The Nude Dude in a Rude Mood

Can you guess who I’m referring to?

The Maniac at Gadara.

This story is also told in Matt. 8:28-34 and Lk. 8:26-39. Typically, Mark gives abbreviated accounts of events, but on this occasion, Mark gives the longest version of this story with the most details. So let’s read Mark 5! I’ll occasionally interject other details from Matthew and Luke.

Mar 5:1 And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes (or Gadara, which is by Galilee). Mar 5:2 And when he (Jesus) was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit…

Let’s stop here. Luke is the only one who would reveal that this man “ware no clothes.” He was a nude dude! The nude dude comes running out of the cave to meet Jesus at the shoreline!

Matthew would reveal that there were TWO men, whereas Mark and Luke would only mention the one man. So was there one man or two?

YES.

This simply means that Mark and Luke chose to focus upon this one man even though two had come out of the tombs. Why? Because this one man was possessed by Legion. Charles F. Baker in his book, “Understanding the Gospels,” made the point that the “prophecies immediately preceding Matthew predicted the advent of Christ as King of Israel and Prince of Judah. The Holy Spirit in [Matthew] therefore, records the historic facts that there were two demoniacs… for these represent Israel and Judah. No such duality was needed in the other Gospels.”

That makes perfect sense to me.

Let’s read vs. 2 again. Mar 5:2 And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, Mar 5:3 Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: Mar 5:4 Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. (He wasn’t just a nude dude. He was also in a rude mood!) Mar 5:5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones. Mar 5:6 But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him, Mar 5:7 And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.

We have a sense of his super-human strength because of this legion of demons who possessed him. He was often bound with fetters and chains. The chains were for his hands and the fetters were chains for his feet. And he could break those chains!

He truly was a nude dude in a RUDE mood!

Notice that as soon as Jesus stepped off that ship, this man, who only saw him “afar off” ran to the shore to worship him. Jesus hadn’t done anything. This man couldn’t have heard anything Jesus said, but as soon as he saw Him, he ran to the shore and worshipped him!

How did this man know that Jesus was the Son of God? Did he immediately know that Jesus was the Christ because of all the demons inside of him? Perhaps. I have a theory that just as the Spirit convicts us now through the Word, the Lord was the Living Word manifest in the flesh, and I’ll bet as soon as you saw Jesus, even afar off, the Spirit would convict you, and you knew He was the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Not only that, but I also suspect that the spirit of man, the candle of the Lord, that which gives all of us God-consciousness, the spirit of man would have affirmed within you that Christ was the Son of God.

Notice what he says in vs. 7, “What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.” In Matthew we have a similar but different quote. Mat 8:29 And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time? A lot of the commentaries would suggest that both lines were from the demons. I’d suggest that what we’re seeing here is that in Mark, the man is speaking for himself. He said, “What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God?” In other words, “I’ve never met you. I don’t have a relationship with you. So why are you allowing me to be tormented by all these demons?” So he says, “I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.”

He felt God hated Him. God was tormenting him, which may explain why he was always crying and cutting himself with stones in that cave.

Then, sometime later in this interaction, the demons would speak. They’d piggyback (no pun intended) on what the man said. They said something similar but different.

The demons said, “What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?” In other words, “Why are you come to deal with us now since this is before the appointed time in which You’ll torment us?” They’re already hysterical.

In Luke, they would also ask for something else. They would beg the Lord not to command them to “go out into the deep,” into the abyss, also translated as the bottomless pit in Revelation. I’ll bet you money that because so many demons were in this one man and because they tortured him so mercilessly, they were scared they were going to be cast into the sides of the pit like their fellow angels who created the Nephilim.

Observe how the Lord responds. Mar 5:8 For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. Mar 5:9 And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.

Let me ask a question.

Why did the Lord ask him what his name was? Wouldn’t the Lord know his name and the names of all those demons? Didn’t the Lord foresee before the foundation of the world that this moment would take place in which He’d encounter Legion?

Was this perhaps a question of accommodation for all of us? That the Lord was asking this question so that we all might learn the name of this collective group of demons?

Totally! It may also be possible that He chose to not know, just as the Father was the only one who knew when the Lord’s Second Coming would take place (Matt. 24:36). This would be another demonstration of the faith of Christ His earthly ministry. He chose to not know so that He could operate by faith in the will of His Father. It may be that the Lord chose to not know certain things so He can relate to us when it comes to a life of faith. We don’t know everything. We’re operating on faith in the will of the Father, and Christ can relate to our experience of not knowing everything while fulfilling the will of the Father by faith alone. If that’s true, I’ll bet the Lord loved asking a questions He did not know and respond in perfect obedience to the will of the Father.

“Legion” is between 3,000-5,000 demons.

How do you explain the response? And HE answered, saying, MY name is Legion: for WE are many. Did Mark write “he” because the man responded, or the demons responded through the man?

YES.

How can a demon say, MY name is Legion: for WE are many? Was it one demon talking or all of them? They’re individuals but they’re speaking together as one collective unit. So when we read “he” in these verses, it’s Legion – many acting as one.

Mar 5:10 And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country. Mar 5:11 Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding. Mar 5:12 And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.

Why did those demons beg to possess the swine? I suspect that when the angels were cast out of Heaven, they lost their glorified bodies and that the demons are rather uncomfortable being spirits without a body so they’d much rather live inside an earthen vessel even if it’s only lowly swine.

Mar 5:13 And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea. Mar 5:14 And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done.

What’s the significance of the swine? And who were the ones who fed them?

You might remember from the OT, the Jews had nothing to do with swine. Lev. 11, Deut. 14, “the swine is unclean unto you.” They did not even use them as sacrifices.

So how do you explain this large gathering of swine in Galilee, of all places?

I suspect this was most likely a Gentile herd.

What’s the significance of the swine going off a cliff and drowning in the sea?

I’d suggest this illustrates the destruction of the Gentile nations under the influence of Satan and the demonic realm. In the end, the unbelieving world and the demonic realm will all be cast into a Lake of Fire.

Mar 5:15 And they (those that fed the swine) come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.

The idea that these people are Gentiles might explain the great fear. The Jews looking for signs and wonders would see this and figure out that Christ was their Messiah, but the Gentiles would be understandably fearful about what they saw, because they had no idea what was going on.

Mar 5:16 And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine. 5:17 And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts. 5:18 And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him (“prayed him” is just a figure of speech meaning, he begged him, also translated elsewhere as “besought”.). 5:19 Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee. 5:20 And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis (a league of ten cities) how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel.

Luke would make the point that Jesus actually walked onto the ship and then walked back off. I’d also suggest this symbolized His departure from them and then His Second Coming and how, after His Second Coming, this man, like all of Israel, would be healed and they’d go out into the world to share the good news about Christ.