The next chapter in the story of Jesus is vivid and powerful. It is the quintessential story of restoration, so powerful that I may spend several days on it.
“So they arrived on the other side of the lake, in the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus climbed out of the boat, a man possessed by an evil spirit came out from a cemetery to meet him. This man lived among the burial caves and could no longer be restrained, even with a chain. 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. Day and night he wandered among the burial caves and in the hills, howling and cutting himself with sharp stones.
When Jesus was still some distance away, the man saw him, ran to meet him, and bowed low before him. 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!’ For Jesus had already said to the spirit, ‘Come out of the man, you evil spirit.’ Then Jesus demanded, ‘What is your name?’ And he replied, ‘My name is Legion, because there are many of us inside this man.’ Then the evil spirits begged him again and again not to send them to some distant place.
(Can you imagine the disciple’s reactions as they watch and listen to this jaw-dropping interchange?!)
There happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding on the hillside nearby. ‘Send us into those pigs,’ the spirits begged. ‘Let us enter them.’ So Jesus gave them permission. The evil spirits came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the entire herd of about 2,000 pigs plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned in the water.
The herdsmen fled to the nearby town and the surrounding countryside, spreading the news as they ran. People rushed out to see what had happened. 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. Then those who had seen what happened told the others about the demon-possessed man and the pigs. And the crowd began pleading with Jesus to go away and leave them alone.
As Jesus started getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed begged to go with him. 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.’ So the man started off to visit the Ten Towns of that region and began to proclaim the great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed at what he told them.”
Reading this story, our thoroughly modern minds have some questions. I’ve talked about this lightly before…Is Demon-Possession credible (Or, is evil real?). It’s a good question, and I knew you would wonder about my take on this matter. I believe demon-possession is credible, and I believe evil is real.
It’s not entirely clear to me why demon-possession seems so rare in the western world. Those who work in other cultures speak openly about demon-possession and seem to see more of it than we do. I do not doubt their word. People I have known, respected, and admired for a majority of my life have gone into mission work in Africa, India, or Asia, returning with hair-raising, factual accounts of demon-possession. Doctor Robert Chapman, a man older and wiser than I, with a full education and medical degree, has labored among the Turkana people of Kenya and has come to understand that many of the people he treats are ill simply because of the presence of demonic evil in them. Do we underestimate the presence of evil? Or does Satan have less need to show himself openly in a culture that denies his existence?
It is my experience that demons may not possess a person’s life vividly and dramatically, but still may drive a person to self-destruction with overwhelming power. People in the grip of destructive drink, drugs, or lust reflect a world where the possessed are in great pain; a pain shared by those around them. Others, driven by compulsions, voices, neurosis, and psychosis are held by powerful destructive behaviors. We are all remnants of a fallen world that Satan exploits. It may be that Satan is much more active in western culture than we give him credit for.
Our world plays with spiritual forces rather than taking them seriously. Attraction to the devil and to the demonic has taken on a rather hip, avant-garde air. The Disney channel features young teen witches in its regular programming, and just think of the presence of evil in our “entertainment:” Buffy, Lord of the Rings, Stephen King themes, and more.
In my years as a pastor I regularly had opportunity to help and bring restoration to people who were the victims of the violence and violation of groups that engaged in demonic ritual. There are people in every church who are survivors of those rituals, with terrible memories to overcome.
Modern people do not believe in what they cannot see or hear or measure. But when we are in our right minds and view our culture clearly we can only be shocked at the horrific things that happen over and over…from child abuse and murder to sexual abuse, from spousal abuse to underground slavery, from addictions to drugs to profit from exploitation, and just think of the incredible amount of suffering inflicted by Mexican drug gangs and cartels…and so much more. The truth is, we often treat each other terribly and can only wonder what evil rests at the heart of such destructive behaviors.
In the midst of the story recorded by the three synoptics is the question, ‘what is your name?’ Or, who do you perceive yourself to be? ‘Legion,’ the man responded. In Biblical times the degree of mental illness was measured by the number of demons living in the individual. Mary of Magdala had 7 demons, and Jesus delivered her. This man claimed he was legion. A legion was 6,000. It was the man’s way of telling Jesus, ‘I am really, really sick. I don’t know who I am.’
This is a great problem for the most modern and enlightened of us. Even the apostle Paul wrote of his internal civil war…”For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I would not do, that I do…O wretched man that I am…” It seems that all of us are potential civil wars, with evil wrestling for control of our behavior.
And with that I will stop, to take this discussion up again tomorrow.