CHAPTER 5
SEARCH AND DESTROY
1 They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. 2 When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him. 3 This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. 4 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. 5 Night and day among the tombs and in the hills, he would cry out and cut himself with stones. Mark 5:1-5
This story convinces me again the Jesus was far more concerned about the condition people were in than how they got into it. This man certainly didn’t become like he was overnight. If I read it in a disinterested way, it reads like another fictional horror story but, if I really think about it, I wonder what sort of life he lived to have become so deranged with demons.
We can compare him with so many of the animal rescue programmes we see on TV. Months of neglect and starvation bring them to a state of parasite infestation and emaciation. This man was spiritually emaciated and infested with demons because they had gradually taken him over through years of ungodly living, receiving and believing their lies until they could move into the strongholds they had created in his mind.
Satan cannot lead any sane-thinking person to a point of believing that he is lord by convincing him through a demonstration of his character. A sane-thinking person would turn from him in disgust if he were to reveal his true self. It has to be by deception and ensnarement. He lures people through the pleasures of sin without revealing the consequences. When the consequences begin to bite, guilt and shame drive the person deeper into sin and farther from God’s mercy. He becomes so ensnared by his behaviour and his beliefs that the next step is easy. Move in and control from the internal command post!
From that position, the next step is to destroy. Self-inflicted punishment, torment and violence isolate the person from family and friends and inflict physical damage that will eventually destroy that life. This is what the Father revealed to Jesus and this is what Jesus was en route to do – to repossess the tormented man’s mind and refocus his beliefs so that Jesus could take over the command centre of his life. He had the authority to do it and that was His immediate mission.