The CROSSroads: Personal Lessons from Mark's Gospel by Rev. Mitch Schultz

Updated
2001-05-26; 14:34:16utc

Lesson Nineteen: BEFORE AND AFTER (Mark 5:1-20)

"They saw the man sitting there dressed in his right mind." (vs.16)

I have never easily fallen for the promotion of a product that uses the before and after argument. Recently while in line at the grocery store I lapsed into the inexcusable temptation of reading the cover of one of those tabloid magazines. The front-page picture did catch my eye, I have to admit. There before me were two pictures of the same person, one before taking the miraculous diet, the other only weeks after. Now to me it was obvious that the clothing and hairstyle had an amazing and deceptive altering affect on the person, but before I could entertain any more cynical thoughts it was time for me to purchase my goods.

There was nothing touched up or deceptive about the man we meet in our story today. The after was a complete change from the before. Christ Jesus made a complete and lasting difference in his life and never again would he be the same. In an extreme way perhaps this man illustrates the difference that occurs in our lives after Christ Jesus has met us. All of us have our own before and after testimony to give and there are times we need to be reminded of it. You won't need to read a tabloid to know your story, but do take a moment right now and review the change Jesus has brought about in your life. Perhaps reviewing the event of this story will help. Let's get to know this man and as we do you may well notice some similarities with your own life.

His life was lived out in darkness – Verse 3 tells us this man lived in the tombs. His home was a burial site and his bed was very likely a tomb stone. You see, the world without Christ is a vast graveyard. While man seeks to deny this fact, the reality of it does catch up with him at the end of his life. Life without Jesus is death. Just the other day we drove some friends to visit a scenic area near our home and on the way the husband remarked how beautiful the cemetery looked, located on a sloping hill and with a mountain serving as a back drop. The irony struck me. We have managed somehow to make a layout of tombs an attractive place. That is the way we view our world at times. The reality of life without Christ is that it is ugly darkness. There is nothing pleasant about this world. The Apostle Paul was strikingly sombre in his description of such a world. "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world." (Ephesians 2:1-2)
Apart from Christ this man was beyond help – "no one could bind him anymore, not even chains." (vs.3). His case was helpless and had now become hopeless. There was a time when those around him, perhaps family, put him in chains and the chains did restrain him, butin time, he became uncontrollable. No one could even come near him. You see, physical chains could not help him because his problem was a spiritual one. Demons can not be bound with physical chains.

There are many problems we face, if not all problems, that that will never have human or earthly solutions. Man's problem is basically a spiritual one. Those of us who have been in ministry know that any attempts to solve these problems through human means will prove futile. Money, medicines, support groups, counseling will eventually prove futile means to deliver a person from their spiritual need. There are many around us like this man who live through life beyond help. Family and friends can only watch from a distance, helplessly observing their loved one crying out for help.

3. This man cried for help – What a vivid and sad portrait Mark paints for us of this man. It's the stuff nightmares are made of. "night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry and cut himself with stones." (vs.5). Yet his only company were the dead. Desperate, this man screamed for help. Something deep within the walls of his insanity cried for relief, yet those who heard could do nothing to help. Stop and listen to those around you. Those at work, at home, in your neighborhood. Can you hear the cry?

4. It was difficult to distinguish this man from the legions that occupied his life – Very little of the original creation of God showed in this man. His life was now fully controlled by the legion of demons that occupied him. Herein lies the wonder of this story. Others could only see a mad lunatic who had lost all of his recognizable traits, yet here before him on that day stood the one who knew him and loved him as no other did or could. Jesus knew that beneath the oppression and occupation lay dormant the original creation of God. By the power of a resurrection this man would become himself again, but better yet, the self made in God's image. So overpowered by demons, this man could only be set free by Christ's initiative. Think of this for a moment. Every person who lives in oppression can be set free only by the power of Christ's resurrection. No one can save himself, but Christ can set everyone free. So powerful is the resurrection of Christ that no one is so far gone that he is not able to know freedom. Do you know that for your life?

The before and after of this man is a testimony of God's grace. Yet, it is the same miracle that has taken place in the life of every believer. It is the same Christ and the same power that saved that man on that day that saves us. "What a wretched man I am. Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 7:24,25)

Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last.
—Inscription on the gravestone of Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968)