Context No. 3500 of 4322 · Mark
Context · Reflection
Mark 5:1-8: in context
1They came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. 2When he had come out of the boat, immediately a man with an unclean spirit met him out of the tombs. 3He lived in the tombs. Nobody could bind him any more, not even with chains, 4because he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him, and the fetters broken in pieces. Nobody had the strength to tame him. 5Always, night and day, in the tombs and in the mountains, he was crying out, and cutting himself with stones. 6When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and bowed down to him, 7and crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have I to do with you, Jesus, you Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, don’t torment me.” 8For he said to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”
Jesus crosses the sea and is met by a man in utter torment, living among the tombs, so violent that no chains could hold him, crying out night and day and cutting himself with stones. He is a picture of a life destroyed by evil, isolated among the dead, harming himself, beyond all human help; no one had the strength to subdue him.
And yet, when he sees Jesus from afar, something in him runs to Jesus and bows down. Even in the depths of his torment, there is a movement toward the only One who can help. The unclean spirit recognizes Jesus and begs not to be tormented, for it knows its authority is nothing before the Son of God. And Jesus, unafraid and full of authority, simply commands: come out of the man, you unclean spirit. No situation is too far gone, no torment too deep, for Jesus. Where no human power could bind or heal this man, the word of Jesus sets him free. He comes to the very ones the world has given up on, out among the tombs, and speaks the word of liberation.
Do I believe that no torment or bondage is beyond the reach of Jesus, who comes even to the ones given up as hopeless and speaks the word that sets them free?