Mark 5:1-8
They came to the other side of the lake, to the country of the Gerasenes. And when he had stepped out of the boat, immediately a man out of the tombs with an unclean spirit met him. He lived among the tombs; and no one could restrain him any more, even with a chain; 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. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always howling and bruising himself with stones. When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed down before him; 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.” For he had said to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”
Are you ready for a moment of absolute candor? It will be essential if we are to hear and experience the heart of this passage.
So here goes: What is in us that resists the presence of God in our lives?
For many of us, I suspect that our first reaction is that nothing resists God’s presence; we endeavor to be wholly open to our Lord.
But I wonder. I know that I often experience a tug-of-war, of sorts, between wanting God to be a vital part of my life, on the one hand, and wanting to be left alone, free to do what I want, on the other. While I don’t want to draw too close of a comparison between this tension that we all experience and the plight of the possessed man from Gerasene, I nevertheless do think there is something similar going on.
Interestingly, the man caught in the grips of the unclean spirit recognizes Jesus immediately. He knows who Jesus is and, what’s more, why he has come – to set himself against all that robs the children of God of the abundant life and kingdom of God that he has come proclaiming.
And one would think that for this reason alone he would welcome Jesus’ presence and the promise of restoration. Indeed, perhaps that’s why he bows down before Jesus. But he is also terrified. While we may imagine that being rid of the unclean spirit would be the best thing in the world, we may not realize how defined he has become by his condition. For years now – we can really only guess how long – his whole identity has been tied to this spirit. Who is he – even what is he – if he is not the one the whole countryside knows as the possessed man who roams the tombs? (To this day, in fact, he is usually described as “the Gerasene demoniac,” so even two thousand years later we still define him in terms of his ailment.) And so I suspect there is a tug-of-war going on inside him as well – one of titanic proportions – between wanting freedom and a new start and being terrified of what that will mean.
Don’t we also find ourselves caught from time to time between those poles of freedom and fear? Perhaps we are torn between the possibilities a new job or relationship may offer and the security of an old one. Or maybe we have allowed an illness or setback or disappointment so define us that we have difficulty moving on to claim a new identity. Or possibly we know there are parts of us that are possessed by or addicted to things we know are unclean and unhealthful but are can’t imagine moving forward without them.
But at the heart of this passage is the promise that we are more than our ailments. We are more than our wounds. We are more than our mistakes or failures or hurts. We are God’s beloved children, and so God sent and still sends Jesus. And so whatever our condition, Jesus is also calling out to us: “Come out. Come forward. Come to me.”
Prayer: Dear God, give us the courage to let go of all that keeps us from the abundant life of relationship with you and with our neighbor that you call us to, and remind us of your promise to be with us and for us…always. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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