Mark 5:1-5 – TPT – They arrived at the other side of the lake, at the region of the Gerasenes. As Jesus stepped ashore, a demon-possessed madman came out of the graveyard and confronted him. The man had been living there among the tombs of the dead, and no one was able to restrain him, not even with chains. For every time they attempted to chain his hands and feet with shackles, he would snap the chains and break the shackles in pieces. He was so strong that no one had the power to subdue him. Day and night he could be found lurking in the cemetery or in the vicinity, shrieking and mangling himself with stones!
This story is not some fairy tale repeated by the uneducated at the time of Christ, this story is about a real human being whose life had gone off of the rails. The people in his community could not deal with the violence and insanity of this miserable man, their last resort was to chain him up and leave him at the cemetery. Today it is really not much different for people whose lives have gotten to this place of desperation, even modern society can’t deal with these issues. Today you would find this man on a street corner looking for handouts while living under a bridge somewhere. Or he may be found in an institution heavily medicated so he will not ‘harm himself or others’.
How does someone end up like this? Depression, suicide, violent anger; the world is filled with these stories and they usually start with some horrific case of abuse, molestation, or just unrealized dreams. Alcohol and pills or worse lead folks on a spiral with no way out.
That’s exactly where this man in Gadara found Himself until the day Mercy came walking from the beach toward the cemetery. The conflict inside of this man’s soul raged. The voices were shouting profanities at Jesus but something on the inside was reeling this man in. Mercy would triumph that day as this miserable man found freedom and peace as the spirits were driven out of him by the mercy flowing from Jesus of Nazareth.
Maybe you know someone living a life among the dead like this; or maybe you are chained up in some cemetery like existence. Be encouraged, just because you are reading this today I know Mercy has come to visit you. Call on His Name; reach out to Jesus. He still sets the captives free.
The compassion of God, empowered by His Spirit, displayed by the man Jesus, who was to soon become the Savior of mankind. “He DID NOT leave us as orphans.” John 14:18 He sent us the Helper from the Father John 15:26 The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead has come to reside in all who confess Jesus as Lord and Savior. Everything we need is available, what we pursue has been left to each of us.