Review

In our last installment we saw Jesus step away from teaching and into action mode.  No sooner were the final words of the Parable of the Mustard Seed out of His mouth than He turned to the men in the boat beside Him and said, “Let’s cross over to the other side of the lake.”  An interesting proposition. 

That crossing was in itself a kind of test and an adventure in faith for His companions.  Even more importantly, it gave them a fresh demonstration of the incontestable authority (Greek arche, exousia) of Jesus.  Not only is He Lord of the Sabbath, Lord of the Mosaic Law, Lord of Healing and Wholeness, and Lord of Human Relationships.  He’s also Lord of the Wind and Waves – Master of the physical universe.

In the passage that follows we’ll find out what happens when this Wielder of All Authority makes His landing “on the other side.”               

On the Other Side:  Verse 1

5:1 So they arrived at the other side of the lake, in the region of the Gerasenes.[i]

Don’t be confused by the varying place names used in different versions of this story.  Gerasa (modern Jerash) and Gadara (Matthew 8:28) are both cities of the Decapolis, that section of Roman Syria we identified last time as Hellenized Gentile country.[ii]  Apparently Gadara was much closer to the lakeshore (five as opposed to thirty-five miles), so it was probably the location of the incident Mark describes here.  Gerasa, on the other hand,was the bigger town, so it’s possible that its name was used as a generic designation for the entire Decapolis region.  Gergesa may simply be a variant spelling of Gerasa.  Bottom line:  they all pretty much amount to the same thing.     

Whatever the correct name of the place may be, one thing seems certain about Jesus’ landing there:  it makes a statement about authority and territory.  This, I’d suggest, is the ruling concept behind the account that follows. 

This landing is a bit like the landing of the Pilgrims on Plymouth Rock or Neil Armstrong’s landing on the moon.  When Jesus steps out of the boat, it’s as if He’s saying, “I hereby claim this coast for the kingdom of God!”  In effect, He’s taking a dramatic step in the direction of extending His authority into new territory.  He’s asserting His suzerainty on this side of the Lake as well as on the other.  More than that, He’s implying that His kingdom now includes non-Jews as well as Jews.  In other words, He’s claiming to be Lord of all mankind.  Viewed from this perspective, this little scene may well be one of the most significant in the entire Bible.                          

Expect the Unexpected:  Verses 2-6

2 When Jesus climbed out of the boat, a man possessed by an evil spirit came out from the tombs to meet him. 3 This man lived in the burial caves and could no longer be restrained, even with a chain. 4 Whenever he was put into chains and shackles – as he often was – he snapped the chains from his wrists and smashed the shackles.  No one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Day and night he wandered among the burial caves and in the hills, howling and cutting himself with sharp stones. 6 When Jesus was still some distance away, the man saw him, ran to meet him, and bowed low before him.

Remember our rule of good story-telling?  You narrate a series of events and then ask, “What is the opposite of that?”  Something of the sort is about to unfold.   

In its original Latin derivation, an adventure is something that “comes to meet you.”  It’s the “next thing” to happen, and it isn’t always what you had in mind.  On occasion it can present a very random aspect.  More often than not, it doesn’t make a lot of sense.        

What is it that “comes to meet” Jesus as He disembarks and plants the flag of the kingdom on the Gerasene shore?  Answer:  it’s the opposite of what we might have assumed.  It’s not the Roman governor, a police force, or a defensive army.  Nor is it a group of hungry, needy, disgruntled, and oppressed people in quest of a Liberator.  Any of these might have seemed reasonable given the larger significance of the occasion as we’ve described it.  But no – what actually happens is something entirely different and unexpected. 

As it turns out, the only person who “comes to meet” Jesus is a nobody:  a man without a country, a person without power – a crazed outcast, rejected by society and shunned by his fellow human beings.  In fact, he’s even less than a nobody:  from the Jewish perspective, he’s about as “unclean” and “untouchable” as a person can possibly be, living, as he does, in a graveyard in close proximity to the dead.  Worst of all, he’s clearly dangerous:  wild, unbelievably strong, and possessed by a demon or “evil spirit.”  

Here’s the most unexpected part of all:  as soon as this man sees Jesus, he comes running towards Him.  It’s as if this insane demoniac is irresistibly drawn to Christ, magnetically attracted by His presence.  To top things off, as he approaches, he “bows low” or prostrates himself before the Master.  The Greek verb used here is one we normally find in the sense of worship.  What does it all mean?    

Arky Conflict of a Different Kind:  Verses 7-9

7 With a shriek, he screamed, “Why are you interfering with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?  In the name of God, I beg you, don’t torture me!” 8 For Jesus had already said to the spirit, “Come out of the man, you evil spirit.” 9 Then Jesus demanded, “What is your name?”  And he replied, “My name is Legion, because there are many of us inside this man.”   

I don’t think we can resolve that question without first mustering up the courage to confront a more fundamental problem – a problem that presents nagging difficulties for many modern readers of the Gospels.  What exactly are demons and why do they get so much air-play in the New Testament texts?  I’m going to suggest that the answer is primarily a matter of authority and territory. 

If we gather together in one hand all the various strands of biblical revelation on this topic that we’ve been pondering over the past two or three years – particularly the material we’ve gleaned from our studies in the book of Revelation – I think we will find ourselves driven to an inevitable conclusion.  As was already noted in an earlier installment, the “demons” or “evil spirits” of the Gospels are something far more significant and imposing than the wicked imps, goblins, or bogeys we often imagine them to be.  They are in fact the archai and exousiai who wield dominion over this fallen world: the “rulers, powers, world forces of darkness, the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” that Paul describes in Ephesians 6:12.  In the language of Vernard Eller, they are the Arkys within the arkys; the brains behind the governments, traditions, institutions, organizations, and establishments that are “out to control us.”  They are the unseen, supernatural puppeteers behind the visible, mortal, human puppets. 

We have already seen Jesus engage in a number of different Arky conflicts.  What we have in this passage is an Arky conflict of another kind:  a direct, visceral, unmediated Arky conflict.  Instead of Pharisees, priests, scribes, magistrates, officials, or family patriarchs, Jesus here finds Himself confronted with a whole legion of invisible “world rulers” who have assumed immediate control of a single individual human being.  This is the kind of thing we can expect to run into on “the other side of the lake”: a conflict which, precisely by virtue of its less “civilized”, less “respectable”, less orderly and formalized nature, is all the more raw and real.

This passage shows us two things about these demonic Arkys.  First, because authority (exousia) is what they’re all about – a part of their essential nature – they recognize and bow before ultimate authority when they see it.  Though they regard Jesus as an enemy, they nevertheless acknowledge Him for who He is: “Son of the Most High God” (a term that would have carried a special significance for Gentiles as well as Jews). As a result, they tremble before Him as their uncontested Master (James 2:19).

Second, these demons understand the connection between authority and territory.  It’s true that one of the commentators I’ve been reading makes the statement, “There is little clear evidence that demons operate in specific geographical areas and that their relocation to other areas renders them powerless in their initial area of operation.”[iii] But in making this assertion, this writer is forgetting our cardinal point:  that demons are not simply troublesome, mischievous sprites, but rather powerful subordinates of “the Bent Oyarsa,”[iv] representatives of the illegitimate Prince of the Power of the Air.  As we have noted elsewhere (see the entry on Mark 2:10-11, “Authority”), they include among their ranks “the Prince of the kingdom of Persia” (Daniel 10:13), “the Prince of Greece” (Daniel 10:20), and “the King of the South” (Daniel 11:5).  They are in fact the angelic powers who stand behind the human rulers of this world, and as such they have very definite connections with the “sovereign powers” we normally associate with nations, states, institutions, organizations, corporations, and other localized entities.  Like dogs, they are possessed of highly territorial instincts and will fight viciously to protect their respective domains.                        

Turf Wars:  Verse 10

10 Then the evil spirits begged him again and again not to send them to some distant place.

That last phrase – “to some distant place” – is the NLT’s rendering of three Greek words (exo tes choras) that literally mean “out of the region or territory.”  This plea on the part of the evil spirits reflects and underscores the point I’ve just been trying to make. It connects these Arkys with what we might describe as a very specific form of “regionalism.”  Jesus is Lord of the universe.  Archai and exousiai, on the other hand, are renegade usurpers, rogue barons who exercise a limited authority over a proscribed region or territory which God has permitted them to dominate for the time being.  They are fiercely possessive, but also cravenly fearful. Accordingly, it is out of both dread and jealousy that they speak when they beg Jesus not to “send them to some distant place.”  In effect, they are saying to Him, “This is our territory!  This side of the lake belongs to us!”  But it doesn’t – not any more.              

Final Thoughts

We’ll have more to say about all this when we cover the second half of this story in verses 11-20.  But for now we can close with a very simple thought.  The idea that demons are territorial is perhaps of little significance to most of us – a piece of “Bible trivia” at best.  On the other hand, the realization that territorialism is demonic – well, that’s a different issue altogether. 

What are we really saying when we make statements like, “This is my place, my town, my neighborhood, my bailiwick, my country, and you don’t belong here!  I’m king of this hill!”  What are we doing when we try to defend our “rights” by translating this kind of petulant whining into official policy and government legislation?  Could we be echoing the perspective of the “world rulers” whose only goal is to advance their own agenda in defiance of the One who comes to establish His kingdom on “their side of the lake”? 

It’s a possibility worth considering. 

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[i] This week’s Scripture quotations come from The New Living Translation. 

[ii] Eckhard Schnabel, The Tyndale Commentary on Mark, p. 116.

[iii] Schnabel, p. 119. 

[iv] C.S. Lewis, Out of the Silent Planet.