“They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasene. And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. 3 He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, 4 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. 5 Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. 6 And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. 7 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.” 8 For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” 9 And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” 10 And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. 11 Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, 12 and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.” 13 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.” (Mark 5:1-13, ESV)
19 “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.” 20 And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.” (Mark 5:19-20, ESV)
We naturally like to be the heroes of stories. Perhaps we may be morally ambivalent or imperfect ones, but we want to identify ourselves with heroes or those the world sees as winners. This is why people like to root for winning teams, go to schools that win national championships, and follow exceptionally wealthy, smart, artistically talented, or beautiful people on social media. It is why when we read books, we tend to identify with the main character – thinking we are the hero or heroine. The Bible gives a startling and honest portrayal of mankind. We are not the heroes. God is.
Jesus encounters a man, who is demon possessed. Because he has an unclean spirit, he cannot live among people but near tombs. Though physically alive, he is living with the dead. He has incredible strength, so that no man could bind and restrain him – even with shackles and chains. He is consistently destructive – as he cries and cuts himself with stones. He recognizes Jesus for who He is, the Son of God, but in his unclean state, Jesus is a torment and not a blessing.
We don’t like to identify with this demon possessed man. We don’t like to think we have anything in common with him. He is tormented, alone, lowly, destitute, destructive, unable to live with others, and without any cure or hope to improve his condition. And yet, before believing in Jesus, we are very much like him. He is an apt picture of a sinner. We tend to think of sinner as a person who is defined by bad acts. But the sinner is a person with a sinful nature. We are all born equally with sinful hearts – rebelling against God. From that flows the disobedient, destructive acts or bad fruit. Those acts are a sign of spiritual death – a sign that sin has mastery over us. The world looks at bad acts and tries to figure out how to get a person not to act a certain way. Or, failing that, shackles the person. That’s the limit of mere men. But God seeks to transform man from the inside out – to make the man into a new creation with a new heart, able to love God and people.
Given that it’s Advent, it’s fitting to think on why Jesus came. Why was Jesus born? Oftentimes, we only see the cozy image of Jesus in a manger, surrounded by Mary, Joseph and shepherds serenely looking at him. It is a beautiful image, but also a fierce one. Jesus came to slay the sinful hearts of man enslaved to Satan, the work of evil powers, judgement, darkness, death – and give us a new heart, and fill it with eternal life. He came to change us, like the demon possessed man – sinners by birth, into saints, children of God, who can praise and worship God. Jesus doesn’t shackle the man, but frees him from the inside out – destroying the unclean spirits that harassed, controlled and defined him. Jesus sets him free from living among the dead, so that he can return home and praise God for what He has done.
Jesus came to give us Jubilee – freedom. That’s what Christmas is about.