The Pro-Life Jesus (Mark #16)

I will be completely honest with you. I sat down this week, opened my preaching calendar, saw the passage, opened my Bible, started reading — and immediately thought, Lord, why do I have to teach this?

Because it is weird. In our twenty-first century world, talking about demon possession is weird. We have a wild man. We have a bizarre conversation. And then we have the strangest reaction of all from the townspeople — Jesus performs an extraordinary miracle and they are frightened and ask Him to leave.

I genuinely wanted to skip it.

But I am convinced God wrote the Scriptures through these human authors and put these things here for us — which means we cannot skip something merely because it makes us uncomfortable. We have to stop and ask what we are supposed to get from it.

And as I read and studied and prayed, something beautiful and powerful surfaced — and it speaks directly into the moment we are living in.

Mark 5:1–20

Context: last week Jesus and His disciples got into a boat, went through a storm, and He calmed it. Now they land on the far shore.

“They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.

“And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. And crying out with a loud voice, he said, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.’ For he was saying to him, ‘Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!’ And Jesus asked him, ‘What is your name?’ He replied, ‘My name is Legion, for we are many.’ And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country.

“Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him, saying, ‘Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.’ So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.

“The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region.

“As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. And he did not permit him 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 he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.”

Mark Is Staging an Epic Battle

To appreciate this passage, you have to see what Mark is doing. He is setting up a confrontation between Jesus and these demons.

Think of a championship game where the best offense in the league faces the best defense. There is an old adage that offense wins games but defense wins championships. Three quarters into one such game a few years back, the defense looked entirely vindicated — the high-powered offense had been held to its lowest output of the season and was down by ten. One quarter to go and the title was decided.

And then that offense scored twenty-one points in a single quarter and won going away. People called it an epic battle.

That is the structure Mark is building. Jesus arrives on offense to cast these demons out. And these demons are playing defense — and unlike the demon back in chapter 1, whom Jesus removed with a single word, these are prepared. They have a game plan.

They have home field advantage

Verse 2: as Jesus steps out of the boat, a man with an unclean spirit meets Him out of the tombs. This is happening in a cemetery — the place of the dead. Many of Mark’s readers would have felt the hair rise on their necks. This is the opening scene of a horror film.

And it is not only a cemetery. It is Gentile territory, which would have made Mark’s Jewish readers deeply uncomfortable, because Jews had nothing to do with Gentiles.

There is a small textual question here worth mentioning. Mark says the country of the Gerasenes, but Gerasa sat about thirty miles southeast of the Sea of Galilee — a long way from any shoreline. Matthew’s account says the Gadarenes, which is closer, about eight miles out, though that still leaves the question of which body of water the pigs drowned in. A few manuscripts read “Gergesenes,” and Gergesa was a small village right on the coast of the Sea of Galilee whose topography fits Mark’s description exactly. The more reliable manuscripts read Gerasenes.

Honestly, it does not matter which. All of them are Gentile regions. To a Jewish reader, this is demon territory. Home field advantage.

They are extraordinarily strong

Verse 4: this man had been bound with shackles and chains, and he wrenched the chains apart and shattered the shackles.

This is not ordinary strength. This is comic-book-villain strength. This is not merely a good defense — this is the best defense anyone has ever seen.

They are terrifying

Verse 5: night and day among the tombs and on the mountains, he was always crying out.

Imagine hearing a man out in the wilderness screaming around the clock. That alone would frighten you. And then it adds that he was cutting himself with stones — so he is scarred and bleeding. You can picture the wild eyes and the wild hair. If you came anywhere near this man you would run. He would terrify your children and your dogs.

And they open with a strategy our ears miss

Verse 7: “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.”

Stop and notice two things. First, the demon does not just say “Jesus” — he piles on identifiers: Son of the Most High God. Second, he says I adjure you by God, which means to solemnly plead. Why would a demon plead by God?

We saw the first move back in chapter 1, when a demon in a synagogue announced, “I know who you are — the Holy One of God” — and Jesus silenced him with a word.

In the first century, knowledge was power. In a confrontation, if you could name who your opponent was before he could say it himself, you gained the stronger position. It was a defensive maneuver — an attempt to strip away his offensive advantage.

And the second move comes from Jewish exorcism practice. An exorcist would try to determine the rank of the demon and then appeal to a higher power to expel it. So this demon, seeing Jesus arrive on the offensive, plays the strongest defense available and appeals to the highest power imaginable. He goes straight to God. It is not have mercy on me. It is I have you — I adjure you by God. Now what?

Except the demon has a problem. As the Son of God, Jesus is God. Christianity holds that God is triune — one God in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So as God the Son, Jesus has the full rights and authority of God. And because this demon is occupying a human being — and human beings bear the image of God — Jesus has every right to evict him and say, in effect: that one is Mine.

Why Did It Not End Immediately?

Good observation, if you are thinking it. Verse 8 tells us Jesus had already said, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit.” In chapter 1 the demon left instantly. Here it refuses and digs in.

Verse 9 explains: “And Jesus asked him, ‘What is your name?’ He replied, ‘My name is Legion, for we are many.'”

Mark’s Roman readers would know that a legion in the Roman army was roughly six thousand soldiers plus a hundred and twenty horsemen — one of the most powerful units in the entire military.

So when the demon says “Legion, for we are many,” he is saying: there is not one of us in here. Not two. Not a couple dozen. There are thousands of us in this man.

No wonder he is that strong. No wonder he is that terrifying. No wonder a single command did not clear the room.

It is the moment in a superhero film where the villain suddenly finds himself surrounded by hundreds of duplicates of his opponent, closing in from every side. That is the picture: Jesus, there are thousands of us. You are surrounded.

Then the Fourth Quarter Begins

The demons beg not to be sent out of the country. There is a herd of pigs on the hillside. Send us into the pigs.

Mark has staged this enormous confrontation — thousands of demons against one man. They have named Him to strip His advantage. They have adjured Him by the highest power they know. Their defense is set.

And then, I suspect, they look at Jesus and notice something. Why is He smiling?

They know. They are not winning this.

So it turns into negotiation. All right, all right — do not send us out of the country. There is a herd of pigs over there. You Jews consider pigs unclean anyway. How about You send us unclean spirits into those unclean animals?

And Jesus says: go ahead.

Two thousand pigs stampede down a steep bank into the sea and drown.

The Point That Stopped Me

This is where something dawned on me while studying, and it is my main point today:

The kingdom of darkness is anti-life. The kingdom of God is pro-life.

Some of you on the conservative end of the political spectrum just said amen. Hold on — let me be clear about what I am actually saying.

The kingdom of darkness is anti-life

Look at what these demons were doing to this man. They made his existence unbearable. He is screaming. He is in pain. He is cutting himself with stones. He lives in constant anguish. They are ruining his life. They are anti-life.

And you see it most clearly in the pigs. They do not simply enter the herd and make the animals act strangely. They kill them. And not instantly — they drive them down a steep embankment into the sea to drown painfully. They make it as agonizing as possible.

Because the kingdom of darkness is anti-life.

Why? Because Satan is opposed to everything God is for. It is a bit like our political climate, where the two parties oppose each other reflexively — never mind whether the other side might have a good idea, we have to stand against it on principle. That is what Satan does. He opposes whatever God is for.

And what is God for? Life. God created life in the garden. He created humanity. And even after humanity fell, Jesus came to give life and give it abundantly. He died for people.

So because God is for life, Satan is anti-life. Jesus described those opposed to God as thieves, and in John 10:10 He says the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. That is exactly what we watch these demons do — stealing this man’s joy and life, and then committing a mass slaughter of two thousand animals.

The kingdom of God is pro-life

The rest of John 10:10: the thief comes to steal and kill and destroy — but Jesus, the good shepherd, came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

Jesus, as King of the kingdom of God, is pro-life.

But understand what I mean. I am not merely saying He is pro-birth, or anti-abortion. When I say He is pro-life, I mean He is pro-human.

And not merely pro-human toward the people who look like Him and talk like Him and act like Him.

Consider where He is. Jesus is a fully Jewish man standing in a fully Gentile region. At the end of the account the man goes home to the Decapolis — ten Greek-influenced cities east of the Jordan. He is a Gentile.

Jews had nothing to do with Gentiles. There might be some commerce, but a Jew would never have a Gentile over for dinner. They would not attend the same events. Their children did not go to the same schools. They held frankly racist ideas about Gentiles and wanted nothing to do with them.

And what does this fully Jewish man do? He crosses the water and shows the love, grace, and mercy of God to a Gentile.

Because Jesus is pro-life. He is pro-human.

Which Means You Have to Be Too

If you claim to follow Jesus, you must be pro-life — and I mean pro-human.

It means showing the love and grace of God to people who do not share your race, your skin color, your income level, or your political persuasion. If they are human, they deserve your respect, your love, and your grace.

For some of us that is hard.

And if you are a first-time guest, I should say I almost never get political. Politics is always shifting; I want to preach Jesus. But this passage forces my hand, because I am convinced that if we are going to be a church that loves like Jesus loved and lives like Jesus lived, we have to get this right.

Just look at the gospel. God did not demand you believe correctly before Jesus died for you. He did not require you to become a Jew or clean up your life before He went to the cross for you.

So do not require it of others. They do not have to believe exactly as you do for you to be kind to them. They do not have to behave a certain way or say the right things. If they are human, the image of God is in them. He loves them. So should you.

But Not All Image-Bearers Respect Their Fellow Image-Bearers

Which is the next turn in the story. Verse 14: the herdsmen run and spread the news, people come out to see, and they find the man who had the legion sitting there, clothed and in his right mind — and they were afraid. And they begin begging Jesus to leave.

This is astonishing. These people had been terrorized by this man for years. They had tried chaining him and failed. He had been frightening their children and frightening them.

You would expect them to arrive saying thank you.

Instead the reaction mirrors what we saw from the disciples last week. In the boat they were terrified of the storm, certain they were about to die. Then Jesus says one word and the storm stops — and the text says they were filled with great fear. They were more afraid of the man who could still a storm with a word than of the storm they thought would kill them.

Same thing here. They had been afraid of the wild man. Now they are far more frightened by someone powerful enough to evict thousands of demons from a single person.

Yes, perhaps they were also angry that their local economy just drowned. But I sense that what they were really saying is this: we would rather have kept that man howling in the tombs and kept our pigs, than see him healed and set free.

And We Are Not Different

What saddens me is that I look at our world and see the same thing.

Just this past week I saw videos of people being harassed and outright assaulted at demonstrations that had turned into riots. I do not know what happened immediately beforehand. I do not know whether someone shouted something vile first. All I know is that people resorted to physical violence.

And then commentators on one side pointed to it as proof of how evil an entire movement is.

And that very same week, at the close of a national political convention, a protester rode down the street shouting obscenities at the president and his supporters — and a well-known media personality walked up and knocked him off his bike.

So you have the extremes on one side resorting to physical violence, and the extremes on the other side resorting to physical violence. We are not that different from each other. We behave exactly the same.

And Jesus is calling us to something better. Because resorting to that kind of violence says: I am not pro-life. I am pro my ideology. I am pro my way of life. I am pro my race. I am pro me.

Jesus calls us instead to lay down our lives, take up our cross, give it all away, and follow Him. Because what this world needs is not more people convinced their political ideology is correct. This world needs people who love like Jesus loved and live like Jesus lived. It needs freedom. It needs grace. It needs the gospel.

What the Healed Man Was Told to Do

Verse 18: as Jesus is getting into the boat, the man begs to come with Him. And Jesus refuses — and says, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”

Put yourself in this man’s sandals for a moment. I have no idea what his existence had been like inside that. Was his world black and white? Like watching a screen full of static? Constant darkness? Was he even aware of anything? We do not know.

What I do know is that after Jesus casts them out, this man can suddenly see everything in vivid color. The horror film is over. He has been handed a happy ending.

I do not know about you, but if that were me, I am getting in that boat. I will go wherever this man goes. I do not know where my next meal comes from. I have no idea how I will manage. I only know I want to be with Him.

And Jesus says no. Do not get in the boat — because if you get in the boat, your story stays your story. I want you to go tell My story.

Go home. Go back to that Gentile, Greek-speaking region east of the Jordan. Travel those ten cities and tell them what I did for you. Tell them about the mercy you experienced.

Why? Because that is the love and grace and mercy Jesus wants to give to everyone.

The Most Pro-Life Thing You Can Do

There is nothing more pro-life than going and telling people about Jesus.

Because if Christianity is true, then people steeped in sin are separated from God — which means they are spiritually dead and in spiritual bondage. So going and telling them the gospel, telling them what Jesus has done in you, is the most life-giving act available to you. Because just maybe their eyes open, and they decide to follow Jesus, and the Holy Spirit begins that deep work of restoring the image of God in them, so that they too will love like Jesus loved and live like Jesus lived. And the world changes.

So it is not cruel to tell someone about your faith.

You do not have to be obnoxious about it. You do not need a bullhorn. You do not shout in anyone’s face. You simply share your story and let people marvel at the grace of God.

Because Jesus is pro-life. He is pro-human. And if you claim to follow Him, you need to be pro-human too. So go tell people about Jesus, so they can meet this pro-life Jesus for themselves.

Prayer

Father, let Your mercy be on us — because some of us are genuinely guilty of not valuing our fellow humans. There are people at work, people at school, people on our screens who wind us up and bother us, and it is desperately hard to show them respect or honor. We want to be the ones who yell. Sometimes, honestly, we want to be the one who throws the punch.

But You call us to something greater — because they are trapped in their sin and they need You.

So saturate us with Your love and Your grace. Leave us so in awe of You that we would gladly get in the boat and go anywhere You went — and just as gladly go to our own Decapolis: our campus, our workplace, our neighborhood, our dorm. Let Your story become our story.

Make us a church that is pro-life — for people from womb to tomb. Make us the ones who stand up for the vulnerable, for the overlooked, for the ignored, for the suppressed. Because You died for them. You love them. Your gospel is for them.

Help us transcend politics and rise above cultural ideologies. Make us gospel-centered people, so that Your love resonates through us and we step past the arguments and into Your goodness, Your grace, and who You are — and go represent the great I AM in everyday life.

And I pray for anyone reading this who does not know You — who is like the man in the cemetery, in spiritual bondage, who has been straining at the chains and finding that nothing works. Jesus is standing in front of them. Let them find freedom today. Help them confess their sin, bow their knee, and be willing to get in the boat and go wherever You lead.

Because I do not believe You put anyone on this earth merely to earn a degree, get a job, get married, have kids, and live out a comfortable dream. I believe You put them here to make a difference — because our world is hurting and in chaos and needs people who truly love.

Do in us what You need to, so that You can do through us what You need to. Make us a pro-life people. Make us pro-human, like You. Amen.