JOHN MacARTHUR: THE MacARTHUR NEW TESTAMENT COMMENTARY MARK: 9-16: JOHN MacARTHUR: THE MacARTHUR NEW TESTAMENT COMMENTARY THE KING S CROSS: TIM KELLER Introduction: Why did Jesus come into the world? The Apostle John answered that statement with the words The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). Jesus came to vanquish Satan in fulfilment of Genesis 3:15. Jesus stated, For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me (John 6:38). At the cross Jesus defeated death, Satan and sin, dying not as a helpless victim but as the heroic victor so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death that is, the devil 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death (Hebrews 2:14-15). Jesus didn t wait to get to the cross to declare who he was by power and authority. At the outset of his ministry he defeated Satan in the desert (Mark 1:13). He subsequently defeated demons (Mark 3:11) and dominated sin wherever he came into contact with it. Of all the accounts where Jesus confronted demons, this passage is the most dramatic. It may be that nothing of this magnitude will ever happen again until Jesus personally returns to finally and ultimately overthrow the devil and his hordes.

2 2 First: The Destructive Power of Demons 1-7 The previous evening Jesus had calmed a raging storm. The fury of the storm caused a momentary panic aboard the ship carrying the Messiah. But Jesus s power of nature caused an even greater storm in the hearts of the disciples who better understood the divinity of Jesus. V 1 - Still in shock and awe, the disciples landed in Gadara with Jesus, opposite Galilee (Luke 8:26) running along the eastern shore of the lake. Both Mark and Luke called it the country of the Gerasenes (Mark 5:1; Luke 8:26) while Matthew referred to it as the country of the Gadarenes (Matt 8:28). Both designations refer to a small village of Khersa or Gersa, located by the sea of Galilee, about six miles from Capernaum. Matthew in particular, referenced the larger town of Gadara, situated southeast of Gersa. V 2 - The disciples may have thought Jesus was once again seeking refuge from the crowds. But on this occasion Jesus had travelled to Gadara for a divine appointment. No sooner had they docked their boats than a raging lunatic came racing down the slope of the lake to meet them. Matthew 8:28 indicates there were two such men while Mark and Luke focus solely on the man with whom Jesus spoke. Jesus had just stilled a storm on the lake. He is now about to heal a storm of and in a man. The man had an unclean spirit indicating he was demon possessed: indwelt, controlled and tormented by fallen angels who operate under the leadership of Satan in opposition to God s Garden-to-Garden agenda. From a Jewish perspective, the entire text is replete with unclean elements. The eastern shore setting place it in Gentile territory. His banishment to the tombs rendered him unclean according to OT law because contact with the dead defiled a person for 7 days and a person who failed to purify himself must be cut off from Israel (Num 19:11-14). It was also a region inhabited by swine herders. If the Gentiles were raising the pork for the Roman army, then the raising of unclean food was doubly detested. And so it is that Jesus meets an unclean man possessed by an unclean spirit, living in unclean tombs surround by people of unclean occupations living in unclean Gentile territory. Demon possession is an extreme form of individualized subjugation wherein one or more evil spirits control a person s mind, body and voice. It can cause physical symptoms (Matt 9:32; 12:22; 17:14-15, etc) but is a supernatural phenomenon that goes beyond scientific, psychological or medical explanation. Anyone indwelt by God s Spirit need not fear demon possession. Christians are the temple of God (1 Cor 6:19-20) and he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4). This is Mark s third and most graphic exorcism (1:25; 3:11). Matthew 8:28-34 & Luke 8:26-39 also record the incident but greatly reduce it, Matthew in particular crops Mark s story from 20 verses to 6 verses. Mark s depiction of the man is one of the Bible s most lamentable stories of human wretchedness.

3 3 V 3 In ancient times burial chambers were often carved out of a hillside and a number of such tombs have been discovered near Khersa. The Jews avoided tombs for fear of becoming ceremonially unclean by touching a dead body (Num 19:11). In this Gentile region, this demonpossessed man was more comfortable among the dead than among the living. He lived naked (Luke 8:27) and terrorized by the demons who possessed him (5). 3-4 The demoniac is a terror to himself and others. Obviously a threat to the local community, its leaders had attempted to restrain him on multiple occasions. Matthew 8:28 notes that people were unsafe to travel in that region because of the demon possessed man. 6 Some commentators see the storm the night before Jesus entered Gadara as of demonic origin; an attempt to keep Jesus from entering the region and performing his exorcism. This is a place no one would want to go for many reasons. It is the place Jesus wants to go for its uncleanness. But seeing Jesus in a distance, the demons sensed God incarnate and panicked. They verbalized their fear through the voice of their tortured soul who screamed in terror (Luke 8:28) as he ran and fell down before him. The word for fell is bow/proskueno which means to worship. This reverence wasn t motivated by repentance but sheer dread. What no human being had been able to tame, Jesus restrained with nothing more than his mere presence. V 7-8 Shouting for everyone to hear the angels who had been thrust from heaven recognized Jesus as being from heaven and used the title of God that accentuates his absolute sovereignty over all other powers (Gen 14:19; Deut 32:8; 2 Sam 22:14, etc). Humans may doubt the Trinity or the Son s perfect, eternal equality with the Father, but demons know better. And they are expecting the worst from their Creator and Judge. Second: The Delivering Power of Deity The demons are completely aware of Jesus s true identity and acknowledge his power to torment them (7). As such, Jesus commanded the demon to leave the man and asked the demon for his name. 9 The demon responded My name is Legion, for we are many. The name was more of a title than his actual name. Legion is a military designation used to identify a group of soldiers. A Roman legion, legio in Latin, designated the largest troop-unit in the Roman army, some 5,600 soldiers and most often spoken of as simply 6,000 soldiers demonstrating just how many demons lived inside this man. Jesus asked for his name for at least one specific reason: to demonstrate his comprehensive authority over fallen angels and the spiritual realm. The demons are expelled by Jesus s words alone. 10 Jesus could have sent the demons anywhere but they wanted to remain in that Gentile region, evidently to continue operating through the local pagan culture and its false religion.

4 The demons desperation is reflected in their willingness to live even in local pigs. As powerful as Legion was, he had to ask permission from Jesus, who gave it, to enter the pigs. By granting permission to go into the herd of pigs, Jesus was allowing the demons to demonstrate the magnitude of their destructive powers. The demons had no choice but to obey Jesus. They entered into the pigs which caused a massive frenzy and suicidal stampede as the pigs charged violently down the slope and down into the lake. NOTE: Let s not get fixated on pitying the pigs (suuu-icide) who were destined for slaughter anyway or the owners who undoubtedly recouped the pigs bodies from the lake, butchered the meat and sent it to market. What happened to the pigs is far below the point of this text. In the eyes of Jesus, the rescue and restoration of one person created in his image is more important than the fate of swine or the vast capital assets lost. 14 According to Matthew 8:33, those who witnessed the account reported everything indicating they understood the connection between Jesus, the freeing of the demoniac and the suicide of the pigs. 15 When everyone had finally gathered they saw the formerly legion-possessed man sitting there, dressed and in his right mind a picture of salvation and discipleship. The composure of the healed man is much akin to the great calm on the lake after the storm. But outer and inner storms have been quelled by Jesus who brings creation out of chaos. The response of the townspeople is that they were afraid. This experience ended just the previous chapter s storm for the disciples. Both stories end in fear. The people had been very afraid of the demoniac man. Now they are afraid of Jesus. Frightened translates from phobos which is the root for our English word phobia. They were no longer afraid of the man. Now they were afraid of Jesus who was evidently more than a man and more powerful than the devils who had indwelt the demoniac. The response of the townspeople represents the common response to the real Jesus. Most people, if asked, would like for Jesus to prove he is God or for God to prove himself. But when God does manifest himself, most people ask him to leave (John 1:11) When the townspeople fully understood Jesus power, they asked him to leave the region. Third: The Damning Power of Depravity You might imagine such dramatic power might have produced revival in the Gentile region of Gadara. It did not. In fact, the people began to plead for Jesus to leaven. In the most tragic irony, the demons begged Jesus to let them stay there (10) and the people asked Jesus to leave from there (17). Their reaction revealed the depravity of their hearts, a depravity that only darkened as they were left to the Legion of demons; darkness fell once again on the city as the Light of life left in a boat.

5 5 Once again the Scripture informs us that miraculous evidences do not necessarily lead to repentance and faith. This miracle had the opposite effect. No one denied that Jesus was Lord. It was, in fact, because he was Lord, that they asked him to leave. Just as Jesus yielded to the request of the terrified demons not to lave the area, he also yielded to the request of the residents, granting their wish for him to depart. 18 As Jesus left Gadara, the delivered man, in contrast to the townspeople, asked Jesus if he could go with him. The request is worded in the vocabulary of discipleship of 3:14; indicating his desire to join Jesus and his mission. 19 Instead of allowing him to go with him, Jesus instructed the man to return home and show God s mercy toward sinners. Instead of bringing him back to Capernaum where the man might have become a light put under a bushel (4:21) Jesus commissioned him to be a missionary. He is the first missionary-preacher sent out by Jesus; remarkably, a Gentile sent to Gentiles. 20 The man did exactly as Jesus instructed him. V 19 - Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you. 20 And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled. By the time Jesus arrived back in the Decapolis (an area comprised of 10 cities), a massive crowd (Mark 7:31-8:9) responded to his ministry, surely motivated by the healed demoniac s ministry among them. Conclusion: 1 - Jesus is, once again, demonstrating his divine authority, proving himself to be the God he claims to be. As God incarnate, he rules over natural and supernatural realms. He intends to leave no room for doubt amongst either his followers or detractors. 2 Mark continues to build his case for true Christianity and discipleship. Christians continue to hear the Word and unbelievers refuse it. In this event, the townspeople refused Jesus and the former demoniac accepted Christ and desired to follow him. 3 Every redeemed person is an evangelist. We are not responsible to save souls, only God can do that, but we are responsible to intelligently, truthfully share the gospel (2 Timothy 2:15). Eventually, as in the case of the freed demoniac, Jesus personally appeared to validate what was being told (John 16:8).

6 6 Questions: 1 We might think Jesus does not send his people into storms. We might think Jesus does not take his people into uncomfortable situations. How does the storm and the demoniac change your thinking about what Jesus will or won t do with those he loves? Why does Jesus do this? (It changes us and preaches the gospel to others) 2 The Jews had their own ideas about what was unclean. What are some modern concepts of spiritual uncleanliness? Later in Mark, Jesus will say There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him (7:15). Is uncleanliness an outer or inner reality? Why? What does this say about how we become Christians? What does it say about outward morality versus biblical sanctification? 3 How would you justify the morality of Jesus letting the demons go into pigs who then killed themselves, costing money to their owners? 4 - Why, like the citizens of Gadara, do people ask Jesus to leave and sin to stay? Can you share such an experience in your own life? 5 What are the marks of salvation in the healed man and unbelief in the townspeople? Based on this text, what how do we know we have been born again? 6 Why is a fear of Jesus healthy for us? (It controls other fears. We are less afraid of things of which we should not really be afraid) 7 What specifics about your testimony present a before and after picture of salvation? Behind the Book is only one aspect of Heritage s teaching ministry which seeks to employ our church s mission statement: Connecting to God, Growing with Others and Impacting the world. On Wednesday evenings we connect to Sunday morning s Bible passage and discover what it says through in-depth Bible study. Sunday morning in corporate worship (9:30am) we grow from the passage by learning what it means for our daily living. In Community Groups (8:30 & 11:00am) we practically apply the text, being impacted by it and learning to impact the world with it. CGI provides a balanced approach to life and Bible study; an upward look (Connect), an inward look (Grow) and an outward look (Impact) ensuring that our mission fulfils our vision to be a God-centered, Great Commission congregation. It s also a well-known and beneficial way to approach the Bible Connect/Observation, Grow/Interpretation, Impact/Application. Finally, it s a Trinitarian approach to Scripture: Connecting to the Father, Growing in Christ and Impacting the world by the Spirit. So the way we study the Bible reminds us that God eternally exists in Trinity and as such, is unique among all the gods/religions of the world.