jan 30 2006

Mk 5:1-20 Jesus and his disciples came to the other side of the sea, to the territory of the Gerasenes. When he got out of the boat, at once a man from the tombs who had an unclean spirit met him. The man had been dwelling among the tombs, and no one could restrain him any longer, even with a chain. In fact, he had frequently been bound with shackles and chains, but the chains had been pulled apart by him and the shackles smashed, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the hillsides he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones. Catching sight of Jesus from a distance, he ran up and prostrated himself before him, crying out in a loud voice,“What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me!” (He had been saying to him, “Unclean spirit, come out of the man!”) He asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “Legion is my name. There are many of us.” And he pleaded earnestly with him not to drive them away from that territory. Now a large herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside. And they pleaded with him,“Send us into the swine. Let us enter them.” And he let them, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine. The herd of about two thousand rushed down a steep bank into the sea, where they were drowned. The swineherds ran away and reported the incident in the town and throughout the countryside. And people came out to see what had happened. As they approached Jesus, they caught sight of the man who had been possessed by Legion, sitting there clothed and in his right mind. And they were seized with fear. Those who witnessed the incident explained to them what had happened to the possessed man and to the swine. Then they began to beg him to leave their district. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed pleaded to remain with him. But Jesus would not permit him but told him instead, “Go home to your family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.” Then the man went off and began to proclaim in the Decapolis what Jesus had done for him; and all were amazed.
A healing of a man of unclean spirits who was not in his right mind. The spirits that possessed him were removed and he was told to go to his family and tell them what the Lord has done. The man had wanted to follow Jesus after being healed. Jesus commanded the unclean spirits to leave the tormented man and go into the swine and they did. People who heard of the healing were amazed. It is a dramatic healing and the healed one is grateful and ready to follow Jesus.

Possession by unclean spirits is a concept that I do not completely understand. It might be a mental healing of a psychological illness of some type. It does not explain the unclean spirits going into the sheep except that perhaps they are the psychological patterns or ways that were tormenting the man that he was freed from. There are ways of thinking and viewing the world and patterns of thought that are damaging rather than positive and life giving. I pray this morning for healing in the ways of my thinking and viewing that my mind and heart be united with God and be in the ways of Christ with the wisdom of the Spirit.