In today's passage, we're told that Jesus is stepping out of the boat he's been in. Him and the disciples have reached the country of the Gesarenes. This is a fishing village located on the shore of the lake of Galilee. It's mostly Greeks who live here, and one of their main economic exports is pork (aside from fish). So, it was common to see herds of pigs being tended by groups of men as they fed and rooted in the hilly country. We're told that no sooner than Jesus stepped out of the boat, a "madman" ran up to him and the first thing he did was bow down and worship him. We're not told why he was considered a madman, but we are told that his name was Mob, or Legion. Evidently, this man was tormented by a team of evil spirits and some sources say there were possibly 9,000 of these spirits ruining this man. We're not told that he went on murderous rampages in the town, but we are told that he roams the cemetery and grave sites. "No chains or ropes can tie him down." As I read the scripture, I saw a very conflicted man. He obviously had a human side that wanted to worship Jesus. But, he also had these spirits that were controlling him, causing him to do things that he had no desire to do.
After a few minutes, or hours, Jesus commands the spirits that are tormenting the man to "get out!" The man wants to worship Jesus. The spirits want to torment the man. After Jesus tells the spirits to leave, they enter a herd of pigs that are grazing on a nearby hill on the edge of the lake. When the spirits enter the pigs, they become crazy and run the pigs over the cliff and into the lake. As the herders look on, they can't believe their eyes, and they run back to the town to tell everyone what they've just witnessed.
When the townspeople arrive on the scene, they see the man sitting there in decent clothes, and he's making sense when he talks. He seems normal. The man has been delivered from something that no chain or rope could tie down. He begs to go with Jesus back across the lake, but Jesus tells him to "go back home and tell your people what has happened to you today. Tell them how the Master rescued you and showed mercy on you. You have a story to tell." After Jesus left the shore, the man went around and started telling everyone what had happened to him.
As I reflect on this passage, I can't help but relate to the madman. My tormenting spirits of alcoholism drove me crazy. I remember roaming the streets at night, under the cover of darkness, stumbling around in a drunken stupor. Nothing could chain down my illness. Changing the brand or type of alcohol didn't work. I would always keep drinking. Changing my environment didn't work. I would move every year, sometimes twice a year to find a geographical cure for my ailment. I would stay away from the bars or stay away from people who drank. It was all futile. Eventually, the chains I would use to tie my alcoholism down would break, and it would be off to the races one more time. I would keep myself holed up in my apartment, hoping that if I just stayed away from it long enough it would go away. That didn't work either. I would try to use ministry to no avail. No rope or chain could tie it down. I would break out every time.
I was a madman. I would go to jail or the hospital one day, then go right back to the bar the next. I could not bring to mind with sufficient force the suffering that I had experienced just the day or the week before. I was tormented, living in a dark and hopeless cemetery. There was no hope.
This man, and nobody else, could chain away the spirits that were tormenting him. No human power could relieve him. He was doomed to a cemetery life. And then Jesus showed up.
Jesus sent the spirits away to drown in the sea of Galilee, and the man was restored. The man who was once tormented and controlled by dominating spirits, was now able to sit and carry a conversation that made sense. He had a story to tell, and now he had a driving force to let everyone in on what had happened to him. He was known by the people. They were witnesses to how he was. And now they were witnesses to a completely changed man.
There is no scarier thing to me than being driven by a desire to drink. While normal people drink to enjoy fellowship with others, I can't stop and eventually enter into oblivion. I knew there was no solution to my problems because nothing was working. I gave up. I let the tormenting spirits drive me, and take me to places I never wanted to go in the first place. Being a madman was the only way I was going to be able to admit that I could not fix my problems, and that my life was out of control. It was there, in that cemetery of life, that God rescued me and delivered me from an alcoholic obsession. I was done, and God was just getting the party started. Little did I know that my future would not just be a constant battle against taking a drink, but it would be a daily adventure of trying to follow my deepest desires and letting God restore me to sanity.
Today, I have other things in my life that don't directly affect me in the way alcohol does, but they are harmful nonetheless. The commonality between the ailment of alcoholism and my other "lesser" ailments is: I can't chain them down. The ropes will eventually snap. Some of the things that I've tried to chain down are: smoking cigarettes, watching pornography, the fear of giving compliments, the desire to control others, and the misuse of my time.
In the paradox of the centuries, it's only when I stop trying to chain down these spirits, that God delivers me from them. The chains and ropes are futile attempts to make myself feel powerful and manageable. I convince myself that if I only . . . then . . .
There's a very interesting line in the passage in which the man begs Jesus not to banish the spirits from the country. The man who is being tormented day and night is asking Jesus not to banish his tormentors! This makes so much sense to me. The things that are driving me mad have become companions. I've become so use to having them around that I can't imagine life without them! I may talk about getting rid of them, but deep inside I know that life might be scarier without. So, I verbally ask God to remove them, but inwardly I want them to stay.
What are the things that are driving us mad?
Are we ready to stop trying to tie them down?
What's one thing we can do today to stop trying to tie down our "tormentors?"
What's one thing we can do today to let God handle our "tormentors?"
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