“What About The Pigs?”
Mark 5:1-20
SCRIPTURE INTRO:
Gospel of Mark is the record of an invasion.
It’s about the Son
of God coming into our world
and
challenging our perceptions about what God is like.
This story shows us what happens as the power of Jesus
Christ advances.
INTRO: I hate scary movies.
When I was a freshman in college, I saw my first and last
horror movie.
I took girl named
Carolyn from
She wanted to see a
horror movie, some “Friday the 13th” sort of thing.
I spent the whole movie with my hand over eyes, fingers in
my ears.
She laughed at me
and ate her popcorn. When over I said,
never again!
This story sounds like a horror movie. Put yourself in the disciples’ shoes.
This side of the
lake, this region, was Gentile. Avoided by religious Jews.
Considered to be a
place where Satan ruled.
Would have been on edge during normal times—this was not
normal.
Probably still
dark. Coming off
emotional roller coaster from storm.
Pull up their boats
besides some cliffs where there are tombs.
Once again, for religious Jews, this was a doubly unclean
place.
Gentile
and dead bodies—two things to be avoided.
Then, up among tombs they hear this howling—not animal,
human, but inhuman.
Out of the gloom
comes this man, running toward Jesus—
shouting
at the top of his lungs.
Horrible creature, naked, filthy, covered
with self-inflicted wounds.
Perhaps
broken chains hanging from his wrists.
But the most terrifying thing of all is this sense of
uncanny evil.
A man whose
personality and mind have been taken over
by
evil beings who are full of hatred and filth.
“What is your name?”
Jesus asks.
And he answers with
what has to be one of the creepiest lines in all literature.
“My name is Legion,
for we are many.”
And then there is this bizarre conversation with the demons
followed
by a dramatic exorcism.
If
I wouldn’t watch
it. You couldn’t pay me to watch it.
Asked our Covenant Group about it Wednesday night—what stands
out?
First thing someone
said was—the pigs.
Yes, demon-possessed
pigs. 2,000
demon-possessed pigs.
That tends to grab
your attention, doesn’t it?
This story raises so many strange questions—I’m going to try
to answer some.
But this story is not in the Bible to pique our interest in
demons.
It is here to show
us something absolutely wonderful about Jesus Christ.
Jesus had been on the other side of the
There were huge
crowds there. Everybody wanted to see
him.
He was experiencing
tremendous popularity.
But do you remember what he told his disciples?
“Let us go over to
the other side.” Jesus had a plan.
So they set out
across the lake. They ran into the
storm—studied last week.
When they landed on that dark side of the lake,
we
see why Jesus had left the huge crowds and the popularity.
Because there was a man on the other side—a horrible man.
A
violent man with a broken mind.
A man cut off from
the society of normal people.
But a man who the Son of God valued.
And here we see the
wonderful truth of this story.
People are valuable
to Jesus. Broken people are valuable to
Jesus.
Enslaved people stir
the compassion of his heart.
Great work of Jesus Christ was to come as a man to rescue
broken people—
to
push back the effects of the fall, redeem his chosen race.
The compassion Jesus has for this man, he has extended to
each of us.
And we should
rejoice in that.
But ought to go a step further.
Like Jesus, we must
value people and seek their deliverance as he did.
Three points for note-takers. Because Jesus values people
1. He restrains demonic forces,
2. He challenges worldly values,
3. He heals broken lives.
MP#1 Jesus restrains demonic forces.
The Bible tells us very little about demons or evil spirit,
but it tells us enough.
They are fallen angels who rebelled against God
and
who gave their allegiance to their chief who is called the Devil or Satan.
They hate God and his purposes in the world
and
they seek at every turn to frustrate God’s will.
When Jesus asks the man his name, the evil spirits speak and
say:
“My name is Legion,
for we are many.”
This would be like a person saying:
“My name is Green
Berets.” or “My
name is 82nd Airborne.”
The Legion was a
fighting force of the Roman Army made up of 6,000 infantry.
The Bible gives us hints that the evil spirits are
organized.
They have a military hierarchy, for the purpose of opposing
God
and
stirring up people to evil, and enslaving them in it more completely.
Bible calls Satan the Prince of this world.
In the past he has
held whole nations bound in spiritual darkness.
This demon-possessed man is described in such horrible
detail to show us clearly
the
hatred of evil spirits. They hated this
man because he was a man.
Human beings are
made in the image of God.
As they gained control of him they did everything to
eradicate God’s image.
His mind was
deranged, he was self-destructive, he howled at the moon.
He was separated
from human society and lived among the dead in tombs.
He was a wrecked person, physically and mentally.
Does this still happen today? Is there demon-possession like this?
That’s one of those
questions that can distract. But I’ll
answer in a minute.
We need to see something more important.
Jesus restrained
these evil spirits. Not only cast out of
man.
But I believe we
are intended to see that he banished them from the region.
This region, the
But in doing this,
Jesus was opening it up to the Gospel.
This is a foreshadowing of all of the great missionary work
of the church.
Everywhere the
Gospel goes, Jesus goes, and he speaks and binds Satan.
Revelation says that during this Age Satan is bound—cannot
deceive nations.
Of course, he is
still around, But
not as it used to be.
Everywhere the Gospel goes, demonic power is
restrained.
Living here in
The Gospel
influence is pervasive here. Church is
visible.
But read accounts of missionaries in dark places of the
world.
There is tremendous
fear of evil spirits. People bound in
superstition.
Cruel practices engrained in cultures,
people
degraded—especially women and children
The Gospel restrains these demonic forces, open ears to
truth.
Let me tell you what I think this means for us
practically. Hope see
connection.
If
we value people. If we want to
push back the forces of darkness,
We ought to support with our prayers, money—
and
our sons and daughters the work of foreign missions.
That’s what this
passage is about. Opening shot of
Gentile mission of church.
Now this is a good place to talk about demon
possession. Does it happen today?
There are two
differing opinions among thoughtful Christians.
Some say demon possession was a special occurrence in the
time of Christ only.
Special
strategy to discredit Christ by mimicking incarnation that backfired.
The biblical argument:
none in OT, not mentioned in epistles—only Gospels, Acts.
Bizarre
and/or evil behavior mental illness or sin—need compassion and Gospel.
Other view: Demon possession does still occur—in places
without the Gospel.
Also recognizes decreasing
emphasis in the Bible, attributes to spread of Gospel.
Wherever no Gospel
witness and fear of evil spirits, cases of possession.
But as the Gospel comes into a country or tribe, people are
saved,
churches
are established, the presence of the Gospel eliminates demon possession.
A pioneer missionaries may encounter it in places were
spirit feared.
But with the establishment of the church, and Gospel
witness, Satan pushed back.
John Nevius, Presbyterian missionary to
So those are the two biblically supportable views. I personally hold to the second.
It’s consistent
with Scripture and witness of many veteran missionaries.
Ties in with this truth:
Jesus values people. Restrains demonic forces.
And we, through our
support of missions can do the same.
MP#2 Jesus challenges worldly values.
The second way that we see that Jesus values people is in
the way
he
challenges worldly values.
Now, let’s talk about the pigs.
Did the demons
intend to kill the pigs or not?
Some commentators say yes.
Demons meant to kill the pigs.
It was part of a
strategy to turn people against Jesus’ message.
And that’s exactly
what we see happening as they ask him to leave.
Other commentators say no.
Demons did not mean to kill pigs.
Pigs driven mad by
presence of these evil beings.
Their drowning
symbolic of the final judgment when Jesus throws
Satan
and all his demons into the abyss.
I think a much more helpful question is: What was Jesus up to?
He was in total
control of this situation. Knew what was
going to happen.
Was Jesus against pigs because they were unclean, against OT
dietary rules.
Of course not. These were Gentile people on this side of
lake, not Jews.
Jesus wasn’t
against pigs. He wasn’t against making
money.
But He was clearly challenging the worldly values of these
people.
He realized that
what these people valued most was their money.
So he used this disaster
to show them a better way.
He was giving them
an opportunity to set lives on a new path.
Look, he was saying, the most valuable thing in the world is
a person.
There is nothing
more wonderful than for a person to be delivered from evil.
To have his mind
and emotions made whole again, turned to God.
That’s what I’ve come to do.
I’ve come to save
people. Make broken lives whole.
I value people. I want to see them whole.
This is the value system that I am bringing into the world.
But the people would have none of it.
Verses 16 and 17 are the key:
“Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to
the demon-possessed man, and told about the pigs as well. Then the people began to plead with Jesus to
leave their region.”
The man interested them for a minute, but it was the pigs
that got their attention.
Look, there’s the
demon possessed man. Clothed,
calm, in his right mind.
But, oh no! Look at our pigs!
Their economic loss was more important than the deliverance
of this man.
And because of that
they turned their back on Jesus.
That’s a perfect summary of the value system of the world.
It always chooses
things over people.
CS Lewis’ description of sexual
immorality.
Man who is immoral
doesn’t love the woman he is with.
He loves a physical
sensation for which a woman is the necessary apparatus.
To love a woman is
to love children, houses, picket fences.
Point that value system that rests on immorality, greed,
power, pleasure—
does
not value people, uses them, grinds them up.
Jesus says: I
challenge your worldly value that puts things ahead of people.
As Christians we
are to do the same wherever Lord leads us.
Article in last issue of Time magazine
about pregnancy counseling centers.
Spin of the article
was this:
Anti-abortion forces have gone underground.
Instead of marching,
protesting abortion clinics,
winning
women one heart at a time.
Over past two decades Christians have opened counseling
centers
providing
counsel, compassion, resources, so that keep babies, don’t abort them.
Article was looking for things to criticize—found some—
said
used fear tactics, guilt tactics, bad information.
But hard to get much traction when see Christian people
saying to women—
you
are valuable to us, the baby you are carrying is valuable to us.
Challenging the values system of the world that says
this
child is an inconvenient, expensive, unnecessary blob of tissue.
You high school students—are there values in your school,
popularity perhaps,
that
need to be challenged. People on fringe
need to reach out to with kind word.
Are there values in your workplace, ways of dealing with people,
that
need to be challenged. Money isn’t the
highest value. People are.
Just remember, experience might be like Jesus.
People may prefer
their pigs tell you to get lost.
But your calling to follow Him.
MP#3 Jesus heals broken lives.
Third, we see that Jesus values people in the way he heals
broken lives.
It’s interesting
that when you read this story for the first time,
the
things that get your attention are the demons and the pigs.
But one of the greatest mysteries of this story is the man
himself.
How was he made
whole again?
Look at his brokenness.
There were so many levels.
He was spiritually
broken. Separated from
God in terrible way, on way to hell.
He was emotionally
broken. See that in self-destructive
cutting.
He was socially
broken. Driven away
from people.
He was materially
broken. Point made of his nakedness.
And notice that he could not even ask for Jesus’ help.
He might have
tried. But the demons in him shouted
their defiance.
But how his he described after his encounter with Jesus?
Sitting,
dressed, and in his right mind.
And we see him
begging to go with Jesus—love and affection restored.
And hear Jesus
telling him to go back to family—promise in that command.
So we see this man’s brokenness healed in every respect.
That is the work of
Jesus—he heals broken lives.
As a Christian, your calling is to value people so much—
that
you seek to heal broken lives at every level.
There is an interesting story that Beth Moore tells about
something
that
happened to her in an airport—know some of you have read this.
She was waiting for a flight—saw an elderly, wheelchair
bound man.
His white hair was
matted and unkempt,
and
he seemed very sad and drawn into herself.
She said that Holy Spirit prompted her to do something for
the man—
thought
that came to mind, was that she should brush his hair.
Immediately she pushed that out of her mind—but came back.
After fighting it
she prayed, approached him said,
“Sir, I would like
to brush your hair.”
He was hard of hearing, she had to shout. People were staring.
Man said, ok, found
a hairbrush. She started brushing.
He began to tell
her about his sorrows, loneliness for wife in nursing home.
When they were done, prayed together.
Now, that may seem a little thing, but she was bringing the
healing power
of
Christ to a man broken emotionally and in a sense physically.
And there was a cost.
Cost of potential embarrassment.
Will always be
costs when you get involved with broken people.
Will
be emotional costs, financial costs, time costs.
People will not be lovely.
Like the man Jesus
delivered, there may well be things
about
them that are repulsive physically or emotionally.
The power to get involved in their lives will only come from
one place—
and
that is by looking at how much it cost Jesus to save you.
Just a few chapters later, at the end of Mark we see Jesus
in final hours of life.
And what is so
interesting is that in his suffering, in his brokenness
we
see this man from Geresa.
Jesus stripped of his clothing, covered with wounds,
Jesus was driven
out of the city, out of human society, to the place of the dead.
Jesus groaned in agony,
mocked by demons and men,
And he cried, “My
God, my God, why have your forsaken me?”
Jesus Christ exchanged places with this man Legion—
he
became like him in death in order to save him.
That’s what it cost Jesus to save you and me.
Cost him total
brokenness—material, social, emotional, and spiritual.
He suffered, in his
passion, the pains of hell and the wrath of God.
Why? Because you are eternally valuable to him.
Why? Because even when you were under the control
of darkness,
and
shouting defiance, he set his eye on you, chose you,
had
a plan for finding you and healing you.
So that in this life and in the life to come you could be a
whole person—
sitting,
clothed, in your right mind—talking to your Savior.
When that great saving work sinks into your mind—
then
you will be empowered to seek the healing of broken people—
no
matter how much the cost, how repulsive they may seem.
Because the Lord valued you, as his disciple, you value
people too.