Out of the Tomb

 

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK

OUT OF THE TOMB

Mark 5:1-5

5:1 They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes.   2 When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him. 3 This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain. 4 For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.

NIV

We should most likely include the entire narrative regarding this man with an evil spirit including Jesus sending the evil spirit, legend, into a herd of pigs. However, there is something that strikes us first that we want to explore. Jesus had just calmed the storm and his disciples were amazed, actually Mark uses the word, terrified. Well, here they are, having reached the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the region of the Gerasenes. Older maps of the Sea and its surrounding shoreline towns and regions show this area was also called Gadarenes somewhere near the town of Kursi. This is important because of the next verses which talk about the owners of the pigs running off to town and the countryside telling what happened. Again, back to the point of this narrative. What we see are the effects of an evil spirit within a person. First, this man, or men, as Matthew records, were living in tombs. Having been to Israel, as well as in Jordon, specifically around Petra, we saw the hillsides scattered with tombs or caves cut out of the rock, this is the place of the dead, a tomb much like the one Jesus’s body was put. If the tombs had not yet been used and sealed they would make a fairly good place to stay out of the weather. However, let us consider another application. Those who are not filled with the Spirit, are either filled with themselves or with an evil spirit or are at least under the influence of evil, rather than of God. Evil always resides in the place of the dead. That we can be sure, for Jesus is the only one who can give us life, and life abundantly. If we are not in Christ then we have no life and therefore are living among the tombs with the dead. This man could not be bound, not even with chains, the evil spirit was that strong in him. This gives us the idea that those who are not living for Christ are, in essence, out of control, they are not bound to Christ. When we accept Jesus we bind ourselves to him in the sense of a bondservant, however, even closer, as brothers are bound to each other. We are reminded of the times of old when men became blood brothers, making a covenant with each other. Here we are in a covenant relationship with Jesus, bound together by his blood spilled for us. Once we too lived in the tombs, the place of the dead, filled with evil, but Jesus called us out from that place, sent the evil away, and filled us with His Spirit. What joy is ours. We no longer live a self-destructive life, cutting ourselves with stones, or how that might look in our modern culture, but we live in the peace of Christ, safe and secure forevermore, bound to Jesus, out of the tomb.