The story of the poor man we know as Legion has always captured me. I’ve written about him before (8/14/2010 “Who Are You In This Story?”), but for me, his story is so easily seen as an Everyman story!
When Jesus climbed out of the boat, a man possessed by an evil[b] spirit came out from a cemetery to meet him. 3 This man lived among the burial caves and could no longer be restrained, even with a chain. 4 Whenever he was put into chains and shackles—as he often was—he snapped the chains from his wrists and smashed the shackles. No one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Day and night he wandered among the burial caves and in the hills, howling and cutting himself with sharp stones.
6 When Jesus was still some distance away, the man saw him, ran to meet him, and bowed low before him. 7 With a shriek, he screamed, “Why are you interfering with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In the name of God, I beg you, don’t torture me!” 8 For Jesus had already said to the spirit, “Come out of the man, you evil spirit.”
9 Then Jesus demanded, “What is your name?” And he replied, “My name is Legion, because there are many of us inside this man.”
If I were making a movie of this man’s life, I’d have to write a little backstory to turn this monster into a real person. I’d make him the youngest son of wealthy and devout parents, beloved and spoiled. Then I’d introduce tragedy into the story: his doting mother dies and his father, lost in grief, forgets about his son and his own grief, so the son seeks consolation first in friends, then in alcohol, then in drugs, and then he’s lost! Out of his mind! Out of control! Unable to function in society, so he is cast out and lives in the cemetery. He pierces himself, abuses himself, and is hardly recognizable as the cute little guy in Sunday clothes in the family portrait that still hangs in his dad’s house.
15 A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, and they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons. He was sitting there fully clothed and perfectly sane, and they were all afraid. 16 Then those who had seen what happened told the others about the demon-possessed man and the pigs. 17 And the crowd began pleading with Jesus to go away and leave them alone.
18 As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed begged to go with him. 19 But Jesus said, “No, go home to your family, and tell them everything the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been.” 20 So the man started off to visit the Ten Towns[c] of that region and began to proclaim the great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed at what he told them.
I love the way Mark tells the story from the viewpoint of the villagers who discover this horror of a man, now just sitting there by Jesus in a polo shirt and slacks, nice haircut, talking to Jesus about his experience, about God, about whether he ought to go home and try to work things out with his dad. The villagers are afraid! They don’t want anything to do with someone like Jesus who can change people’s lives so radically. They like the way they are!
I can’t help thinking about how the Apostle Paul told this same story to the Christians in Ephesus, except he used their own personal histories in this version. Look at how he substitutes their story for our man in Mark 5:
1 Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. 2 You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world.[a] He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. 3 All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.
Doesn’t this sound just like the man in Mark’s story: living among the dead, obeying the devil, bound by our passions and our sinful inclinations!
4 But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) 6 For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.
And here God through Christ intervenes and rescues them from the tombs, he does what no one could do for them and what no one could do for himself! And then God makes them sit down where Jesus is—because we are part of Him and His world now!
8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Irene Johnson Gatewood, the great missionary to Germany always coaxed us as she worked circles around us at Camp Gemunden, “We’ll rest in heaven!” Paul reminded the Ephesians that it wasn’t really about sitting. There are lots of people out there who are still living among the tombs, hurting themselves and others, crying out in pain! God didn’t really intend for us to sit too long!
“Go back to your family and friends and tell them what the Lord has done for you—and how he has had mercy on you! ” That’s when you know that you are whole again, when you are doing the good things He created you to do—long ago!
What a great story about the Gadarene!
What a great story about the Ephesian Christians!
And what a great story about me!
And you?
*****Scriptures are taken from the New Living Translation, Mark 5 and Ephesians 2.
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