The Demoniac and the Gerasene People
Facing Our Demons Within and Without
Mark 5:1-20
“My Name is Legion” The Story and Soul of the Gerasene Demoniac
By Michael Willett Newheart
Quotes and themes from this book
I spent two intense weeks recently in a class on Quakers and the Bible and we dove deeply into Scripture and the readings of early Friends and their embrace of, knowledge of and inspiration for the Bible. We also read a book by Quaker Michael Willett Newheart who is a biblical scholar and professor of New Testament language and literature at the Howard University School of Divinity. The entire book was a reflection on the story of Legion, the Gerasene Demoniac that Mark wrote about in Mark 5:1-20 that Bob just read for us. This brief chapter in Mark had a lot to say to me over the last few weeks.
Maybe some of you have never heard of this story? I remember reading this in various studies of the Bible that I have participated in over the years, but it never had much impact on me. I always chalked this story up as one of Jesus miracles of expelling demons from individuals and in this exorcism the demons went into a herd of pigs that fell off a cliff into the ocean. Isn’t that the just the kind of behavior that demons do? I took the story as just one of many stories in the Bible that showed Jesus power in overcoming Satan in a cosmic way.
Going deep into this story has been a powerful experience for me as I examined this story in a personal way as well as what the story says about the community and society. Are there still demons and unclean spirits today or did this just happen in ancient times? What kind of healing did Jesus really give this man? Where am I in this story and the description of the Gerasene community?
Before we delve into the story, we need to consider the themes in the book of Mark and its entire narrative. Mark’s gospel never mentions Jesus birth or youth and begins with John the Baptist and Jesus being baptized. This book is full of action, moves swiftly from episode to episode and focused on Jesus miracles and suffering. This Gospel is jammed packed full of miracles particularly with demons. Mark’s gospel identified Jesus as the Son of God very early on and feels an urgency to share the news of Jesus death and resurrection.
This story begins as Jesus and the disciples crossed the sea (which if we read right before this chapter we learn that there had been a magnificent storm the night before that terrified the disciples while Jesus slept and ultimately the disciples wake Jesus fearful for their lives and Jesus calmed the wind and sea). Jesus disciples, his chosen ones really did not understand who Jesus was lacked the faith to understand and this knowledge seemed to be hidden from them for a long time. This journey across the sea of Galilee means that Jesus is leaving the Jewish territory and is crossing into Gentile territory. When they reach the “other side” Jesus got out of the boat without the disciples (they may have been too traumatized by what they experienced on the sea to get out of the boat with Jesus). Jesus immediately encountered a man possessed by an unclean spirit. Mark described this man as “living among the tombs and no one could restrain him anymore, even with a chain.” (Mark 5:3 NRSV Bible) Living in the tombs meant living among the dead - having lost one’s humanity. This demoniac had roamed the countryside and engaged in self-mutilation and was completely isolated and uncontrollable. The Gerasene community had rejected him and shamed him and had tried to chain and bind him but he was too strong. The man is not only in conflict with his townspeople, but also with himself.”
This man came to Jesus, bowed down before him and called him the Son of God recognizing Jesus power and he asked that Jesus not torture him. This is a fascinating point to consider as Jesus own disciples do not recognize Jesus in this way, only the demons.
After asking the unclean spirit to come out of this man, Jesus asked him his name. Isn’t that just like Jesus – he wants to acknowledge and know this man who has been rejected by society. The man replied, “My name is Legion; for we are many.” (Mark 5:9 NRSV Bible) So it sounds like there are many demons within this man not just one. There is also something symbolic with this name as legion is a term for a division of Roman soldiers of about 6,000 men. The Roman Empire had occupied this land for a long time as they occupied most of the Mediterranean world and this community was living under the oppression of the Roman rule.
The unclean spirit begs Jesus to not torture him and asked to be sent into a herd of pigs (which is an unclean animal). The unclean spirit entered them, and the 2,000 pigs ran down a steep bank into the sea and drowned (Mark 5:13 NRSV Bible).
Those tending the pigs ran into the community to share what they had seen, and all came out to see Jesus and this demoniac. This man that had been unable to control was “sitting there, clothed and in his right mind…and they were afraid.” (Mark 5:15 NRSV Bible ). They asked Jesus to leave. Why in the world would the citizens of Gerasene be more afraid of Jesus healing than the terror of this man that they rejected and ousted from their community. Have they been able to put all their anger and frustration from their oppression with Rome into this demoniac and set him out alone into the mountainside? Was he their scapegoat of anger and shame? Had they decided that this is how they must live and survive in their occupation by Rome? Did they really want healing? Things aren’t great right now, but they could be worse and at least I am not a demoniac living in isolation. Were the Gerasene people afraid of this positive change to this man because they were like the disciples in the boat who had little faith? Jesus is offering transformation and transformation is scary. Maybe it’s just better to stay in the boat, and not come out at all. Better to just live with the way things are. Do I really want to risk what I know for the change that Jesus is offering me?
At first, I felt repelled by the demoniac and did not identify with him or feel I had anything in common with him, but as I reflect on these passages, I see that I have many things in common. How many times in my life have I been unsettled, anxious, feeling out of control or rejected? Where are the shadows in my own soul that gnaw at me and make me feel unworthy? While this man seems terrifying to me, maybe that is because I don’t want to recognize and consider my shadows which we all have as they are part of our conscious. Maybe we should read this story as the wild man within us. We are good and decent folks, yet we all have our shadows that this story identifies. We are compelled by the violence of the passage.
I began to feel sympathy for this man and the struggles going on within him and the rejection of his community. I think Jesus healed this man by recognizing him and offering him love. The Son of God showed compassion to the craziest among us and that gave the man the opportunity to love himself. “Self-love will lead to healing and freedom. This man’s healing, his liberation, involved compassion that the Lord had on him which doubtlessly enabled him to have compassion on himself.” This man was someone who had to carry the violence of his people, yet Jesus delivered him from the violence.”
There are societal issues to consider with this story. In his book, Newheart invites us to consider the story in terms of a scapegoat theory as well as a decolonization view. The Gerasene’s and the demoniac are caught up in a kind of “cyclical pathology” in which the people repeatedly go out to bind the demoniac, even though he always breaks the bonds. They are participating in ritual , behaving “like sick men whose every action fosters rather than decreases the disease. (74) When the demon is cast into the pigs and they die, the Gerasene people don’t want this cycle to be broken. They are part and parcel of the demons within this man. “The miracle that Jesus performs reverses the universal schema of violence fundamental to all societies of the world. So, the exorcism of the demoniac and the drowning of the demons threaten the system in which the Gerasene’s have grown comfortable.” The demoniac is the scapegoat of the Gerasene society. They need a way to act out their violence.
Another way to consider the story from a societal perspective is that when faced with oppression and colonization by an Empire, “belief in demons helped enable the people to persist in their way of life. For Israel specifically, blaming superhuman evil forces for their sufferings, they could avoid blaming themselves as well as God.” Otherwise, where is God in this oppression? Why is God not taking action?
A point that Newheart brought out that speaks strongly to me, is that this story suggests violence as a way to stop violence. Drowning all of the pigs was a violent act - are we saying that God is violent? “We can be non-violent because God is ultimately violent. God does our dirty work for us. God accepts our rage and vents it on our scapegoats. How healthy is that?”
However, Jesus, this Son of God shows a different way than violence. “Jesus disrupted the social stability of the Gerasene’s situation by offering social healing not just to the one possessed, but also to the Gerasene’s. They, however, rejected it and asked Jesus to take his social healing elsewhere.”
Are we ready for the kind of healing that Jesus offers to both ourselves and our society? We all have legions inside of us. For years I would look at others and think that they have their life so together. The values that our culture uphold like success, status, money, perfect family can be created in an outward form that projects an image that we want to project. But as I have matured and experienced relationships and stories with others, I know that we all have legions, shadows, insecurities no matter how we appear on the outside. Our challenge is to recognize them and take the risk for Jesus to transform us, to feel Jesus love and in turn to embrace that love of ourselves. Real healing can take place, but it is hard work. But this self-love turns into love for our neighbors, for our enemies and for the pursuit of justice and rightness for all. This will be the difference between wholeness and disunity within ourselves and our communities and our country.
As we enter into our unprogrammed worship time, listening for the voice of God, I ask you to consider four queries:
Who is the Gerasene in you?
Where does your story intersect with his?
In what ways have I been ‘“living in the tombs”?
How can I embrace God’s healing for me?