Lent 2026 Day 13: Wed 4 Mar
Mark 5:1-5
1 On the other side of the sea, they arrived in the region of the Gerasenes. 2 As soon as Jesus got out of the boat, He was met by a man with an unclean spirit, who was coming from the tombs. 3 This man had been living in the tombs and could no longer be restrained, even with chains. 4 Though he was often bound with chains and shackles, he had broken the chains and shattered the shackles. Now there was no one with the strength to subdue him. 5 Night and day in the tombs and in the mountains he kept crying out and cutting himself with stones.
Hold on tight, disciples. You may not have grabbed much sleep as you crossed over during last evening, and you will need to have done, as we’re off again. An awful lot is going to happen today.
My first question in this story is this: why did the man come out to meet Jesus? Did he approach everyone who came his way? Did he not know who was in this boat? Earlier in the synagogue there was that man who couldn’t help but call out to Jesus. How does an evil spirit behave in the presence of the Son of God? How does the pure light of Jesus’ presence dispel the constant darkness of the forces of Satan? Could it be a surrender? Quite likely.
The degradation and humiliation the man had suffered was plain for all to see. How he got into this situation is not revealed to us. Would Jesus have known his situation – would he have needed to know? This man was cut off from his community, and they were unable to control or bind him. We don’t know why they had even attempted to bind him – was he a danger to people. The narrative suggests that he was a loner, seeking refuge amongst the dead. That which possessed him not only had his mind but also his physical frame. His superhuman strength was not from a natural source. He moaned and wailed constantly.
Today a person like that can be subdued by chemical means – anti-psychotics, sedatives and the like. While these may subdue the sufferer, they usually do not cure the condition. This man today would be in an institution or, if the drugs could contain the condition, “in the community”. Different times, different approaches.
Every time we read stories like this one we should ask if the clear indication from the writer that the man was possessed was a correct diagnosis. If we feel that possession by an unclean spirit or spirits was the way the people of that time understood what we would call severe mental illness then we have to say that Jesus, too, was mistaken. If the final outcome of this encounter is beyond reasonable doubt, that the man was freed from his condition, never mind what it was, then Jesus was the bringer of wholeness. This does not explain the actions, the words spoken or the pigs’ reaction. Perhaps at least we could believe that Jesus healed and cleansed people within the understanding and outlook of the times he lived in. Perhaps because we may not witness healing with the frequency that Jesus and the Early Church were involved in it, we struggle to believe in direct healing and cleansing anyway.
Could a person today be subject to unclean spiritual influences?
How completely does modern clinical practice solve what might today be called, amongst other things, psychosis or shizophrenia?
Do we trust in our own science more than in what Jesus can do (this is not meant to be a loaded question but rather a prompt for reflection)?
Father God, this is a horrific story of someone bound and tortured by evil, but released into freedom by your Son Jesus. I offer to him my own horror stories, my dalliances with uncleanness and darkness so that I may become a child of light. Amen.
Mark 5 Max McLean
Paul