Battling a Legion

"The Swine Driven into the Sea,"
James Tissot, c. 1886.

When following Jesus’ ministry during its early stages, it is important to see how certain events are linked together in the Gospels. Sometimes when we read stories in the Bible, we focus on a single event and miss the connection to what proceeds or follows a certain encounter. This is the key to the miracle I will look at in this post.

In my last post, “Crossing Enemy Lines” (April 15, 2013), we saw how Jesus calmed a vicious storm on the Sea of Galilee and demonstrated his power over nature to his frightened disciples, many who were competent fishermen and knew this sea very well. I agree with Biblical scholars who see this event as an attack by Satan on Jesus.

What happens when Jesus and his disciples approach the shore on “the other side” of the lake is directly linked to the struggle with Satan during the storm. While three Gospel writers (Matthew, Mark and Luke) describe what happens next, I would encourage you to take a few minutes to read the fullest account in the Gospel of Mark (5:1-20).

You might remember from the first part of this story that the disciples would never have gone to this region, called the Decapolis (Ten Cities), because the Gentiles who lived there were engaged in all the things that observant Jews hated – idol worship, sexual promiscuity, forbidden foods, etc. -- yet their rabbi tells them to come with him, so they do.

Think about the setting. They’re approaching the shore, it is getting dark and they hear screams and see a naked man who lives in a cemetery coming toward their boat. They have been taught never to enter this territory, never to look at a naked man, and never to be around tombs in order to stay ritually pure.

Both Luke and Mark make it clear that Jesus is the only one to get out of the boat – not the disciples. I think we can identify with their reluctance. What are they doing here? Why did they come? What is he going to do?

The naked man, possessed by demons, approaches Jesus and falls down in front of him, but not as an act of worship. The demons that control him recognize that they are in the presence of someone who has superior power. In fact, the demons speak through the man who screams out, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High?” Mark tells us the demons are making it clear that they know who Jesus is (1:24).

When Jesus asks them their name, they respond, “Legion - for we are many.” It is interesting to note that nearby are pigs or boars – obviously this is not Kosher territory. Josephus, a first-century Jewish historian who worked for Rome, records that this area was occupied by the Roman Tenth Legion and their mascot was a boar. It would be stretching the story too much to say that Jesus was taking a prophetic action with strong political overtones by sending the demons into the boars who then ran into the sea and drowned, but it does make me wonder. By the way, some historians are convinced that boars are good swimmers, so the fact that 2,000 of them drowned would then be rather remarkable.

What is amazing about this story is that Jesus completely rescues and restores this man. Now the disciples have seen him win two amazing battles against evil, the second lesson they could easily see even from the boat that they refuse to leave! Mark tells us that after the boars run into the sea and people come running to see what had happened, they are frightened by Jesus’ presence. They see this wild man who lived in the tombs and who could break chains, sitting there by Jesus in his right mind and fully dressed. Where did he get his clothes? None of the Gospel writers tell us, but I would sure like to know!

After he is rescued and restored, the man asks Jesus if he can go along with him and his disciples, to leave this place where he had been so isolated and feared. But Jesus has another plan. He tells him to go back to his own people and “report to them how much God has done for you” (5: 19). He has been healed and now he has a mission, a purpose, a task to be done.

What many of us fail to notice is that when Jesus returns to this region several months later, thousands of people come out to see him (Mark 7:31-37). This man has become the first missionary of the New Testament to the Gentiles!

So What?

• One powerful lesson from this story that I learned: We may have someone who we have been praying for who needs to be rescued and restored by Jesus, yet it seems like nothing is ever going to change in their life. As Doug Greenwold (Senior Teaching Fellow, Preserving Bible Times) reminds us, remember this man with a “legion” of demons and be encouraged. Jesus can bring healing, but in his own timing, so don’t despair.

• A humorous footnote: When I learned about Josephus’ record of the Roman Tenth Legion having a pig or boar for a mascot, I thought what a choice – until I remembered that my graduate school (The University of Maryland) has a turtle for its mascot. Who am I to laugh at the Romans!

• My former pastor, Dr. Craig Barnes, commented on this passage as follows: “It seems that the guiding principle for Jesus’ decision about who should leave and who should stay is that he always sends us to the place where we are most dependent on a Savior. If your demon is the fear of change, that means you will be hitting the road more than you want. Yet if you are tormented more by the thought of settling into a difficult place, it means you will be staying right where you are. In either case, your hope will come not from where you are, but from whom you find mercy.”

Crossing Enemy Lines

“Often when we read the Bible, we see what we know but don’t know what we see.” The sentence quoted above from an anonymous source, brought to my attention by Doug Greenwold, the Senior Teaching Fellow of Preserving Bible Times, came to mind as I studied this fascinating episode that I will share with you in this post.

"Christ in the Storm,"
Rembrandt, 1633.

Three Gospel writers record the story of Jesus and his disciples caught in a storm on the Sea of Galilee and I would encourage you to read these accounts (Matthew 3:23-27; Mark 4: 35-41; Luke 8:22-25). The Gospel of Mark, for example, makes it clear that Jesus’ early ministry is meeting resistance from demonic forces and that everywhere he goes Jesus is confronted by people who are struggling with demons that try to disrupt him. He continually tells them to “Be muzzled” or, in my words, “Shut up.”

In the Gospels, two storms are recorded on the Sea of Galilee. The second one, described in Mark 6:45, is a strong wind that results in Jesus walking on the water to reach his exhausted disciples. The first one is a much different situation. First let’s set the context.

Jesus has been teaching in the area around the Sea of Galilee and his ministry has been very busy with crowds of people flocking to him and bringing their sick for his healing. As evening approaches, Jesus invites his disciples to join him in the boat from which he was teaching and tells them to head “to the other side” of the lake, perhaps to escape the crowd and get some rest.

The Sea of Galilee is a freshwater lake, 13 miles long and 8 miles wide, and on a clear day you can see the other side. It is one of the lowest points on the earth, seven hundred feet below sea level, so frequent and sudden storms happen periodically when cool air from the Mediterranean Sea is drawn down through narrow mountain passes and clashes with hot, humid air from the dessert to the east. The fisherman in Jesus’ group of disciples knew this body of water very well – they made their living on this sea. Traveling with Jesus by boat was not the issue – but going “to the other side” was!

Observant Jews who lived in the northwest region of the Sea of Galilee, for example near Capernaum or Bethsaida, were very careful to eat only certain foods prescribed in Jewish dietary laws and to avoid ritual impurity of any kind. Jews from this region wanted nothing to do with the pagans who lived “on the other side” of the Sea of Galilee, the southeast side that was called the Decapolis.

This region had cities that were built by the Greeks and then the Romans to be showplaces of their culture and their authority. The cities had multiple temples with Greek and Roman idols, bathhouses, theatres and sports stadiums. The forbidden food, the idol worship and the sexual promiscuity of these cities made this region clearly “enemy territory” for religious Jews. What a shock it must have been for Jesus to invite them to join him as he travels to this forbidden area. What a test for his new disciples!

I agree with Michael Card‘s commentary that this storm, which Matthew described as a “shaking” and Mark calls a “great wind,” has all the markings of a demonic attack. A fierce windstorm strikes this small group of boats, yet Jesus is so exhausted – here’s his humanity that the Gospel writers are highlighting -- he is “sleeping on a cushion” (Mark 4:38).

When the frightened disciples awaken Jesus, because they see that their boat is about to be swamped by the waves, Jesus gets up and rebukes the storm with the words “Quiet! Be still!” The wind dies down immediately and it becomes “completely calm,” as noted in all three Gospel accounts.

For the disciples, who had serious doubts about going “to the other side” in the first place, this storm may have seemed to be God’s judgment on them, but then their rabbi rebukes the storm and Satan’s attack on them – not God’s judgment -- is blocked. Again all three Gospel writers highlight that the disciples are “amazed” at what happened and say to each other, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him” (Luke 8:25).

So What?

• This event is the first time in the Gospel of Luke that Jesus exercises his miraculous power over natural forces. It is a “nature miracle” in which Jesus applies his power over a non-living object, rather than a person. It is an important event in the life of his disciples (and for us) because it shows that Jesus has authority over storms and seas, just as God demonstrated in the Exodus. It is an amazing God that we worship! He has proven his divine power, while demonstrating he is also human.

• Some Biblical scholars think this episode in the life of Jesus and his disciples is a parable for the church that sometimes get “lost at sea” and feels helpless in the face of so many challenges and threats. In these difficult times, we need to be reminded of Jesus’ question to his disciples, “Where is your faith?” Jesus has promised not to abandon us, even though it feels that way sometimes. Has this been your experience? It certainly has been mine at different times in my life.

• Going into “enemy territory” is often missed by Christians in the West who are not aware of the context of this event. Jesus is showing his disciples in a dramatic way that God’s Kingdom is not restricted to certain geographical areas or ethnic groups. The message is clear: Satan is no match for Jesus!

• The event in Jesus’ ministry that immediately follows this calming of the storm is directly linked to this struggle against Satan and his demonic forces. My next post will discuss the second part of this challenge. Stay tuned!

Come Along, Tax Man!

"The Calling of St. Matthew,"
Hendrick ter Brugghen, 1621.

Shortly after he calls his first four disciples, and while his popularity is very high in Galilee, Jesus does a remarkable thing: he invites a hated tax collector to join him as one of his disciples. I would encourage you to take time to read the three short reports on this event that appear in the Gospels (Matthew 9:9-13; Mark 2:13-17; Luke 5:27-32).

The context for this story is the growing popularity of Jesus, who makes Capernaum his home base and concentrates his early ministry in Galilee. According to Luke, Jesus heals a man with leprosy and then a paralytic and “everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, ‘We have seen remarkable things today’” (5:26).

As the word spreads about Jesus, the rabbi who brings healing to the sick, crowds begin to follow him and, like other rabbis of his day, he teaches his followers as he walks along. But the joy and excitement of his miracles are brought to a jolting halt when Jesus sees a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting in his tax booth near the Sea of Galilee. Jesus approaches Levi and says, “Follow me,” and to everyone’s surprise at both the invitation and the response, Levi “got up, left everything, and followed him” (Luke 5:27-28).

Levi, which is his given name, while Matthew is his apostolic name, is employed as a tax collector in Galilee under the authority of Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great and the governor of his region. He is not a “chief tax collector” like Zacchaeus, who Jesus will meet later, nor is it said that he is wealthy like Zacchaeus, but his position still makes him a hated man by those who do business near his toll booth. Tax collectors were viewed as agents of the repressive Roman regime and they were despised by the Jews as traitors and extortionists.

Levi’s toll booth was probably located on the road from Damascus to the Mediterranean coast that runs through Capernaum. I wonder if he knew the Jewish fishermen who were later to become fellow disciples, because their fishing businesses probably did some commerce on this important trading route.

We do not know why Levi responded to Jesus’ invitation. Had he heard Jesus teach the crowds that followed him and had he witnessed his miracles? Was he so desperate and lonely that Jesus’ offer was too hard to pass up. There was much at stake for Levi. Fishermen like Andrew, Peter, James and John could easily go back to fishing, if things did not work out with Jesus – and in fact they did after Jesus’ crucifixion -- but there was no possibility for Levi to return to his position once he renounced it by walking away.

The calling of Levi precipitates the second incident in a series of five encounters with religious leaders, as recorded in the Gospel of Mark. Following his invitation to Levi, Jesus attends a dinner at Levi’s home – a detail that Matthew leaves out of his Gospel when he tells the story of this event in his personal life. Levi may have viewed this as a farewell party, since he is leaving his home to travel with his new rabbi; or maybe he wants his friends to meet Jesus -- friends who might also want to make some changes in their lives.

Jesus loves banquets and parties – his ministry includes many dinners and celebrations. These were signs of his Kingdom. Banquets are joyful events and they hint at future Kingdom celebrations when God’s people from all over the world will attend banquets in heaven with Jesus as the host. By the way, did you notice that this party was not just for Jesus’ disciples, but also for “a large crowd of tax collectors and others [who] were eating with them” (Luke 5:29)?

You will see when you read the Gospel records of this party that this makes the Jewish religious leaders very unhappy; but instead of confronting Jesus directly, they complain to his disciples and ask why the disciples are eating with “tax collectors and sinners.” When this message is relayed to Jesus, he makes a profound statement: “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32; Matthew 9:13). Jesus is not implying that the Pharisees are “righteous” and therefore don’t need his message, but rather that the gospel of grace and forgiveness is for everyone, and repentance is needed before salvation can be received. Levi had decided to change his ways, but the Pharisees who are critical of him have not. Joy and repentance are linked together in this wonderful story!

So What? 

• There may be some readers who have wandered through life on their own, searching for meaning and significance, but only becoming more lost and confused. Perhaps this was the case with Levi. But when he accepted Jesus’ invitation, his life was changed and he threw a party to celebrate his exciting new life with Jesus. Levi, who is better known as the Apostle Matthew, went on to experience an amazing life with Jesus and in fact wrote one of the most important records of Jesus’ life in his Gospel. Is it time for you to make a similar decision to follow Jesus? 

• Some of us have made bad decisions in our lives and we are convinced that these mistakes can never be forgiven. That’s what Satan wants us to think. But Jesus offers forgiveness to those who are willing to repent of their wrongful choices and the harmful things they have done to others, as well as themselves. That’s one of the powerful “take-aways” from this story of Levi.