Mark: A Great Christ

1. Additional Scriptural readings suggested: Mark 5:35-43

2. A short reading:

"Hallowed be Thy name, not mine, Thy kingdom come, not mine, Thy will be done, not mine, Give us peace with Thee Peace with men Peace with ourselves And free us from all fear." (Dag Hammarskjöld, Markings, 142)

3. Text for meditation (in Italics):

^5:1-13a They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. ² And when he had stepped out of the boat, immediately a man out of the tombs with an unclean spirit met him. ³ He lived among the tombs; and no one could restrain him any more, even with a chain; ⁴ for he had often been restrained with shackles and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and the shackles he broke in pieces; and no one had the strength to subdue him. ⁵ Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always howling and bruising himself with stones. ⁷ and he shouted at the top of his voice, "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 had said to him, "Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!" ⁹ Then Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" He replied, "My name is Legion; for we are many."

4. Reflections: Like actors under a spotlight on stage, everything and everyone else fades into the background as our attention is riveted on Jesus and the wild man. Mark says the man bows before Jesus, though not from homage or from respect, as God's dear children do. The demons respect Jesus, but only as a vastly superior power who can harm them in some way. They bow but they calculate how to handle this extreme power with which they are dealing. The demon inside the man screams, "Why do you interfere with me [a thinly veiled threat], Jesus, Son of the Most High God?" The unclean spirits address Jesus with the typical Name for God among the Jews ["Most High"]. Then the strangest request: Appealing in an oath to God, the devils request Jesus not to harm them, though they are harming this poor man. Increasingly in this account we see how much evil fears pure goodness. I wonder what advantage these once shining spirits thought they saw in following Satan in his downfall. Look what they have become!

The demons call themselves "Legion," a designation for a Roman military body of approximately 6,000 troops. It is probably a name signifying power rather than an actual number. Note especially the word "beg" in the demon's request ... to which Jesus responds with "permission." To beg implies a heartfelt request, the prayer of a lesser to a greater, of a weaker power to an immensely greater power, to grovel before this superior power. It is instructive that these evil forces needed to inhabit something, even--to Jews--the bodies of unclean animals. The man lived in an unclean cemetery, why not the spirits in an unclean body? Even if today cemeteries are not unclean places and we have bacon for breakfast, so free are we in Christ, what does this story tell us about these malevolent beings? The arrogance of evil became a whining plea, with the result that their power was apparently cancelled out. This is the strength of Jesus our Savior!

Tertullian of Carthage (a spiritual teacher of the 3rd century AD) says, "The devil, it must be admitted, seems to have power in this case really his own--over those who do not belong to God ... But the devil has no power over those who belong to the household of God ..." (ACC, 69) Do you believe this, that the devil has no real power over you? He can storm your gates but he cannot enter your city, unless you open the gates to him. And what are your strong gates against such a force? They are the gates of prayer, humility, and love for God and neighbor. The devil might throw stones, and large ones too, against your gates but it is impossible for him to break them down. This is why we hide in God . We know how weak we are. We could not withstand the fears, doubts, and pressures of evil were it not for the cross of Christ and His resurrection power, were it not for the Holy Spirit, our Teacher, who comes to brace us against the onslaught, and to stand with us until we enter the kingdom. In the power of God we become strong, strong enough to live a righteous life and strong in genuine humility.

5. Questions raised today for personal reflection:

Does the devil control us when we sin? God controls our lives unless we decide otherwise. We have the Scripture to guide us and the Spirit to interpret it for us, at least on a personal level. The devil will tug at us, and for that reason we pray, as Jesus taught us, that we should not be led into temptation. I am weak, but He is strong. For young Christians especially, who feel peer pressure, they must rest in Jesus and allow His presence to take them safely to heaven. But even when we sin, that is, act contrary to God's teachings, the Spirit is there is help us repent and regain our footing. But if we don't repent and seek God ...

Where is the evil we face? Sometimes it is outside us; sometimes it is inside us. The mind is powerful and the tongue is its main outlet. Whatever is within tends to show up in our speech. Looking closely at the demons' speech in our account is instructive. In the end, though, we see only self-serving. Isn't it interesting that at one point the demons see themselves as the victim, rather than the perpetrator? If Christ is the content of our lives then we have no problem with the inner self, or at least, fewer problems.

6. Suggestions for prayer: We should spend time praying for our impressionable youth, that they will make the right decisions and follow goodness rather than badness. Let us praise God for Jesus, who faces the enemy for us and enables us to stand.