Mark 5:1-20 / Helping People Connect to God...
If you want to pick up your Bibles and turn to Mark chapter 5. As you’re doing that, here’s a question: if I asked you to take out a piece of paper and write down the mission of The Well Community Church, what would you write? What would you say if I asked you that question?
Now, obviously, I’m not asking those who might be visiting with us today. I’m talking to those of us who would say, “Yeah, The Well Community Church is my home. This is where I go; I’ve planted myself here.” For those of us who have, what is our mission? What are we doing here? What is our purpose? What is this really all about?
What Is Our Mission?
If any of you were to write down, “The mission of The Well Community Church is to help people connect to God and to each other in every neighborhood,” you would be exactly right. That is our mission: to help people connect to God and to each other in every neighborhood.
But what does that mean? Sometimes we can use a statement like that as just a tagline. “Hey, The Well—helping people connect to God and to each other in every neighborhood! That’s awesome.” It helps us remember who we are, but it is so much more than a tagline. It’s not a catchphrase. It’s not a slogan or a motto. It is our mission.
I think some people started coming to The Well Community Church because of that mission statement. People look at it and say, “I’m looking for a place to call home. I’m looking for a place that’s going to help me grow and help me get connected to God and to other people in my neighborhood. Hey, look at that phrase. Maybe I’ll try it out and see if that’s really what they’re all about.” And you came here and discovered, “Yeah, this place really helps me connect to God and to other followers of Jesus around me. I love that.”
Let me tell you: if that is where it stops for you, we have missed it. That connection is just the means; it’s a step in order to accomplish the mission. For us to be connected to God and to each other is only so that we can go and do the mission.
A Movement, Not Just a Church
You can find plenty of churches where a group of people gathers, hires a pastor, gets some teachers, Life Group leaders, a spiritual formation director, a WSM director and staff, and Kids Connection leaders. People come in and say, “Oh good, I’m going to go to this church because that group of leaders is going to help the rest of us connect to God and to each other. I’m in.” But if it stops with what is accomplished in our own personal lives, we have totally missed the point.
It’s not about a small group of leaders helping everybody else in the building be okay. That’s good and necessary, but it’s only the means to the goal—it isn’t the goal. The mission is for all of us, every single one of us, to help other people connect to God and to each other in every neighborhood.
We don’t want to be a church that just gathers together to do church. We want to be a movement of people. A movement that gathers simply to be strengthened so that we can scatter and do the mission—going out wherever you live and work, helping people connect to God and to each other in every neighborhood. It’s not about you, and it’s not about me. It’s about our shared mission.
You might be thinking, “Wait, that’s my mission?” Yes! It’s your mission, it’s my mission, and it’s the mission of anyone who calls The Well their home.
We feel so passionate about this that for the next three weeks, we’re going to walk through our mission statement. This week, we’re focusing on the first part: helping people connect to God. Next week, we’ll look at and to each other, and the third week we’ll explore in every neighborhood.
Today: helping people connect to God. Some of you might be saying, “Hold on, PJ. Are you talking to me? I’m a follower of Jesus, but you don’t understand who you’re asking. I don’t know enough. I haven’t taken evangelism classes. I don’t know all the doctrine and theology. I have things in my life I’m still working through. I need help myself—how can I go help somebody else? I haven’t been a Christian very long; I’m just not qualified.”
If that’s you, that is exactly why we’re looking at Mark chapter 5.
My Hero of the Faith
Have you ever been asked the question: when you die and go to heaven, who is the first person you want to talk to besides Jesus? We all have an answer. People say, “I want to talk to Peter,” or “I want to talk to Paul,” or “I want to talk to Adam and ask, ‘What were you thinking, man?’”
I’m telling you, the guy in Mark chapter 5 is the guy for me. If I couldn’t talk to anyone else, I would want to talk to this man. He is my hero of the faith. My wife knows this because I talk about him all the time. He’s such a hero to me because he’s just a normal guy. I relate to him so much, and I want to be like him. Let’s look at his story.
Mark 5:1-2 (NASB)
They came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes. When He got out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him,
Jesus and His disciples got in a boat and crossed the Sea of Galilee to the region of the Gerasenes. The moment Jesus stepped out of the boat, this man with an unclean spirit came out from the tombs to meet Him.
The Man in the Tombs
The next few verses describe just how deeply broken and tormented this man was.
Mark 5:3-5 (NASB)
and he had his dwelling among the tombs. And no one was able to bind him anymore, even with a chain; because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and gashing himself with stones.
Look at this man’s condition. Not only was he demon-possessed, but he lived among the tombs—he lived with dead people. On top of that, he had superhuman strength. People had tried to bind him with shackles and chains, but he tore them apart. No one had the strength to subdue him. A demon-possessed man living in a cemetery with superhuman strength is terrifying.
Verse 5 tells us that night and day among the tombs and in the hills, he was constantly crying out and cutting himself with sharp stones. Can you imagine the scars, the cuts, and the blood covering his body? He was screaming constantly, day and night. And we learn later that he wasn’t wearing any clothes—he was completely naked. Running through the hills, bleeding, screaming, naked, and possessing unnatural strength.
You can understand why the townspeople wanted nothing to do with him. Imagine looking to move to that region, asking a local resident about the town, and suddenly hearing bloodcurdling screams from the hills. “What is that?” And the resident replies, “Oh, that’s just Crazy Larry. He lives in the cemetery, cuts himself, runs around naked, and breaks iron chains.” You’d probably say, “You know what? I think I’ll look at the next town.”
Now, you might ask, “PJ, why in the world is this guy your hero, and how do you relate to him?”
Strip away the outward extremes for a moment. This man was being controlled by something that was utterly destroying his life. Isn’t that true of every single one of us apart from Jesus Christ? We may not have been possessed by a legion of demons, but without Christ, we were controlled by sin. Sin was our master, we were slaves to it, and we were completely powerless on our own to break free.
In some ways, this man had an advantage: he knew his life was being destroyed. He could feel the misery of it. There are people walking around today who are spiritually dead and don’t even know it. They are enslaved to sin while believing they are free, their lives being destroyed so slowly and deceptively that they don’t see it. Without Jesus, every single one of us was in the exact same boat.
Meeting Jesus and the Power of Deliverance
Look at what happens when this man encounters Jesus.
Mark 5:6-9 (NASB)
Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him; and shouting with a loud voice, he said, ‘What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me!’ For He had been saying to him, ‘Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!’ And He was asking him, ‘What is your name?’ And he said to Him, ‘My name is Legion; for we are many.’
When the man saw Jesus from afar, the demons compelled him to run and fall down before Him. The demons cried out, “What have You to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure You by God, do not torment me.” When Jesus asked for his name, the spirit replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.”
A Roman legion consisted of roughly four to six thousand soldiers. The spirit wasn’t necessarily giving an exact headcount, but communicating, “There are thousands of us.” No wonder this man’s life was in total ruin.
Mark 5:10-13 (NASB)
And he [began] to implore Him earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now there was a large herd of swine feeding nearby on the mountain. [The demons] implored Him, saying, ‘Send us into the swine so that we may enter them.’ Jesus gave them permission. And coming out, the unclean spirits entered the swine; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, about two thousand [of them]; and they were drowned in the sea.
Here is what I love about this passage: a legion of thousands of demons could not do a single thing without Jesus’ permission. This passage displays the absolute authority and supreme power of Jesus Christ over the entire demonic realm. The demons had to beg Him for permission to enter the pigs. Jesus gave them permission, and the herd of two thousand pigs rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned.
Imagine this scene from the perspective of the herdsmen watching those pigs on the hillside. You’re sitting there, having a normal, boring day. You see a boat landing near the cemetery. You think, “Oh no, Crazy Larry lives over there. This is going to be terrible.” Then Larry comes charging down the hill, screaming, completely naked. You want to shout, “Get back in the boat!”
Then, something unprecedented happens. The most terrifying man in the region falls prostrate on his knees before this stranger. They talk, Jesus speaks with authority, and suddenly your entire herd of two thousand pigs goes berserk, stampedes down the bank, and drowns in the lake.
Clothed and in His Right Mind
Mark 5:14-15 (NASB)
Their herdsmen ran away and reported it in the city and in the country. And [the people] came to see what it was that had happened. They came to Jesus and observed the man who had been demon-possessed sitting down, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the ‘legion’; and they became frightened.
The herdsmen ran into the city and the surrounding country, telling everyone what happened. The townspeople came out to see it for themselves. And when they arrived, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion sitting at the feet of Jesus—clothed and in his right mind.
That is beautiful. For the first time in this man’s life, he understood what life was truly about. He was sitting peacefully in a relationship with Jesus, clothed, with his mind restored. He saw reality the way God intended it to be seen. That is what happens to every single one of us when we encounter Jesus Christ. We were a wreck, and Jesus stepped in, clothed us, and restored our minds.
You would expect the townspeople to throw a celebration. You would expect them to shake Jesus’ hand and say, “Thank You! We have tried to deal with this man for years and couldn’t help him. You healed him!” But look at what the text says:
Mark 5:16-17 (NASB)
Those who had seen it described to them how it had happened to the demon-possessed man, and [all] about the swine. And they began to implore Him to leave their region.
They were terrified. Why? Because they only had a tiny glimpse of Jesus, and it scared them. All they knew was that Jesus was more powerful than the demon-possessed man, and His presence had just cost them two thousand pigs. They saw His power and authority, but they didn’t know His love, His grace, or His heart.
If you only know Jesus as a powerful authority who wants to take control of your life, that can feel threatening. But when you realize that He loves you unconditionally, knows what is best for you, and uses all of His power to heal and redeem your life, everything changes. The townspeople didn’t stick around to learn that. They just wanted normalcy and quiet, so they begged Jesus to leave. And Jesus, not forcing Himself on them, got into the boat to go.
A Shocking “No”
Mark 5:18-19 (NASB)
As He was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed was imploring Him that he might accompany Him. And He did not let him, but He said to him, ‘Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and [how] He had mercy on you.’
Picture this moment. The townspeople are practically holding up picket signs telling Jesus to leave. On the other side is Jesus, stepping into the boat. The healed man looks at the angry crowd, then looks at Jesus—the One who saved his life and restored his soul. Naturally, the man begs Jesus, “Please, let me come with You!”
If I were writing the story, I would expect Jesus to say, “Hop in! Judas, step aside; Larry is our new twelfth disciple—major upgrade!” We know Jesus welcomes followers. But verse 19 contains one of the most shocking phrases in the Gospels:
“And He did not permit him.”
Jesus said no.
If I were that man, my first reaction would have been confusion and hurt: “Jesus, did I misunderstand You? Do You not care about me? Am I not good enough because of my past and my scars? Why won’t You let me come?”
Jesus cared deeply for him, but Jesus also cared about the people standing on the shore who had just told Him to leave. Jesus had to depart, but this man could stay.
Think about this man: he had every legitimate excuse in the book to say, “I’m not qualified.” He had only known Jesus for a few hours. He had zero theological training, had never attended an evangelism class, had no ministry credentials, possessed a terrible reputation, and was covered in physical scars. He was completely alone.
Yet Jesus gave him a clear assignment: “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how He has had mercy on you.”
A Man on a Mission
Something clicked in that man’s heart. He recognized how much Jesus loved him, and he surrendered to that love. He also saw that Jesus loved the very people who had rejected Him. The man stopped begging, stood on that shore, and accepted his calling.
As the boat pushed out into the water, the townspeople cheered and walked back to their homes. But I imagine this man stood on the shore, watching Jesus until the boat disappeared over the horizon. Then he took a deep breath and said, “All right. Let’s go.”
Mark 5:20 (NASB)
And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.
He didn’t just go to his house; he went throughout the entire Decapolis—a region of ten cities—proclaiming what Jesus had done for him. And everyone marveled.
He didn’t need a degree. He didn’t need to know all the answers. He simply shared his story: “Here is who I was, here is what Jesus did for me, and here is how He showed me mercy.” He became an instrument to help people connect to God across ten cities.
What Could God Do Through Us?
That is our mission.
Our mission is to throw out every excuse—our feelings of inadequacy, our lack of formal training, our past mistakes—and simply fall in love with Jesus. When we understand His love for us and His heart for the people around us who don’t yet know Him, we can step out and share what He has done.
Some people will marvel. Some may question it. But some will say, “Tell me more. I need that kind of hope in my life.” And in that moment, you get to help that person connect to God.
If God could use one ordinary man with a broken past, zero training, and just one day with Jesus to impact ten cities, what could He do through all of us if we embraced this mission together?
Let’s pray.
Lord, thank You for this powerful example in Your Word. Thank You that You use ordinary, broken people who have experienced Your grace. I pray that we would stop making excuses and recognize that You have called each of us to this mission. Help us to go into our homes, our workplaces, and our neighborhoods to show and tell what great things You have done for us. Give us boldness, compassion, and love for those around us, so that we might help people connect to You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.