ONLINE BIBLE STUDY: "Crazy Man in a Creepy Place." MARK, CHAPTER 5, verses 1-20.

Chapter 5 of the Gospel According to Mark contains accounts of three separate healings by Jesus, and it makes sense to examine each of these individually, before considering them in their relationship to each other.  Verses 1-20 describes a mysterious episode in which Jesus acts as an exorcist.  "Daemons" in the ancient world were considered to be whatever mysterious forces caused diseases, ailments and troubles, and especially, whatever caused mental and behavioral abnormalities.  Then as now, psychotic behavior was frightening to people whose behavior seemed more "normal," and disruptive people who seemed captive to such "daemons" were forced to live apart from regular society.

The episode described in this lesson began in a way guaranteed to make the disciples feel ill at ease.  Jesus and the disciples emerged from the storm at sea, only to arrive on the "other side of the sea" at the land of the "Gerasenes," a foreign people who have not otherwise been clearly identified.  They were clearly not Israelites, though, because much of their economy seemed to involve the herding of pigs, animals with which the Israelites were forbidden to have any contact.  The disciples, then, must have felt not only uneasy in the unfamiliar environment, but also "grossed out" by the presence of thousands of "unclean" animals.  (Can you recall times when unfamiliar circumstances made you feel not only uncomfortable, but even revolted?)  I suppose it must have felt like arriving in a country where people kept huge quantities of rats for food.  Worse yet, the group came upon a man who lived in a graveyard (more "uncleanness"), whose "howling" behavior was so frightening that people had tried (unsuccessfully!) to restrain him with chains.  He had broken out of his chains, and no one had had the strength to restrain him.  He shouted out to Jesus at the top of his voice, and the disciples must have been terrified.  Jesus, though, seemed unafraid, as he demanded that the "daemons" come out of the man.  He then asked the man's name.  The man replied, "Legion, for we are many."  (Can you recall a time when you felt beset by too many troubles to name?)  Then, very interestingly, the man
begged him (Jesus) "not to send them out of the country."  This sounds to me like Shakespeare's Hamlet declaring that sometimes people "would rather bear those ills we have than fly to others we know not of."  There was once a country song that proclaimed, "If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all."  Can you recall any time when you were reluctant to abandon old habits and embark upon a new way of doing things, even though you knew that the new way would offer better health or better self-esteem?

The unclean spirits (tacitly admitting Jesus' authority over them) begged Jesus to let them go into the nearby herd of swine.  Jesus granted the request, and the daemons, rather than killing the man, entered into the swine, who promptly ran down a steep bank into the sea, where they drowned.  At this point in the story, I always find myself feeling sorry for the poor pigs--what had they done wrong?  But in feeling that way, I think I am forgetting that the pigs were destined for the market and dinner table, not happy, long lives in the country.  The drowning of the pigs is really intended to show the visible destruction of the daemons.  Like the witches in stories like Snow White, The Sleeping Beauty, and Hansel and Gretel, these daemons would not be returning to torture anyone after Jesus left.  Jesus' dominion over evil was complete and permanent.

Moreover, Jesus was placing the health and social restoration of the man above the economic interests of the wealthier people of the city.  When the swineherds ran into the city to tell everyone what had happened, they came out to investigate for themselves.  They saw the demoniac (still unnamed) "sitting there, clothed and in his right mind."  Instead of rejoicing, they were "afraid," and they ran and reported what they had seen.  The people then came out and begged Jesus to leave the area.  The man whom Jesus had healed begged to be able to go with Jesus, but Jesus ordered him to "go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you."  He then began to tell what Jesus had done for him "in the Decapolis," that is, in all of the ten large, Greek-speaking cities east of the Jordan river.

Why would the people of the city be afraid of Jesus?  After they had seen the "demoniac" restored to his health and right mind, why would they ask Jesus to leave?  Do you know of anyone who has become frightened or angry when his or her personal financial security has been disadvantaged, so that someone worse off could be helped?  Have you ever felt that way?

Why didn't Jesus invite the demoniac to join his group of disciples?  How would you have felt, if you had been told to remain where you are and tell your friends about what God had done for you?  

How many "friends" could a naked, chained, howling, crazy man have had?  However many "friends," he started out with, what is the significance of Mark's claim that the man began to talk about Jesus all over the whole region?