God is a mighty Savior

So they came to the other side of the lake, to the region of the Gerasenes. Just as Jesus was getting out of the boat, a man with an unclean spirit came from the tombs and met him.  He lived among the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain.  For his hands and feet had often been bound with chains and shackles, but he had torn the chains apart and broken the shackles in pieces. No one was strong enough to subdue him.  Each night and every day among the tombs and in the mountains, he would cry out and cut himself with stones.  When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed down before him.  Then he cried out with a loud voice, “Leave me alone, Jesus, Son of the Most High God! I implore you by God – do not torment me!”  (For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of that man, you unclean spirit!”)  Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “My name is Legion, for we are many.”  He begged Jesus repeatedly not to send them out of the region.  There on the hillside, a great herd of pigs was feeding.  And the demonic spirits begged him, “Send us into the pigs. Let us enter them.”  Jesus gave them permission. So the unclean spirits came out and went into the pigs. Then the herd rushed down the steep slope into the lake, and about two thousand were drowned in the lake.

 Now the herdsmen ran off and spread the news in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened.  They came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man sitting there, clothed and in his right mind – the one who had the “Legion” – and they were afraid.  Those who had seen what had happened to the demon-possessed man reported it, and they also told about the pigs.  Then they asked Jesus to leave their region.  As he was getting into the boat the man who had been demon-possessed asked if he could go with him.  But Jesus did not permit him to do so. Instead, he said to him, “Go to your home and to your people and tell them what the Lord has done for you, that he had mercy on you.”  So he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis what Jesus had done for him, and all were amazed.

Mark 5:1-20

Our God is a mighty God.  He is a God who saves! In this passage we see God doing just that to a very disturbed and ostracized man.  This man was filled with demons (some believe that this was a Biblical way of expressing schizophrenia) and people kept chaining him up and keeping him away from society.  They kept him naked and in chains!! Surely that resonates with someone in this crowd…

This man kept trying to break free, to be integrated back into society.  But, out of fear they kept chaining him up. 

And then Jesus came.  Jesus came and saved him.  Jesus came and talked to him—not down on him, not like a carnival side show freak, not as an enemy.  Jesus came and talked to him like he was a human being in pain after being systematically oppressed by those who were afraid of him. 

Our God is a mighty God! He is a God who reconciles! For notice the end of that passage.  When God heals him, God casts away his chains.  The man was naked and God clothed him.  The man was disturbed by demons, and God cast them away.  When the man was wanting to join Christ and become His disciple,  God said no.  Instead God told the man to reconcile himself to the community.  God sent him to the city and told him to be a preacher to the city that exiled him.  Our God is a God who saves us and reconciles us! 

In the beginning, God created the earth and everything on it.  He created humanity in His image so that we may be reconciled to Creation and to Himself.  But, we rejected that and we ate of the tree that He told us to not eat from.  The relationship was broken—we needed salvation. 

This is why Jesus came.  He came to repair this relationship—to bring us the salvation that we so desperately needed!  Gustavo Gutierrez, a liberation theologian, said, “Man is saved if he opens himself to God and to others.”

That speaks to the essence of salvation.  Salvation is so much more than just a spiritual transaction.  It is a physical transformation, a reconciliation of relationship with not only the Creator but also the Created.  Jesus himself speaks of this in Mark 2. 

In Mark 2, Jesus heals a man who is brought to him by his friends.  The man was on a stretcher—he was paralyzed and unable to do anything without the help of his friends.  The friends were so desperate to get the man to Jesus, that they tore a hole open in the roof so that they could lower the man inside to Jesus.  Jesus saw the faith of the friends and forgave the man of his sins.  The Pharisees, the religious leaders, confronted Jesus about this and Jesus said something remarkable.  He said, “Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up, take your stretcher, and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,” – he said to the paralytic – “I tell you, stand up, take your stretcher, and go home.”  And then something even more amazing happened—the man stood up and was able to walk.  He was healed because he had friends who believed. Relationships are important in the Kingdom of God. God not only forgives our sins—he not only saves our souls.  He also saves our bodies and our relationships.  Man is saved if he opens himself up to relationship with God and then with others. 

Dr. James Cone, a reknowned Black theologian, once said, “It is ironic that America, with its history of injustice to the poor, especially the black man and the Indian, prides itself on being a Christian nation.” Hrm, that stings a little, don’t it? As Americans, we have a set of principles that we try to live up to.  But, we hardly live up to them.  We claim that all men are created equal, but, as my latino and African-american brothers and sisters will agree, that is hardly ever the reality that seems to play out—it doesn’t match our attitude and actions so often.  We often feel as if we are in chains!  We are chained by “the man”. We are chained by addictions. We are chained by lust. We are chained by hatred. We are chained by sin. 

Dr. James Cone also said, “The scandal is that the gospel means liberation, that this liberation comes to the poor, and that it gives them the strength and the courage to break the conditions of servitude.” The condition of our servitude is that we are in sin, we are in broken relationship with God and with others and with all of Creation.  The paralytic was liberated of his sins, the possessed man was liberated of his chains and demons, and we are liberated too.  We have been liberated from the bondage of sin.  We have been liberated from the binds of addictions.  We have been liberated from the plague of hatred. We have been liberated from the chains that have bound us and dragged us down. As the song says, there is power in the blood of Jesus, there is power in the blood of Jesus, there is power in the blood of Jesus, to break every chain, to break every chain, to break every chain! Lord, there is power in the blood of Christ to break every chain that binds us!

There is power indeed in the blood! So now then we ask how do we say yes to God in this radical salvation—how do we break every chain.  I am glad you asked. When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, he responded that it was to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves.  Gustavo has something to add about this. He says, “[Neighbor is] not he whom I find in my path, but rather he in whose path I place myself, he whom I approach and actively seek.” So if we are to love our neighbor, we are to actively seek out people to love and empathize with. We are to seek our neighbors so that we can love on them!  We are to put on each-others shoes and not just stay where we are comfortable.  There is no salvation without relationship!  There is no relationship without reconciliation! Therefore, unless reconciliation occurs between yourself and God—unless reconciliation occurs between yourself and others, there is no salvation!