Chapter # 5 Paragraph # 1 Study # 1
November 17, 2020
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
(184)
NASB
1 They came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes.
2 When He got out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him,
3 and he had his dwelling among the tombs. And no one was able to bind him anymore, even with a chain;
4 because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces, and no one was strong enough to subdue him.
5 Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and gashing himself with stones.
6 Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him;
7 and shouting with a loud voice, he *said, "What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me!"
8 For He had been saying to him, "Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!"
9 And He was asking him, "What is your name?" And he *said to Him, "My name is Legion; for we are many."
10 And he [
began] to implore Him earnestly not to send them out of the country.
11 Now there was a large herd of swine feeding nearby on the mountain.
12 [
The demons] implored Him, saying, "Send us into the swine so that we may enter them."
13 Jesus gave them permission. And coming out, the unclean spirits entered the swine; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, about two thousand [
of them;] and they were drowned in the sea.
14 Their herdsmen ran away and reported it in the city and in the country. And [
the people] came to see what it was that had happened.
15 They *came to Jesus and *observed the man who had been demon-possessed sitting down, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the "legion"; and they became frightened.
16 Those who had seen it described to them how it had happened to the demon-possessed man, and [
all] about the swine.
17 And they began to implore Him to leave their region.
18 As He was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed was imploring Him that he might accompany Him.
19 And He did not let him, but He *said to him, "Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and [
how] He had mercy on you."
20 And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.
- I. Jesus And The Man Of The Gerasenes Possessed By Many Unclean Spirits.
- A. And...
- 1. This is the smoothly flowing connector between the accounts recorded in the last paragraph of Chapter Four and this first paragraph of Chapter Five.
- 2. Because it is a continuance in the record, we are alerted to the fact that there is going to be another "disciple-making" event.
- 3. The prior record has to do with Jesus' authority over physical properties (wind and sea), and this record has to do with Jesus' authority over "unclean spirits": this is a repetition of Mark's two-pronged presentation of Jesus as "The [Essentially] Mighty One in terms of power over physical realm issues (mainly diseases up to this point), and power over spiritual realm issues (unclean spirits/demons).
- a. There is no Markan focus upon "mighty" by actual use of the term involved (the word is only used twice in the entire record); it is simply one of the three characterizations of "The Coming One" of 1:7.
- b. This declaration of "might" is, however, primarily centered upon "inherent might by reason of personal attributes". Liddell and Scott Greek-English Lexicon references "armies" (as in the number of warriors involved) as this kind of "power". The use by Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:25 is illustrative: a single "attribute" (aka "foolishness" or "weakness") of God is contrasted with the opposite "attribute" (aka "wisdom" or "strength") of men.
- c. The "Coming One" is "mightier than I" simply declares that Jesus, compared to John, is, far and away, superior in the essential "might" that arises from inherent attributes.
- B. They came...
- 1. Aorist Active Indicative; indicating "historical narrative" without emphasis: this is simply the next record of a significant "event" that testifies to Mark's thesis about Jesus. It is presented as the next experience of Jesus and His disciples (without a specific, declared "link" to the prior storm), but it is recorded; meaning that it has such a "link" as authors of history are always selective according to the point of their records. [Note John's statement in John 20:30-31 in relation to 21:25].
- 2. The basic word translated "they came" is "ercomai", a verb used by Mark 83 times.
- a. The translators of the NASB used variations of "come" (came, comes, coming) in 470 of 599 texts of the New Testament, revealing a "meaning" of "to travel to a place, arriving there".
- b. It has its first place in John's preaching of "The Coming One" (1:7).
- 1) This is a major thesis of prophetic Scripture, beginning with Genesis 3:15.
- 2) John characterized Him as...
- a) "Essentially superior in might to me".
- b) "Morally superior to me".
- c) "Functionally/Effectually superior to me".
- 3) Mark used this introduction to "Jesus" as the prelude to the immediate "coming" of Jesus on to the scene (1:9).
- a) This (1:9) is Mark's second use of the name "Jesus" (the first being in the "title" to his record in 1:1.
- b) At this point in his narrative, Mark introduces "Jesus".
- i. He was "from Nazareth in Galilee".
- ii. He was "baptized by John in the Jordan".
- iii. He had the Spirit descend upon Him from an "opened heaven".
- iv. He was identified by a voice out of those heavens as "My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased".
- b. It has its fourth place in the opening paragraph of the "extended record" (1:21-16:8) that follows the "extended introduction" (1:2-20).
- 1) In this "event", the word is used in the mouth of the "man with an unclean spirit" in its question to Jesus: "Have You come to destroy us?". This is a critical eschatalogical thesis: One is coming Who will destroy, not only the works of the devil (1 John 3:8), but the devil, himself, along with all who are aligned with him (Revelation 20:10 and, especially, Matthew 25:41).
- a. This initial record of "confrontation" by an unclean spirit is a strong parallel to the record before us in 5:1-20.
- i. There is the issue of "coming".
- ii. There is the immediate assumption by another set of unclean spirits [Legion] that Jesus had "come" to "torment" him/them.
- b. This is in direct harmony with John's "He is essentially mightier than I" in Mark's introduction (1:7).
- c. This "event", then, is a presentation of the "answer" to the disciples' question at the end of the prior paragraph (4:35-41); "Who, then, is this that also the wind and the sea 'hear and put themselves under' Him?
- i. The "also" may mean "both" as in 'both the wind and the sea'.
- ii. It may mean "even" as in 'even the wind and the sea'.
- iii. It may mean "also" as in 'both the demons and "also" the wind and the sea'.
- 2) In this "event", there is another "parallel" theme: Jesus is again "beside the sea", a repetitive locational identification of Jesus as "focused" upon obtaining disciples.
- a. In this record of "unclean spirit confrontation", there is a return to Mark's two-pronged argument for the identification of Jesus as the "Coming One": healings and exorcisms.
- b. And in this case, the "sea" beside which Jesus seeks disciples, is clearly an environment of "death" as more than 2000 pigs drowned in it.
- c. And, in harmony with Mark's references to "sea", Jesus is, again, drawing men away from death to turn them into men who would draw others away from death.
- C. To the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes.
- 1. Clearest implication: there are those "on the other side of the sea" who are sought out to be disciples. Jesus went there for the very purpose of this record because as soon as the man was delivered from the Legion of unclean spirits, Jesus got back into the boat and went back over to the Galilean side of the sea. That this was Jesus' purpose is more evident by Mark's only other use of "Decapolis" (5:20) in 7:31 where Jesus rounded out a tour of preaching from Tyre, Sidon, and Decapolis where He had sent the "demoniac" to prepare His way.
- 2. These are not "good Jews"; they are hog farmers.