Demonization (Part 2)
Mark 5:11-20
This is the second blog in my series on “Demonization” from Mark 5. Last month’s post covered verses 1-10 from the same chapter. This month’s blog is from verses 11-20. Here, we see three significant “departures” on the same date in Jesus’ encounter with this demoniac who was possessed by many evil spirits.
Departure of the Demons
“A large herd of pigs was there, feeding on the hillside. The demons begged him (Jesus), ‘Send us to the pigs, so that we may enter them.’ So he gave them permission, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs. The herd of about two thousand rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned there” (verses 11-13 emphasis added).
In verse 13, Mark uses the Greek word “exerchomai” which means to “come (forth, out), depart (out of)”. These “unclean spirits” (verse 12) “departed” into the “pigs” when Jesus cast them out of this man.
Notice there was a “herd of about two thousand” pigs (verse 13), giving us an idea about how many demons might have been in the man. This tortured soul told Jesus his name was “legion” (verse 9) which a military term describing as many as 4,000 to 6,000 troops in the Roman Imperial Army. This man had “multiple personalities”.
Verse 13 says the pigs “rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned there” characterized by the “mindless pursuit” of the demoniac who lived in Gadara which means “headlong rush”, indicative of the frenzied behavior of demons.
Departure of the Divine
“The men who tended them (pigs) ran off and reported it in the town and the countryside, and people went to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and saw the man who had been demon-possessed, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. Those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and told about the pigs. Then they began to beg him (Jesus) to leave their region” (verses 14-17 emphasis added).
In verse 17, Mark uses the Greek word “aperchomai” which means “to go off (i.e. depart)”. The townsfolk wanted the Divine Son of God to depart that region. That is a recurring theme in how so many people responded to the miracles of Christ. Just a few verses later, Jesus left His hometown because of its hatred and rejection of Him (Mark 6:3-6).
Jesus is not welcomed by the devil and his crowd. Is He at home in the company you keep? Can you say His name without being ostracized by the people with whom you regularly associate? If that is not so, maybe it is time to get a new set of friends.
Departure of the Delivered
“As he (Jesus) was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged him earnestly that he might remain with him. Jesus did not let him but told him, ‘ Go home to your own people, and report to them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you.’ So he went out and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and they were all amazed.” (verses 18-20 emphasis).
In verse 20, Mark, again, as he did in verse 17, uses the Greek word “aperchomai” (“departed”, “went out”). At Jesus’ command, this demoniac, who was now being described as being “delivered” (Luke 8:36), “departed” (“went out”). Why?
This delivered man wanted to go with Jesus, but Christ said: “go home and report (tell) to them how much the Lord has done for you and how He has had mercy on you”. In verse 20, “…he (the delivered man) went out (departed) and proclaimed…how much the Lord had done for him…”
In the same way, after we are called to COME to Jesus by faith, He, then, commissions us to GO to the lost and dying world with the gospel message. This is the pattern in Mark 5.
In verses 1-2, Jesus and His disciples departed the comforts of their ministry headquarters in Capernaum to encounter a literal storm on the Sea of Galilee (Mark 4:35-40). On the heels of that, they faced a spiritual storm with this demon-possessed man. Oftentimes, God leads us to leave our familiar surroundings to enter the teeth of adversity with His message of love.
In verse 2, Jesus, “departed, came out” (exerchomai) of the boat, creating the opportunity for Him to command the demons to “depart” from this possessed man. That led to the Divine Son of God being asked to “depart” the region. This all culminated in the delivered man departing to be a witness to his family and friends.
Christ tells us: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Have you experienced the saving power of Jesus? If you have, get out of the boat and go to others and share about the God Who is mighty to deliver people from sin.
