Man on a Mission: A 5-Day Journey With Jesus Through Mark 5–7ናሙና

Jesus and the Man Who Was Out of His Mind

“Let’s cross to the other side.” That’s how it all begins, with Jesus’ determination to take a night-time trip across the lake into Gentile territory (Mark 4:35). It’s an unsettling nocturnal adventure for the disciples, complete with a fierce storm that threatens to capsize their boat. Still, Jesus deals with that “interruption” calmly and authoritatively (4:36­–41), the same way he will deal with what awaits him on shore.

Jesus has clearly crossed the lake for a single, pressing purpose: to encounter one particular man in one specific place and to rescue him from the forces of darkness that bind him. Jesus’ singular purpose is clear because as soon as the encounter is over, he gets back in the boat and returns to the Jewish side of the lake (5:21).

This man possessed by an evil spirit is “other” in every way—a Gentile, living among the tombs and thus deeply unclean, wild, and uncontrollable, out of his mind, appearing more like an animal than a human being. Fear of “the other” may have kept the disciples in the boat (we don’t hear anything about them during this encounter), but Jesus’ mission takes him straight into the man’s presence.

We see Jesus offering three gifts to this man as part of his rescue and restoration mission.

First, Jesus SEES him. Despite his sub-human appearance and behavior, this man’s humanity is not hidden from Jesus. He looks at this wrecked, wracked being and sees the image of God—and he speaks words of liberation that allow that image to be restored. Mark describes the man’s new reality this way: “He was sitting there fully clothed and perfectly sane” (v. 15, NTL).

Second, Jesus SITS with him. Although his stay on that side of the lake is brief, Jesus doesn’t just orchestrate an in-and-out rescue mission; he sits down with the restored man, offering him the gift of presence, conversation, and relationship. Jesus is not in a hurry; he lingers with this new friend.

Third, Jesus SENDS him. The people of the region are terrified by the transformation that has taken place in this man, afraid of what they can’t understand, and so they beg Jesus to leave their territory. The restored man pleads to join Jesus, but the Lord offers him something he probably never expected: a commission. “Go home to your family, and tell them everything the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been” (v. 19). And with joyful, unquestioning obedience, this first apostle (“sent one”) in Mark’s Gospel goes off to visit the Ten Towns with his story of rescue and redemption. He must have been an effective witness because the next time Jesus comes to the Ten Towns region, four thousand people come out to meet him (7:31–8:21)!