Lent and the Man Who Gave Up Anger

The front story is found in Mark 5:1-20. Let us take a look at the back....

There once was a man, at least what was left of one, who lived in the Hill country. The ridges and falls of the landscape along with the background of Lake Galilee left a pleasant impression on the mind. For most Jews it was a region better enjoyed from a distance. The area was more Greek than Jewish, and this from Alexander's conquering times. They even raised pigs there.

There was a time that even the pigs weren't the largest problem. Hunted, haunted, unwanted people fled there. People on the edge, close to going over were there. So when Jesus instructed the disciples to make port in the Gerasenes eyebrows were raised. It was one thing to  dock there and sell fish to the merchants and common people but they were no longer selling fish and if Jesus were courting votes for messiah-ship, this was not a district worth canvasing. But when a man speaks to a sea churning thunderstorm and tells it "peace, be still," and it goes away, then if he says "Gerasenes," you go.

It didn't take long for the fireworks to begin. Jesus was hardly out of the boat when he showed up. Fierce,  angry, and tormented. A torn man falls at Jesus' feet. He could have snapped Jesus in two. He had the strength, maybe even a reason, but he had no authority, no permission. He cried out asking Jesus not to torture him. He knew torture. People who tried to help--platitudes, judgement, folk medicine and rehabs, Yeah, he knew torture.Others had tried to control him, help him, keep him in different chains for safety's sake, theirs if not his. Nothing worked. But the worst tortures were the self-inflicted ones. Tortured memories of people he loved, hurt; relationships in burned-out heaps; thoughts of what could have been, should have been. But his demons always found a way to win.  Many marveled at his strength, how he could break irons and chains. Many conveniently forget that there is a strength of cunning, manipulation, and deceit that can break bonds. It was easier to say it was physical strength that broke the bonds when the love and care shown were of insufficient quality and quantity to contain the pain. So he fought, he cried, he ran, in fear he scared off anyone and everyone who might get too close. It was better for them. It was hell for him, but a better hell than facing more pain, whether caused or endured.

But here stood Jesus. There is no fear, no pain, no turning away in this Jesus. No judgement except those evils needing judgement. And no escape for Legion, he will not manipulate, scream, fight his way out of this one. "What is your name?"  It was more of a command than a question. He knows already. He knows the heart. He knows there is a place that only God can touch. He knows that out of the spirit of man come Legions of problems only God can heal. No, the demons don't want healing, but the man does. In that place that only Jesus can see, and know, and touch,  in that deep place of longing and hope, there every man wants healing, peace, God.

So the demons had to go. The unnamed demons had no choice but to leave the now claimed human. Jesus never announced the names of the demons, lest someone think theirs wasn't included. It is.

People in town and through the years speculated about those poor pigs. The townspeople didn't like it, that was income, food and a convenient excuse taken away when things didn't go right. No longer can they blame the Nut case. Go away, Jesus. People speculated the demons' name, Legion, spoke of Rome's occupation and the fact that a boar's head adorned the shields of Roman soldiers in  Israel. Was this a prophecy of what would happen to Rome? Country preachers speculated that maybe a pig will not tolerate what a man will, so when the demons entered them, they decided they would exit life. A case of "suey-cide" they say. Maybe the real marvel is the wonderment over the seeming injustice done to pigs and forgetting the heavenly amazement that a tortured being is human again. Here is a picture of a man changed: anger-gone; fear-gone; manipulations-gone; doubts-gone; hell-on-earth-gone because Jesus came to him.

A man gives up anger  and its many demons and takes up evangelism at the urging of Jesus. "Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he had mercy on you." So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.  Mark 8:19-20

The chains are gone, we've been set free,
Cos