"They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain. ... Then Jesus asked him, 'What is your name?' 'My name is Legion,' he replied, 'for we are many.'" -- Mark 5:1-3,9
Legion is all we know. It's a Latin military term that stood for 6000 troops. He tells Jesus, "I got the name because there are many of us in here." 6000 demons is a lot for one man to deal with. So, he became known, and will forever be known, as Legion. We never discover the man's real name. Even after Jesus heals him, he is still known as the man who was once Legion. Sometimes the things that ail us, if they linger too long, come to define us.
He lived in the tombs. He cut himself. He howled at night like a crying cheetah. Everyone said he was insane. Possessed by some terrible demon ... try 6000 terrible demons. Something happened to him and he couldn't leave the cemetery. He goes there every night to cry. He lingers during the day trying to find a way out. But it never comes. I'm sure there were days early on when he said to himself, "Tomorrow's the day. I'll put on my best suit, walk through the gate, and never look back." But the years went by and he never left. He started to hate himself for it. His self-loathing developed into self-mutilation. He was stuck in a cycle of grief that had spiraled out of control. And it began to define him.
Who are you? What defines you? Depressed. Manic. Workaholic. Driven. Type A. Procrastinator. Apathetic. Grieving. Victim. Abuser. Abused. Disappointed. What are the words that will come to define who you are? Do you have to stay there?
He is known only as Legion ... to us. But not to his family ... not to his friends. At the end of the story, after the messy swine incident, the man formerly known as Legion begs Jesus to let him become one of his disciples. Jesus says, "No." It's not in the cards. Instead, Jesus tells him, "Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you" (Mark 5:19). And the man does it. And Mark reports that the man was quite successful at the telling. "So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed" (Mark 5:20). He became the first Gentile evangelist.
To us he is known as Legion, the man possessed by 6000 demons. But to his family and friends, he was forever known as Christian, the man who was rescued from 6000 demons, and lived to tell about it. He goes home. Isn't that amazing? He doesn't have to live in the tombs anymore. He goes home.
You don't have to stay among the tombs. Your weaknesses and failures and losses don't have to define you. You can go home.
blessings,
pastor ellis
Awesome post Ellis. I had just finished talking to a few X-Life students about how we often miss seeing the spiritual powers of darkness at work around us, because they are so subtle with us. They know if we saw Legion we'd RUN straight to Jesus. But "minor addiction", or "bad habit", or a little "self-indulgence" - not quite so obvious, so we let them linger a little longer than we should. May we find the same deliverance from our legion of hindrances!
Posted by: David Chan | October 12, 2006 at 11:10 PM