The Man of Gadara
5:1] And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. [2] And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, [3] Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: [4] Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. [5] And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones. [6] But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him, [7] And cried with a loud voice, and said, what have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not. [8] For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. [9] And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many. [10] And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country. [11] Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding. [12] And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. [13] And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea. [14] And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done. [15] And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid. [16] And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine. [17] And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts. [18] And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him. [19] Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee. [20] And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel.
1 This man of Gadara is a symbol of the epitome of the universal suffering of mankind.
All people suffer to some degree. Sin brought suffering into the world. There are times when suffering seems to be unbearable. This man of the Gadarenes was not so much an exception to the predicament that man is in as he is an emphasis of it. He was more beast than human. God made man the crown of his creation; made him a little lower than the angels. Sin lowered his status. In Jesus man can not only find restoration but a status above that of the angels. Still there are times in most everyone’s life that the suffering seems unbearable.
2 Notice he had his dwelling among the tombs.
He dwelt among the dead. While men may wear a mask of denial to forget that they are dead in trespasses and sins, this man could not. It is God’s mercy that we never see all our wretchedness.
2 He could not be bound with chains his rage and madness gave him the strength that chains could not hold him.
This goes to show that devil possession at least at one time was very real. But it goes to show something much more meaningful to our present reality. You cannot bind the sinful creature inside us with the restraints of man. You can put a man in prison even solitary confinement and in doing so you may control the actions of a man, but that does not control the misery that drives him. I doubt that the type of devil possession that was made infamous by the movie “The Exorcist” actually happens today, but sin and the misery it brings about can so possess a man that we would refer to him as “mad.”
Romans [14] I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
I believe God made all things and is glorified by the use of those things if they are received with a thankful heart. When we worship what God created more than God we begin a downward spiral of immediate gratification in which almost any thing can become an addiction. Why else does a wealthy star steal things she doesn’t need and could easily afford to buy? What makes a person who seems to be a socially acceptable personality a pathological liar? We often think of addictions as having to do with alcohol or drugs but I think it’s evident that anything can be an addiction. While some of the stronger drugs bring on the addiction must faster, psychological addictions can be just as powerful. I believe that homosexuality is a perversion of God’s original plan for a man and woman. Yet I hope we all realize that all sin is perversion of what we were created to be, the more unnatural the action the stronger the addiction. This man of the Gadarenes could not hide his powerlessness against sin. Human effort; discipline; and education, are all strong links in a chain that is strong in an effort to succeed but are fragile when it comes to our fight to become right with God.
Today we have examples of the man of the Gadarenes; people who treat their depression with illegal drugs; people that from an early age were spoiled always got their way and now their whole life is ruined because of a temper that is out of control. People who have lied so long as a form of refuge they actually believe their own lies.
It makes us feel better about ourselves when we talk about these things, “that we would never do” but it does not take away our sin.
When I was in the eighth grade I had a good buddy, we’ll call him Jimmy. Jimmy, like me was not at that time a very big fellow and was not known as a fighter. There was a bully who was always trying to start trouble with him. Jimmy didn’t want to fight but you can only push a guy so far. One day while standing in the lunch line this bully started giving him trouble and before the guy could blink Jimmy had punched him in the nose and blood was everywhere. Well, they took both of them to the office and was going to paddle both of them. Jimmy told the principal that he would not take a paddling for defending himself. He was suspended and could not come back until his dad came with him. Jimmy didn’t get his paddling and I was impressed with the fact that he stood his ground and got one up on the school administrators. So that evening we’re sitting around the supper table and I am excitedly telling this story. My older brother Rich had been known to get in a fight or two. He proudly proclaimed, “Hey! If I get in a fight and I’m defending myself, I’m not going to take a paddling either!” Dad without even looking up from his plate, but in a voice that we recognized as one that meant business said, “Oh yes you will and you’ll take it like a man!” I will, never forget Rich’s reply, in a confused and convinced he was right voice he asked, “What! But, but, that’s not fair, why should I take a paddling for defending myself?” Dad in his dogmatic style answered, “That will be for the time you did do something wrong and got away with it.” Needless to say that was the end of the conversation because, “the time you did do something wrong and got away with it” covered a lot of territory with Rich just as it does with all of us.
3 The man of Gadara could not hide sin in his life and what it did to him.
But sometimes I can! The point dad made that evening applies to all of us. You may have not been guilty of a particular sin but, you’re not innocent. I need God’s mercy just as much as the drug addict, the kleptomaniac, the alcoholic, the man who is hooked on pornography, the homosexual and the con man, because,
“All have sinned and come short of the Glory of God!”
This man of Gadara, a miserable man that lived among the dead filled with a legion of devils somehow got himself to the feet of Jesus. I believe if Judas Iscariot could have waded through all his shame, guilt, madness and psychological baggage and gotten himself to the feet of Jesus, or as the writer of Hebrews puts it, “found a place of repentence” his story would not be the tragic story we tell today.
These devils knew Jesus. James said, “Even the devils believe and tremble.” They ask Jesus to send them into the pigs. He did and they ran down the hill and drown in the sea. At the risk of reading more into the scripture than is there, the symbolism is hard to ignore. The swine were considered unclean animals, God had forbidden the Jews to eat. The prodigal son was thinking about having dinner with the pigs when his madness was pierced by logic, “And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. [16] And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. [17] And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! [18] I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, [19] And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
4 It is poetic that the sin goes into the swine and into the sea.
Micah said, “He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.”
The reaction of people to the King and his Kingdom being unveiled is a little different than we’ve seen so far. Their world view has been shaken by Hurricane Reality. These people were not indignant as the people in his home town. They were afraid; it was too much at one time. The voice from Heaven at Jesus’ baptism was just for a second. But this was a permanent display of stark naked truth.
Jesus left but told the Man of Gadara to go home. Why? I don’t think that Jesus was done with the Gadarenes. The day in and day out reminder of, “What God has done” might calm their fears in time and make them curious.”
