March 1: Jesus Restores a Demon-Possessed Man
♫ Music:
Tuesday, March 1
Scripture: Mark 5:1-20
They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.” So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.
The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.
JESUS RESTORES A DEMON-POSSESSED MAN
This is the story about the people who asked Jesus to leave.
Yes, it is also the story about the horde of demons infesting one naked and helpless man. It’s also the story about the herd of pigs streaming down the cliff to their deaths. The story about the maniacal strength of the fallen angels as they used their host to break iron shackles, to scream their filthiness to the skies, to dance in the dark around the mountains and the tombs, to terrorize everyone who came near them.
It is that story.
But it is also the story about the people who asked Jesus to leave.
It’s a terrifying story. To see the man possessed by demons must have been to see a living, breathing diorama of hell: humanity lost to torment, madness, and uncontrollable suffering. Look at the painting by Frederico Blee: there is hell all bound up in a man-shaped shell, rage incarnate, suffering encased by human skin.
And yet, this Lent, despite the gripping nature of the demoniac’s condition, perhaps it’s more edifying for us to be afraid of the townspeople: the sane, sober, responsible (though, as they were keeping swine, perhaps not so Law-abiding) businessmen who were desperate to drive away the miracle-worker who had ruined their living.
No, that’s not quite it. Not to be afraid of the townspeople, but to be afraid of being like them.
Look, if you would, at the state of the characters at the end of the story. At the end of the story, the man tormented by devils is safe, sane, and in the presence of the Lord. As Bob Bennett has Jesus say in the song that accompanies this devotional, “Underneath this thing that you’ve become/I see a man of flesh and blood.” And because Jesus sees it, and declares it, it is so. The demons must depart at the word of the Lord, leaving only the Lord’s new man kneeling before the Word Himself. Even when Jesus kindly sends the cleansed man back to his loved ones, He doesn’t send him purposeless: “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”
The tormented man has seen the Lord, has been saved by the Lord, and has been converted not just into the Lord’s new man, but into the Lord’s evangelist. “Go and tell,” Jesus says, and the man does. Not only that, the man seems miraculously to understand what perhaps even the disciples didn’t yet understand: that Jesus was the Lord Himself! “Tell them how much the Lord has done for you,” says Jesus, and the man obeys by proclaiming “how much Jesus had done for him”!
That is the state of the formerly-tormented man at the end of the story.
And, at the end of the story, here is the state of the respectable townspeople: they have begged God’s Messiah to leave their shores.
And He has.
PRAYER
Holy Father, look down upon your servants in your mercy. And in your great goodness, grant us not only your presence, but the desire for your presence. Grant us eyes to see your great salvation, minds to know from what great torment you have delivered us, and lips ready to speak of your great goodness and love. Only by your own love are we able to love you, and only by your own goodness are we ever able to do good. Grant us both to love you and to speak of your goodness to our neighbors, and all this for your own sake, for the sake of your great glory. We ask this in the name of your dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Jessica Snell, Alumna & Author
Artwork #1
Gerasene Demoniac
Toonfed
Digital illustration
About the Artist and Art #1
Federico Blee G., also known as Toonfed, is a graphic designer and illustrator focused on creating characters, backgrounds, comics, and animations with digital tools. His Gerasene Demoniac vividly illustrates the animalistic behavior of the possessed man from today’s Gospel reading. Clawing the ground like a rabid canine, he frantically searches for a place of escape and rest.
Artwork #2
Healing the Demoniac
Arcabas
Oil on panel
About the Artist and Art #2
Jean-Marie Pirot known as Arcabas (b. 1926) is a contemporary French artist. He graduated from the Fine Arts School (Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts) in Paris. He has had numerous exhibitions in France as well as abroad. He has also undertaken various commissions for the French government and local authorities (mosaics, frescoes, stained-glass windows) but his major achievement is the Ensemble d'art sacré contemporain in the church of Saint Hugues de Chartreuse, begun in 1953 and completed in 1986, which has been donated to the Département de l'Isère as part of France’s cultural heritage. Many of Arcabas’ works have been inspired by the Bible.
www.arcabas.com
About the Music
“Man of the Tombs”
Lyrics
Man of the tombs,
He lives in a place where no one goes,
And he tears at himself,
And lives with a pain that no one knows.
He counts himself dead among the living,
He knows no mercy and no forgiving.
Deep in the night he's driven to cry out loud;
Can you hear him cry out loud?
Man of the tombs,
Possessed by an unseen enemy.
He breaks every chain,
And mistakes his freedom for being free.
Shame and shamelessness equally there,
Like a random toss of a coin in the air,
Man of the tombs, he's driven to cry out loud.
Underneath this thing that I've become,
A fading memory of flesh and blood;
I curse the womb, I bless the grave.
I've lost my heart, I cannot be saved.
Like those who fear me, I'm afraid.
Like those I've hurt, I can feel pain.
Naked now before my sin,
And these stones that cut against my skin,
Some try to touch me, but no one can
For man of the tombs I am.
Down at the shoreline,
Two sets of footprints meet.
One voice is screaming,
Another voice begins to speak.
In only a moment and only a word,
The evil departs like a thundering herd,
Man of the tombs, he hears this cry out loud.
Underneath this thing that you've become,
I see a man of flesh and blood.
I give you life beyond the grave,
Heal your heart, I come to save.
No need to fear, be not afraid;
This Man of sorrows knows your pain.
I come to take away your sin,
And bear its marks upon My skin.
When no one can touch you, still I can;
For Son of God I am.
Dressed now and seated,
Clean in spirit and healthy of mind.
Man of the tombs,
He begs to follow, but must stay behind.
He'll return to his family with stories to tell
Of mercy and madness, of heaven and hell.
Man of the tombs, soon he will cry out loud.
Underneath this thing that I once was,
Now I'm a man of flesh and blood.
I have a life beyond the grave.
I found my heart, I can now be saved.
No need to fear, I am not afraid.
This Man of sorrows took my pain,
He comes to take away our sin,
And bear its marks upon His skin.
I'm telling you this story because
Man of the tombs I was.
About the Musician
Bob Bennett (b. 1955) is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter from Downey, California. Bennett is known for his distinctive baritone voice, Christian lyrics, and folk-inspired guitar playing. He picked up his first guitar at age nine and formed a rock 'n' roll band in high school. He converted to Christianity in the late 70s, and his songwriting began to reflect his newfound faith. His career was launched with the release of his 1979 folk-style debut recording First Things First. Three years later, Matters of the Heart, selected by CCM Magazine as 1982's "Album of the Year" was released. Bennett has made a total of nine albums. Bennett’s songs detail not only his joys and victories, but also his disappointments, struggles, and failures. To Bennett, spiritual themes are everywhere—even in the least holy of circumstances. His music and ministry reflect his belief that all lives are intricately woven with the sacred and the human.
www.bob-bennett.com