This Week with the Word

The Uniform Lesson for October 11
Background & Commentary by Sam E. Stone

Last week’s lesson was from Mark 1, near the start of Jesus’ earthly ministry. The next three chapters of this Gospel show him healing many people, teaching large crowds, and selecting his 12 apostles. The setting for all these events is Galilee in northern Palestine, not far from his hometown of Nazareth. One day when he and his disciples were crossing the Sea of Galilee in a boat, a storm came up. “Waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped” (Mark 4:37). With just a word, Jesus calmed the wind. “Quiet! Be still!” (v. 39).

Today’s lesson takes up as he next calmed the life of a demon-possessed man on the other side of the lake. Although Mark’s Gospel is the shortest of the four, it contains by far the longest account of this miracle. What happened shows that Jesus’ power and authority were recognized not only by the world of nature, but by the spirit world as well. Through it all, our Lord demonstrates clearly the value of one soul.

The Captive/Mark 5:1-5

From the western edge of the lake, Jesus and the disciples sailed across to the other side. Mark calls the area the region of the Gerasenes (v. 1), as does Luke. Gerasa (Khersa) was a small town nearby. Matthew calls it “the region of the Gadarenes,” identifying it with a larger city in the same area. Both names are accurate and both identify the same location.

Coming out to meet him was a man with an evil spirit (v. 2). Matthew adds that another demoniac was with him (8:28). R. C. Foster explains, “It appears from the conversation of Jesus with the demoniac that one of the demons was dominant and spoke for all. This helps to explain Mark’s reduction to ‘a man with an unclean spirit.’”

The man lived in the cave-like tombs not far from the lake. He was so powerful and so violent that although the people tried to keep him chained, no one was strong enough to subdue him (v. 4). The vicious demons disrupted his life and the lives of all who came near. Matthew adds, “They were so violent that no one could pass that way” (8:28). Luke notes that the demoniac had not worn clothes for a long time (8:27).

The Release/Mark 5:6-13

The demoniac came running up to Jesus shouting, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won’t torture me!”
For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you evil spirit!” (vv. 7, 8). The demon addressed Jesus using the man’s own voice. This text makes it clear that the demons not only recognize God and his authority, but they also know the punishment awaiting them at the final judgment (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6).

Jesus asked, What is your name? (v. 9). The question may have been intended for the man, but the demon served as spokesman for the other evil spirits inside him, replying, “My name is Legion, for we are many (v. 9). A Roman legion could have as many as 6,000 soldiers in it! Luke adds, “They begged him repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss” (8:31; see Revelation 9:1). The demons begged Jesus to allow them to enter a nearby herd of pigs, and he permitted them to do so. J. W. McGarvey explains, “The demons evidently did not intend to destroy the swine. Their desire to have live bodies to dwell in shows that they did not. But the presence of the demons in their bodies made the hogs crazy, as it had the demoniac, and they ran the way their noses were pointed at the moment.”

The Result/Mark 5:18-20

The verses omitted from our printed text (vv. 14-17) are revealing. People from the neighboring countryside came to learn what happened. “When they came to see Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid” (v. 15). The drowning of the pigs had proved costly to their owners. They pleaded with Jesus to leave. The pagans in the area cared more about a drowned pig than a possessed person! To Jesus, however, one soul is more valuable than an entire world of material things (Matthew 16:26).

The demon-possessed man begged Jesus to let him accompany him and the apostles as they were leaving, but Jesus had a job for him there. “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you” (v. 19). Often our best witness for Christ is done, not halfway around the world, but where we live. The man obeyed and, when he told his story, all the people were amazed (v. 20). |L

Sam E. Stone is the former editor of Christian Standard. He continues his writing and speaking ministry from his home in Cincinnati, Ohio.