THESE SCARS
They Still Speak
The Silent Language of Living Wounded
Wherever you are today, your limitations, your walls, your scars are before God’s eyes.
September 26th, 2022
BOO! — WHO?
Mark 5:2-5, ‘When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet Him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with chains. 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. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills, he would cry out and cut himself with stones.’ (NIV)
The story of this demon-possessed man haunts me. I heard a sermon one time by Steven Furtick, Elevation Church, which is indelibly seared in my mind about these passages. ‘You Must Be Important’ was the name of the sermon, and Pastor Steven reflects in his message about sitting on the very hillside overlooking the lake Jesus had crossed over where He disembarked from the boat and encountered this man. He speaks about the raw emotion he felt while looking at the tombs where the demon-crazed man roamed and wailed and thrashed about, seeing out over the lake where He made the ocean be still and the winds to simmer down. Because we know of Jesus’ compassion for mankind—even demons—we know that Jesus’ arrival at the ‘home’ of a tragically possessed man was not an accident. Jesus intended to meet that man right where the evil spirits possessed him. It was not accidental or a coincidence or a happenstance, that the Savior of the world had His heart set on grace for a man needing set free from the bondage of active demons. Had I sat on the hillside where Pastor Steven sat, I would have been wrecked too.
Let’s backtrack. Jesus has just stepped ashore from a night spent tossing on an angry sea. It wasn’t a sleepless night for Him, but it was for His disciples. He slept right through the storm that kept them fretting and fearful all night long. Of course, that could be because they did not know He had a divine appointment with a demon-ravaged man so there wasn’t a chance they would not survive a stormy sea! The disciples were intrigued Jesus could sleep through such a tempest and so much more incredulous that even wind and waves obeyed His command. Little did they understand the miracle which was lapping against the shore on the other side of the sea, the possessed man who Jesus had to arrive alive to meet so He could rescue and set him free.
Have you ever thought about the fact that we are able to know Him deeper on this side of the lake than we did on the other side, prior to the restless waves and angry winds, prior to the storm? At the time, while navigating turbulence in our lives we don’t wish to be in the middle of or going through or about to come out of tempestuous times. But on the other side of it, isn’t it amazing how we can know the assurance of what God’s grace sailed us through? We have a God Who stands outside of time Who has already been into our future and Who already has sifted through the muck and mire of what lies in our pathway, Who has chosen what to permit into our lives and is preparing us constantly for such appointments. All of it predestined so we can know He was with us all along, that He had a purpose which could come from what we go through.
So, Jesus steps from the vessel and is met by a man who lives in the cemetery and who is inhabited by a demonic spirit. He sees Jesus and he runs and falls at His feet, begging Jesus not to torture ‘them’. He tells Jesus his name is ‘Legion’, explaining, ‘Because we are many.’ The dialogue fascinates me. He begs again that Jesus would not cast them far and the many demons point out a herd of pigs just happening in the area. They beg to be allowed to enter the hogs. Mark 5:13 says, ‘He gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the step bank into the lake and were drowned.’ I am enthralled. Many people encounter Jesus, but it was a demon that fell at His feet. I am entranced. Many come in proximity of Jesus, but it was demons who sought His permission, also inquiring where He would send them. I am compelled. It is a once-demon-possessed-now-set-free man who begged to go with Jesus when those who witnessed what He had done sent Jesus away. What is it demons know that mankind doesn’t, or rather, what do demons submit to that humanity refuses to surrender to? To recognize Jesus, to yield, to go where He sends?
Can you imagine the ravages left behind from a legion of demons living inside of you? The scars remaining from a lifetime of breaking bondages and cutting yourself with stones? It wasn’t anything flashy Jesus did, but it was direct, bold, simple, the words He used to cast the spirits out, that literally broke this man’s chains forever and set him free.
John 8: 36, ‘So, if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed!’ (NIV)
Isaiah 49:16, ‘”Can’t you see? I have carved your name on the palms of My hands! Your walls are always my concern.”’
