The Journey Continues: Change

Mark 5:1-20

There are a few stories from the Gospels that stand out to me, and as I was doing my study of the Gospel of Mark, I came upon chapter 5, which contains stories of fear and faith. The story of the woman who had been hemorrhaging for years is one I've written about before, but today I wanted to focus on the first 20 verses of chapter 5, the story of Legion. The story of change. The story of fear.

I think we all know it: Jesus and the disciples exit their boat and as they climb the hill towards the cemetery outside of the village of Gerasa, they are confronted and even challenged by the man possessed of many unclean spirits. 

Look at this man: living in the cemetery; unable to be chained or bound by the locals. Living a life of an internal hell that causes him to inflict wounds upon himself. In torment he approaches Jesus, even calling him "Son of the Most High God". The spirits recognized Jesus. They knew what he would do. They pleaded for mercy, of sorts, and Jesus obliged, sending the unclean spirits into a herd of swine that then ran off the edge of a cliff, into the sea, where they drowned. 

This is a dramatic event, to be certain. And we see the transformation in the man in verse 15, "sitting there, clothed and in his right mind." This man who, in fear, approached the Son of God and pleaded for mercy. And Jesus, expelling the demons, was merciful to the man. This change, this transformation, was embraced by that man, even to the point where, in verse 18, he begged to follow Jesus. 

But what is odd in this story is the fear and rejection by the people of Gerasa. Here was one that they feared, a man unable to be bound, who probably screamed and acted very strangely and unpredictably. And they became comfortable and accepted that fear. It was part of their daily lives, even if they did not really like it. And when that "comfortable" part of their lives was disturbed, they acted out their fear and begged Jesus to leave. 

I have always loved this story for the drama that plays out in it. My former pastor delivered a sermon way back in May of 1983 that I still remember to this day, and thankfully, I have a printed copy of it. Pastor Todd's delivery of the sermon impacts me, because he emphasized how Jesus brings change to us, as well as our fear of change. 

I will confess that the last 9 years have been times of momentous change for me, some of it unwanted and unplanned, and the rest welcomed. My semi-OCD nature is comfortable in routine, and in the past, change was not something I wanted. But being laid off of a job I'd been at for 30 years, and then going through a divorce - well, that forces you to change. It is when we embrace change: when we step back and realize that our normal path is blocked and we take the alternate route - accept the change and the path before us - that we can experience growth. 

But that is not as easy as it may sound. We love to hold on to what we know, even if it's something that causes fear in us. Like the Gerasenes, we reject change. We reject the opportunity for growth and a newness of spirit and life. We get comfortable in sameness, in routine, even if it causes fear or uncertainty in our lives. 

But as Pastor John Todd preached nearly 40 years ago, "Change is always just a bit frightening, when the old order - even if not particularly good - is altered. But change is at the heart of the Gospel. And whenever Jesus walks into a life, the order of things will surely be reshaped. Jesus wants to step into our lives and bring change: in what we think, [and] in our relations to one another."

I've always read this story in Mark as a story of change. And I reflect on my own life and how I now embrace change (with still a desire for routine) more readily and easily than I used to. Because I have discovered that when I allow that change, if, as John Todd put it, I'm vulnerable to the changes that Jesus brings, my life takes the unexpected and serendipitous side roads that reward me with so much more than I already have.

Soli Deo Gloria