Trinity Lutheran Church

Mark 5:1-20 (New International Version)

The Healing of a Demon-possessed Man

They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes.When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil[b] spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him.Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.

When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him.He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won’t torture me!”For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you evil spirit!”
 
Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

“My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.
 
A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. The demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.” He gave them permission, and the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.

Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man—and told about the pigs as well.Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.
 
As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.

——–
 It’s not your average Steve Martin movie.

 It’s called, “Leap of Faith,” and in the movie, Martin plays Jonas Nightengale…revival preacher, healer, and con-man.

 Martin employs all the slick, sick tricks that we have seen huckster preachers employ in our time. He even uses the same “mind reading” trick (carried out through a little radio receiver in his ear), used by Peter Popoff, a fake preacher who was actually exposed as a fake by a professional magician on the Tonight Show—you see, the magician smuggled a radio receiver of his own into one of Popoff’s revival meetings.

 But what makes the movie interesting involves two things. First, 90 percent of the people involved in the traveling ministry believe the ministry is legitimate. The gospel choir, the children traveling with the group, even some of the workers believe this is all on the up and up. Only Martin, his manager (played by Deborah Winger) and a few trusted associates in charge of hiring “actors” to play those being healed, are in on the scam. And, in particular, a crippled boy the preacher befriends on one of his trips, believes.

 The second thing involves that boy, and what happens near the end of the movie. For you see, one night, in the midst of a revival, he comes forward to receive healing.

 And you can see it in the face of the preacher. He doesn’t want this boy to come forward. He doesn’t want to break his heart. He cares about this kid and doesn’t want to steal his faith from him…a faith that the preacher frankly doesn’t share. He tries to dissuade him, to ignore him, to say that he has no more healing power to give that night…

 But the choir is singing, the people are praying, and the boy won’t say “no.” And it happens anyway—slowly, surely, it happens anyway, the healing happens…a miracle. A real miracle.

 And the preacher’s response? The preacher, Steve Martin, is so overwhelmed by this, his mindset about Jesus is so challenged, his world turned so upside down, that he has no choice but to walk away from it all. He disappears into the night to wrestle with the power of God…a power he has witnessed, even though he never thought it existed.

 Not your average Steve Martin movie.

 From there we go to a story of spirits and pigs. A story of a crazy man, whose illness allows him to break chains and toss those who would bind him aside like dolls. A man filled with evil spirits, spirits that, of course, recognize the Son of God even though his own disciples don’t see that yet.

 The story of Jesus coming to the man, filled with spirits, and the spirits begging, “The pigs! Please send us into the pigs!”

 A story of Jesus complying, sending the demons into the pigs, who, in turn, run down a hill, and drown themselves in the lake, creating a very un-kosher soup.

 And what is the result? What do the people say when they come and witness the crazy man, healed, clothed, in his right mind, speaking with Jesus? Leave us. Dear Lord, please go away from here.

 Like Steve Martin in the movie, “Leap of Faith,” they have witnessed the power of God…and they are overwhelmed, even frightened.

 We can be a lot like the character in Steve Martin’s movie. He was a Christian in name only, and we’re hopefully not like that, but he didn’t really think God had any power. He didn’t really believe that God could enter his life and change it.

 And whether or not the people of Gerasene believed God could act in their lives—it was, after all, a largely Greek community which worshipped very different gods. They likely made fun of their God-crazy, circumcised neighbors, and (obviously) had a very different diet. And once they got a whiff of the power of Jesus they wanted none of it. Perhaps their gods were not quite as in your face…and, to be fair, if a holy man came along and drowned two thousand of your pigs, you might have asked him (politely) to leave as well.

 Sometimes it’s easy to think God doesn’t have power. For while we have all certainly witnessed healing it’s not often we see the lame walk. And as you look around you, the world seems to have its own rules, rules that don’t include God. Rules that delude us into thinking that somehow, we are in charge.

 And make no mistake, that illusion exists partly because God has given us free will…the freedom to make mistakes, the freedom to choose right and wrong…even when it hurts us and others.

 But the truth is…God has power. God has more power than we can imagine. Even the kind of power that might give us a little pause, if we choose to believe in it.

 At the age of thirty two, a broken, penniless, failed man, whose daughter had died and who was—because of his business failures—a social disgrace, stood on the edge of Lake Michigan. Life had crippled him. It was night. He was alone. And he had found the perfect spot to end it all.

 And as he contemplated his fate a voice suddenly came to him…a voice that seemed to catch him up out of his own body. The voice said, “You do not have the right to take your life. You do not belong to yourself. You are a gift to the universe.”

 And the man found himself with a new power, and new drive and desire, and from that day forward he began working on a new life…but a new life that had a new rule: everything he would work on would be for the good of all people. Not just for him. For everyone.

 The man was Buckminster Fuller. One of the most remarkable people of the 20th century. A man who taught us many things. He was an architect, a designer, engineer, poet, futurist. He was the man who taught us God is a VERB. If you’ve been to EPCOT at Disney, you’ve seen “Spaceship Earth,” the huge geodesic dome, which Fuller invented, that bears the name Fuller coined for our own planet.

 One of the most extraordinary human beings ever to live, and yet he didn’t even really start walking until he was thirty two. And yet he chose to embark in a life employing his talents for the good of all, trusting God to take care of the rest, even to the point where he ceased to even be actively concerned about making a living, I wouldn’t recommend it, but it worked! A man who believed the power of God, if embraced, could change everything.

 But of course, it also meant letting go. Something he admitted he was not always perfect at. And accepting the power of this Jesus means letting go. Accepting the power of our God means letting go. Accepting the life being offered to us means we are going to let our Lord, and what our Lord stands for, steer the ship.

 It means, in a sense, allowing Jesus to send our less than better natures, if you will, into the pigs. Oh yes, they will come back time and again, but it means allowing the power of God to guide us, rather than rely on ourselves.

 Scary, isn’t it? No wonder Steve Martin’s preacher went running. No wonder the Gerasenes begged Jesus to leave. Letting go and diving into the tidal wave power of God is scary.
 
 But at the same time…why would you want to miss the ride?