After the storm (Mark 4:35-41), Jesus and his disciples continued their journey across the Sea of Galilee to the shores near the town of Gerasa of the country of the Gadarenes (Mark 5:1). The country was inhabited mostly by gentiles, but there were Jews there, and it appears that the demoniac, who met Jesus on the shore of the lake, was a Jew. It was as though he were a Hellenist Jew, living in the land of gentiles, and Jesus came to redeem him. The problem is that he didn’t realize he was in captivity (Mark 5:3; cp. John 8:33), but, as a demoniac, he wasn’t thinking properly (cp. Mark 5:15) and denied his true condition. In much the same way some religious folk today live in denial, when they are possessed by the power of another man and do as they are told, think as they are told to think and believe as they are told to believe. We claim they are in bondage to a cultist leader, yet, if asked, they would deny they have been taken captive![1]
Mark seems to tell us that, as soon as Jesus and his disciples landed on the southeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, they encountered a man with an unclean spirit (Mark 5:2). We are told that, while Jesus was still afar off, the man came running to worship him (Mark 5:6), but this may mean, when the man saw the ship approaching the shore, he came running, because Mark and the other Synoptics seem to say the man met Jesus, just as the ship landed on the shore (Matthew 8:28; Luke 8:27).
Mark describes the man as dwelling among the tombs, and we are told that no man could bind him. That is, he was often bound with leg irons and chains (cp. 2Chronicles 33:11; 36:6), but the man was always able to free himself. He wasn’t able to be controlled in any manner, and stayed in the mountains among the tombs, crying and cutting himself with stones (Mark 5:3-5). The man was possessed, yet he thought he was free. Mark’s description of the man has several interesting allusions to other parts of Scripture. For example, he shows Jesus is able to bind the strong man, whom no one else could bind (Mark 3:27; cp. Mark 5:3), thus connecting the demoniac of Gadarenes with what may be called the Beelzebub Controversy of Mark 3:22 (cp. Mark 3:27).
Mark also alludes to Isaiah 65 where the prophet says God’s people dwell in tombs and mountains, eating swine’s flesh and committing idolatry (Isaiah 65:3-4, 7). Thus, Mark appears to be using this demoniac to accuse the Jews of the first century AD of being spiritually unclean and of committing idolatry, implying that these sins were the cause of her present possession by or oppressive relationship with Rome. Notice, as well, that Isaiah 65:1 mentions that the Lord was found by those who didn’t seek him, a nation that wasn’t called by his name, and this text is used by Paul to point to gentiles believing the Gospel and coming to the Lord to be saved (Romans 10:20). Thus, Mark seems to predict through the demoniac of the Gadarenes (a gentile community) that, due to the Jews’ spiritual defilement and idolatry, the Lord would receive the gentile community, as it turned to him through the Gospel.
Finally, we are told that the man cried out in a loud voice in response to Jesus’ command to exorcise the demon (Mark 5:8): “What have I to do with you, Jesus, you Son of the most high God? I adjure you by God, that you torment me not” (Mark 5:7). The term most high God is used by Melchizedek, while addressing Abraham (Genesis 14:18-20), by Abraham who addressed the king of Sodom (Genesis 14:22), by Balaam, speaking to Balak (the king of Moab; Numbers 24:16), by Nebuchadnezzar at the fiery furnace (Daniel 3:26) and by Daniel to explain Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (Daniel 5:18, 21). On each and every occasion of its mention, the term was meant to be understood politically. That is, the Lord is the Ruler in the kingdoms of men. Thus, in the context of its use by the demoniac of the Gadarenes, it should also be understood politically. He addressed Jesus as the Messiah—the Son of the Most High God (cp. Psalm 2), a political figure. Moreover, since the demoniac addressed Jesus politically, the idea that the demoniac is politically motivated needs to be considered as well. In other words, what possessed the man and made him a demoniac may be that he is an overly zealous and politically motivated Jew in a land populated almost entirely by gentiles, and the reason for his leg irons and chains have something to do with this.
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[1] I speak here from personal experience, since as a young man I was part of what we refer to today as a cult. Everyone in the cult did what our leader asked us to do, thought in the manner we were led to think and believed whatever he told us was the truth about the Bible. There are various shades of this behavior in each of our Christian denominations even today. While there are exceptions to the rule, many believe only what their denominations tell them, thinking and speaking accordingly. While there is some freedom of thought tolerated and some cooperation between denominations, one can’t help but understand folks simply believe his or her own denomination is the best in Christ. Yet, according to the word of God, Christ is not divided (1Corinthians 1:12-13), and there are no favorite denominations **in** Christ.
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