Text: Mark 5:1-20
“Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” —Jesus (Mark 5:19)
God delights to turn our mess into a message and our darkness into a declaration of His goodness.
In Mark 5, we have the most detailed description of a demon-possessed man in the Bible. Jesus encounters a man with an “unclean spirit” who was hurting himself and endangering others. The goal of demons is always to destroy the person created in the image of God, and the devil’s minions were working overtime on this guy. His demonization is characterized by social isolation, unhinged behavior, and self-destructive tendencies.
But when the man saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before Him. Jesus confronted his unclean spirit by commanding it to come out and forcing it to reveal its true identity. Demonic influence, or any unclean living for that matter, always masquerades itself as something else until it is brought under the supremacy of Christ, where light exposes the darkness. This man’s demons, identifying as “Legion,” or many, had to yield to the greater authority of Jesus.
After Jesus exorcised the demons, we find the man sitting there “clothed and in his right mind.” When he saw Jesus getting into a boat to leave the region, he begged to go with Him. It would’ve been very convenient for this man to escape a region where his reputation was already shot, his character already untrusted, and his name already demonized. But Jesus tells him to stay. He tells him to “go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”
I find it very interesting that Jesus tells a former demoniac, who had been living among the tombs, to go and find his “friends” and declare the goodness of God. From Luke’s account, we understand that he had been in that isolated condition for “a long time” (Luke 8:27). Jesus could’ve commissioned him to an entirely new place with a whole new set of faces, but he sent him home to familiar acquaintances. That’s an image of restored relationships, healing among the familiar, rebirthed vision for the man’s family and loved ones, favor in the everyday places of life, and God’s “kingdom come” in the ordinary here and now.
The world’s way of dealing with the messiness of relationships is to find new people. God’s way is oftentimes about miraculously healing what is familiar. The former is like taking the same drama and broadcasting it on a new channel. Patterns get repeated and dysfunction gets recycled. But the latter redeems the entire story and refines the characters in the story. True healing and renewal is not about different geography, it’s about letting God do His work in you wherever He may call you.
When God comes through for us it is a means to tell His story. Our broken chains are intended to give Him praise. Whether He heals or delivers, provides or protects, honors or promotes, forgives or restores, rebuilds our faith, revives our confidence, or restores a hope and a dream that was once shattered, it is an account to declare His goodness. Where is your Decapolis—that place where you are called to be a witness to God’s transformative power in your life? It might be closer than you think!
PRAYER
God, thank you for never giving up on us. Our mess is never too intimidating for you to turn into a message of good news for others. Holy Spirit, empower us to live in your freedom from darkness and to declare that freedom to others. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Questions for Reflection and/or Group Discussion
- When was the last time you had such wonderful news that you could not wait to tell someone about it?
- Why was the man Jesus met chained up? (Mark 5:4-5) What was his life like before he met Jesus? (5:3-5) How did he react to Jesus? (5:6-7)
- What did Jesus do to help the demon-possessed man? (vv.8-20) What was the man’s life like after Jesus ordered the demons out of him? What did Jesus instruct him to do?
- How do the man’s actions after Jesus delivered him from demon-possession serve as an example to us?
- In what familiar context might God be turning your mess into a message of hope and good news for others?
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