16. Amazed with Jesus and the Hopeless Demoniac
16. Amazed with Jesus and the Hopeless Demoniac.
“Life without wonder – radical amazement – is not worth living. It is the beginning of our happiness. Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement… get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible. Never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.” (Abraham Joshua Heschel).
I Stand Amazed | Celtic Worship ft. Steph Macleod
Jesus Christ engaged in a ministry of amazement, astonishment, wonder. Everywhere He traveled, He left people astounded and in awe. He caused a big stir wherever he went, and people left in His wake were amazed at who He was and what He was able to do, whether from His unusually wise teaching, His authoritative exorcisms, His unprecedented healings, His clever and insightful conversations, His dramatic miracles. It seemed everyone marveled at Jesus, despite His best efforts sometimes to be off the radar. There are three Greek synonyms that mean complete astonishment or radical amazement: ekplesso, thaumazo, and existemi. The differences between these three words, though, are fascinating. Are those of us who follow Jesus now, are we also amazed and astonished with Jesus?
“And the people were astonished (“ekplesso”) beyond measure, saying, ‘Everything He does is beautiful (“kalos”), and is done with excellence!” (Mark 7:37).
(1.) ASTONISHED: “ekplesso”; a strong Greek word for astonished; amazed; dumfounded; awestruck; overwhelmed at something extraordinary; struck out of one’s senses; takes your breath away, even to the point of panic. There were at least fifteen gospel events in which the Greek superlative “ekplesso” was used to communicate a radical amazement, astonishment, wonder at Jesus. Jesus was met with overwhelming astonishment after His Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 7:28); by His hometown friends as they rejected Him (Matt. 13:54); after His teaching on the inadequacy of wealth (Matt. 19:25); after His conversation with the Sadducees about heaven and the resurrection (Matt. 22:33); at His synagogue exorcism (Mark 1:22, 27); after His healing of the deaf and mute man (Mark 7:37); after He whipped the moneychangers in the Temple (Mark 11:18); at His brilliant level of understanding with the rabbis at just 12 years of age (Luke 2:48); after casting out a demon with just a word (Luke 4:32, 36); at the exorcism of a demon-possessed boy (Luke 9:43).
“And behold, a man from the crowd shouted out, ‘Master, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child! A spirit seizes him and suddenly he screams out and it convulses him so that he foams at the mouth! It mauls him and will scarcely leave him!’ Jesus answered, ‘Bring your son here to me.’ And even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him down to the ground and completely convulsed him. But Jesus severely rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the child, and then restored the boy to his father. And all were completely astounded (“ekplesso”) at the evidence of God’s mighty power, His majesty and His magnificence. While they were all marveling (“thaumazo”) at everything Jesus was doing…” (Luke 9:38-43).
(2.) MARVELED: “thaumazo”; another strong Greek word that means… marveled at, astonished by; amazed at; filled with wonder to the point of being bewildered; being awestruck in admiration. There were forty-four “thaumazo” passages in the gospels in which people marveled at Jesus, were greatly amazed by Jesus, astonished to the point of awed by Him. Included in the group of people who were completely amazed, “thaumazo’d” by Christ: the shepherds, Mary and Joesph, the disciples, the Pharisees, various crowds during His ministry, and even Pilate himself was astonished by Jesus and marveled at Him. People were amazed by everything from the angelic baby announcement, to various prophecies in Jesus’ young life, to the calming of the storm and the withering of the fig tree; from His miraculous exorcisms and healings to His teachings that always were on point and what were needed at the time.
“And when the friends of the paralytic couldn’t get near to Jesus in the house, they made a hole in the roof and lowered him down in front of Him… When Jesus saw their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven!’ ‘But that you all here may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins,’ he turns to the paralytic and says to him, ‘I say to you, arise, pick up your mat, and go home!’ And the man rose, immediately picked up his mat, and went out before them all, so that all the people were flabbergasted, out of their minds with amazement (“existemi”), and glorified God, exclaiming, ’We never saw anything like this!” (the whole story is in Mark 2:1-12).
(3.) FLABBERGASTED: “existemi”; an extreme word that means to be out of one’s mind with amazement; crazy with wonderment; a stunned astonishment so strong that one is beside oneself; to be overwhelmed so as to be bowled over; literally, to remove from a standing position. This word is used seventeen times in the gospels, including when Jesus healed and forgave the paralyzed man dropped through the ceiling of Peter’s house; when Jesus raised a young girl from the dead; when Jesus calmed the storm and casually climbed into the boat with His disciples; on the road to Emmaus when the disciples heard about the empty tomb from the women. Existemi is also used when the family of Jesus thought He was crazy, going out of His mind.
I Stand Amazed (How Marvelous) – Chris Tomlin – Passion 2014
The demonic realm seemed to have free reign during the time of Jesus. Every time Jesus turned around, it seemed like He had to perform an exorcism. Many scholars have noted that Jesus conducted more exorcisms than any historical figure on record. In the first three Gospels alone, there are over 60 references to demons, demon possession, and exorcism. Physical healing and spiritual healing through exorcism seemed to take up an equal amount of time in His ministry. Casting out demons seemed to take up just as much of His time as physical healings, and in fact, His ministry usually included both forms of healings together. “That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons…” (Mark 1:32-34). Jesus publicly revealed His authority over physical ailments and over spiritual possession. In the spiritual realm, not one demon ever successfully resisted the commands of Jesus. As soon as the demons saw it was Jesus, they accepted the spiritual reality of being overpowered.
A Satanic Offensive. Why was there such heightened dark spiritual forces active during this time? One scholar suggested that God allowed an unusual amount of demonic activity during the time of Jesus so that Jesus could show the world, and the dark side, His power and authority over Satan’s realm. Perhaps Satan knew his days were numbered after Jesus defeated him in the duel in the wilderness. (Luke 4). Perhaps Satan, in his insatiable hunger to defeat Jesus, went off on a full-force offensive to try to prove to the world that he would prevail in the end. At any rate, Jesus fully embraced this important part of His ministry. It is recorded in Mark that Jesus first became famous because of His exorcisms (Mark 1:28). And His exorcising work was not ended until His Passion and resurrection, when He drove out “the prince of this world” (John 12:31). Jesus started His ministry by driving out demons, and He ended it by driving out Satan himself, giving the world a complete exorcism. The Apostle John, who had an insider’s view of Christ and his ministry, summed it up when he said later, ‘”For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” (1 John 3:8). Isn’t it heartening to see that Jesus fully accepted and engaged in the spiritual world as powerfully and effectively as the physical world?
Profoundly Unclean. A demon-possessed person was considered spiritually unclean, harboring an “unclean spirit.” So most were understandably distant from anyone known to be possessed by a demon. They didn’t want to personally engage with or be confronted with a demon, naturally, and they certainly didn’t want to risk having a demon decide to jump out of one person and into another. Everyone was wary because so much of the demonic realm was mysterious and dark and obviously unhealthy. Everyone kept their distance, except Jesus.
The Spiritual with the Physical. Most people, mistakenly or not, believed that demons were the cause of many physical ailments. And practically everybody thought that demons were behind mental instability. So sickness and demons were closely associated during the time of Jesu. There are a few examples in the Gospels of physical impairments being attributed to demons: the man who was mute (Matt. 9:32); the man who was both blind and mute (Matt. 12:22); epileptic seizures (Matt. 17:14); the crippled woman (Luke 13:10). Can someone say with certainty that a physical condition was caused by Satan? We know better than to underestimate the wiles of the devil and the effects of spiritual warfare, and so certainly his strategy could include the physical side of reality. Perhaps we could also look at in this way… Ever since Satan lured Adam and Eve into rebellion against God, to sin against God the Creator, nature has been a part of the Fall. Nature, natural life, is now tainted with fallenness, cursed by sin, and will be so until the new creation is brought into being. There was no disease or sickness or disability before the Fall of man. Our physical nature is fallen, and is vulnerable to all manners of problems, to unnatural intruders like injury, sickness and disease. There may indeed be many immediate causes of a physical condition, but everything broken and unnatural can be traced back to the source of sin and fallenness, the devil. It’s like tracing tributaries back to the original river. We know so much more now of physical health and ailments, and so we may not necessarily attribute a disability or disease to an evil spirit, but we can with certainty point to the ultimate source of the brokenness, to Satan and his devils. However one looks at this, we end up knowing that Satan is the culprit, whether directly or indirectly.
Fearless Jesus. When it came to the demonic realm, Jesus wasn’t afraid to get His hands dirty. He was unafraid to mix it up with Satan and his minions. He seemed to welcome a confrontation in order to set a person free, and at no time did a demon spirit resist Him for long. The entire world of demons were well aware of Jesus and His spiritual power and authority. His ministry of touch was evident in His work as an exorcist. One example is in Mark 9:14-29, when He took a young demoniac by the hand, raised him to his feet, and healed the boy in the process. Another vivid example is Mark 5:1-20, when Jesus established human contact with “the man of the tombs,” a raging insane demoniac who fell at Jesus’ feet, and was seen later as he was calmly sitting with Jesus and enjoying a civilized conversation (Luke 8:35).
“As Jesus was getting back into the boat, the healed demoniac begged Him that he might stay with Jesus and follow Him as a disciple. But Jesus did not permit him to do so, but said to him, ‘Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how He has had mercy on you.’ And the healed demoniac went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And everyone was filled with wonder, marveling in complete amazement (“thaumazo”). (Mark 5:18-20).
WHEN. This amazing miracle occurs right after Jesus’ dramatic calming of the storm with his disciples. After this healing of the demoniac, Jesus heals a bleeding woman and restores a young girl to life. Jesus would soon return to his home town of Nazareth, when the residents thought they knew Jesus and refused to believe in Him. They knew Him as a carpenter, and were offended by His heavenly wisdom and miraculous acts. Jesus was amazed, He “marveled,” at their unbelief.
WHERE. Jesus’ journey across the Sea of Galilee, which included His astounding calming of the storm, ended up at the direct opposite side of the Lake. Capernaum is on the northwest side of the Lake, and Gadara is on the southeast side. Gadara was an important city in that region, and a member of Ten Towns, or Decapolis. This entire collection of towns were mostly inhabited by Gentiles. This region of Greek cities was self-governing, and didn’t belong to a particular country or empire. Jesus easily embraced Gentiles and Samaritans and other non-Jews, and was pleased to teach and perform miracles in the presence of Gentiles. He considered His ministry to Gentiles to be an integral part of His ministry as Messiah, prophesied in the Hebrew Bible.
WHO. Jesus and His Disciples. All His disciples were amazed and perplexed at what had just occurred on the Lake. They are still underestimating Jesus’ power, and after Jesus calmed the fierce storm, they were muttering to themselves, “Who is this man, who commands the wind and the waves?” They are about to be confronted with more evidence of Jesus’ extraordinary power, for as soon as they climbed off the boat onto the shore near Gadara, they are met by a naked, insane demoniac. Jesus was unafraid to approach and heal this man, who was unclean in three ways: He was a Gentile; he was demon-possessed; and he was constantly in touch with death while living at the tombs. Jesus never seemed to let the matter of ritual uncleanness get in the way of showing mercy to needy people in their distress. He approached and touched the unclean during His whole ministry. Being utterly pure, He was unconcerned with being unclean.
The Raving Demoniac. This unfortunate man was literally filled with demons, he was fully given over to demonic possession. The evil spirits inside him had driven him to insanity, self-destruction, and somehow had given him extraordinary physical strength as well. He lived among the tombs, caves cut out of soft rock, away from society, and was so notorious in that region that no one would ever dare venture into that area. He was naked, and he would shriek, unable to speak. He would cut himself with sharp stones. The people would try to contain him by binding him with shackles and chains, but he was so strong that he just pulled apart those chains. The people were justifiably terrified, because this man acted like a wild animal, and simply couldn’t be tamed. The demons had driven him away from home and family, into the wilderness surrounding the tombs, where he howled night and day. This deranged man was living a hopeless life, a constant danger to himself and all those in the region. The demons were out to destroy him, to make his life miserable, and they were succeeding.
The Demons. These unclean spirits are Satan’s messengers sent to torment people and destroy what is vulnerable to their powers. Demons are those fallen angels who rejected God in the Satanic rebellion, choosing to follow Satan into evil. Jesus spoke of this when He told the disciples, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” (Luke 10:18). And during this war in heaven, it is said that Satan took a third of the angels to his side. (Rev. 12:4). These evil spirits occupy and are active in the unseen world.
Satan is Defeated. Christians, though, because they contain the Holy Spirit, need not fear demonic possession. Believers can be harassed and confronted by demonic activity, but Jesus said, to encourage us, “He who is in us in greater than he who is in the world.” Jesus nonetheless expects us to engage in spiritual warfare if it confronts us, wearing the whole armor of God. “Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all the strategies of the devil.” (Ephesians 6:10-18). Evil spirits are a reality in our world, though invisible. There is more to the unseen world than we could ever imagine. But Jesus has defeated Satan once and for all, and the devil’s days are numbered. Do not by an means follow through on your curiosity about or involvement in the occult, the hidden demonic world. That has been off limits since Day One. “Do not let your people practice fortune-telling, or use sorcery, or interpret omens, or engage in witchcraft, or cast spells, or function as mediums or psychics, or call forth the spirits of the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord.” (Deut. 18:10-12). Remember, with Jesus, if we resist the devil and his influences, he will flee from us. (James 4:7).
WHAT. An Exorcism. The demoniac runs to Jesus as soon as He steps off the boat, and he shrieks at Him, falling down at His feet. Jesus immediately commanded the evil spirit to come out of the man. But now the demon talks to Jesus, using the man’s voice, to scream at the overpowering Jesus, “Don’t interfere with me! Don’t torment me! I beg of you don’t torture me, Son of the Most High God! Are you here to judge us before our time?” Jesus engages in conversation with the unclean spirit possessing this man, asking what its name is. Jesus didn’t ask the name of the man, but of the spirit. Jesus focuses on the problem at hand, and wasn’t very personal with this man until after the exorcism. But what an interesting question for Jesus to ask. Do demons have names? And why would Jesus need to know the name of this demon? Speaking through this man, the evil spirit said that its name is “Legion… for we are many.” This poor man was possessed by many, many demons, for a Roman legion has 6,000 soldiers. We are not given the history of this man, and how he became so controlled and filled by this demonic horde. We don’t know how this happened to him, or if he himself invited them into his life at some point. Jesus doesn’t go into any of the history with this man, He didn’t pursue any of that background story by adding guilt or shame. This exorcism was done in the spirit of redemption and forgiveness.
The Pigs. Continuing the conversation, the demon pleaded with Jesus not to send all these evil spirts into their eventual destiny, the Abyss, the bottomless pit. This being Gentile territory, where pigs were not considered unclean and were instead a thriving industry, Jesus agreed to the demon’s request and sent them into the nearby herd of 2,000 pigs. The demons immediately came out of this man and entered the pigs. These evil spirits then drove the pigs to self-destruction, and they all plunged over the cliff into the Sea and drowned. That’s around 2,000 pigs destroyed! If that were done today, the loss would be as much as $250,000. Hog-farming was a huge business in that area, so the economic loss to this town was no doubt quite significant.
Composure. Isn’t it amazing how composed and calm Jesus was after being confronted by a naked, screaming, physically aggressive demoniac? Jesus didn’t panic, he wasn’t intimidated, he had everything under control. This is the type of man who was able to take a nap in the boat during a tempest on the Sea of Galilee. The composure of Jesus in the midst of this confrontation is mind-boggling. He seems to be fully at ease in a situation that would cause most people to panic and run in the other direction. Instead, Jesus calmly spoke with the demons and took care of business.
WHY. Jesus simply wanted to heal and restore this man to his right mind. This poor man’s status as a demoniac ran contrary to God’s original plan when He created man. Jesus wanted to see this man return to his senses, to flourish as someone made in God’s image. Jesus was being His merciful self, caring for a hopeless and extremely unfortunate person. Also, Jesus wanted to show who’s boss. He knew He had ultimate power over these demons, that these evil spirits had no choice but to obey Him. It was no contest. Jesus overpowered them. Jesus commanded, and the demons obeyed.
WHO. The Pig Farmers. They were aghast at what had happened. They just saw their thriving business go down the drain. They were certainly fearful of someone who had this much power. But they were undoubtedly also afraid this man could do this again, and again. What if this Jesus decided to walk through the Decapolis and destroy all the pigs, if not the sheep and the goats? What impact would that have on their way of making a living? The pig farmers were of one mind… Get this guy out of here, before he does something worse. They were obviously more concerned with their business than the fact this demoniac had been healed.
The Townspeople. After the herdsmen went into town and told everybody what had happened, the whole town came out to the site to see for themselves. Sure enough, the whole herd of pigs was drowned, and sitting there with Jesus and His disciples was the demoniac, only now he was fully clothed and in his right mind. The townspeople were not impressed by the demoniac’s healing, but they were dumfounded at the apparent supernatural power of this visiting Jew. They begged Jesus to leave. They didn’t trust Him. They didn’t know what He would do next. They were plainly afraid of Jesus and His power. So Jesus left Decapolis, and as far as we can tell, He never returned.
The Healed Demoniac. The man of the tombs is now calmly talking with Jesus and His disciples. He is no longer deranged or self-destructive or a menace to society. Naturally, this man who is never named wants to be one of Jesus’ band of disciples, following Him wherever His ministry takes Him. This man is keenly aware of his life before Jesus and after Jesus. He wants to follow Him to the ends of the earth. But Jesus does something unexpected. He tells the healed man to return to his family and his town and tell everybody what has happened. Tell all the people how God had mercy on him. Preach His saving word to all who would listen. Spread the word about God’s mercy and compassion. Normally, if He was in Jewish territory, Jesus wanted His miracles to be kept secret. He didn’t want it to get around that He is the promised Messiah until the time is right. Jesus didn’t want the people to try to crown Him king or trumpet Him as Messiah. Jesus didn’t want anything to disrupt the divine timetable as He performs His ministry. Jesus knew when the time would be right to live out the Passion and the Cross and the Resurrection. Jesus was usually rather secretive. But here Jesus tells the healed man to spread the word, tell everybody about what God has done for him. Jesus knew the Gentiles were a fertile mission field. He knew they would not try to claim Him as king or messiah, since they weren’t even looking for a messiah. He knows this particular man would be an effective witness, since everyone knew him as an insane and dangerous person. And now they could see him sane and speaking lucidly and a solid citizen. This man’s effective testimony would not hinder Jesus’ ministry in any way, which is what might happen if they were in Jewish territory. So that’s what the healed man did. He told everyone he knew about what Jesus had done. This man who was full of darkness is now a light in his corner of the world.
The Disciples. Can you imagine being a disciple at this point? You have just seen Jesus control the wind and Sea. Before the storm, they had seen him heal leprosy, paralysis, and even raise a widow’s son from the dead. (Luke 7:11-17). And here they witness a dramatic exorcism of multiple evil spirits from a crazed demoniac, with the demons being sent into a herd of pigs, who then jump into the Lake and drown. The disciples’ heads must be spinning. Jesus is full of unpredictable surprises, and powerful ones at that. Jesus, as they now must certainly see, is not your average traveling rabbi. Do they still remember Jesus’ simple words at the beginning of all this, “Follow me“? Little did they know what they were in for.