The Gospel of the Lunatic
(Kent Heaton)
They remembered the kind of man he used to be. He was a violent man who lived in the tombs outside the city. No one could approach him without a fierce confrontation. Some had succeeded in capturing him and binding him with chains and shackles. Safety from this mad man was short lived as his brute strength broke the shackles and tore the chains from around him. Others had tried to bring the wild man under control with whips to tame him and stop the violence that caused all to fear him. This too was of no avail. The citizens of the country lived with the horrible cries of a man possessed who, night and day, cried out in mournful misery and torment as he cut himself with stones. But as they beheld this man before them, the only evidence of his former life was the scars where he cut himself. He spoke softly of the change that had taken place in his life. His demeanor was not threatening but calm and assuring. His eyes filled with tears as he recalled the day Jesus came into his life.
It was not but a few days ago when a boat came to rest on the shore of the Gadarenes. Among those who stepped out of the boat was a man whose presence was of no significance nor did he bear any grace that any would take notice of him. Yet – he was man like no other man. His name was Jesus. The man remembers Jesus saying, “Come out of the man, unclean spirit!” (Mark 5:8) The demons would leave the body of the mortal man at the command of this Jesus and perish with the rushing torrent of 2000 swine who drowned in the sea. It was then – at the moment in a life filled with unbelievable torment and sorrow – that a peace flooded over this man as he had never known before. The torment was gone.
The crowd fell into a hush as the man described how he regained his mind and could sit still for the first time in a legion of time. He showed them his scars from the time of his imprisonment with the spirits and how Jesus of Nazareth had healed him and set him free. The man looked into the eyes of those who had sought for Jesus to leave their region (Mark 5:17) and wondered how they could not see the power of such a one as the man from Nazareth. They were more concerned about the 2000 swine than the miracle of this man’s healing. He had returned home to tell his friends and neighbors about the things Jesus had done for him and what great compassion was given to this man from the hand of Jesus.
When Jesus had entered a boat to leave the region, this man had pleaded with Him to allow him to accompany the Lord wherever He went. Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, “Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you.” (Mark 5:19) The man who once was a lunatic, was now speaking to his friends and neighbors about all that Jesus had done for him. The writer Mark tells us, “And he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him; and all marveled.” (Mark 5:20)
Jesus told this man to do three things: (1) Go home to your friends; (2) Tell them what great things Jesus had done; (3) Tell them how Jesus had compassion on him. The gospel of the lunatic is the gospel that we can follow today. It is the good news that we should share with our friends about all the wonderful things that Jesus has done for us and to understand the compassion Jesus had on those who were enemies of God. (Romans 5:6-11)
Go Home To Your Friends
There is no secret formula to find those who need the gospel of Jesus Christ. From our culture we believe that to accomplish anything worthwhile it must be based upon a complex organizational structure of data gathering, mixed in formulas of cross-sectioning evaluation of geographical mapping that gives the best case scenario – to find someone to teach the gospel of Christ. Step out your front door and look who lives next to you! Examine closely your phone calls and you will find the people who need the gospel of Jesus Christ. Think for a moment the names of those you fish with, bowl with, go shopping with, and enjoy tea parties with and every other facet of life that fill our weekly schedules. Those are the people that need the gospel of salvation.
Jesus did not permit the man to go with Him because there was another way the man could serve the kingdom of Christ. The simple instruction of going home to his friends was where he was best suited to tell the story of his healing. He did not tell him to go into the entire world, to sail on a ship to a far off country or take a long journey to some distant land – he said, “Go home!” He would find willing hearts among his friends and family.
Jesus tells us that even the lunatic had friends. They had witnessed his battle with the spirits and were saddened by his state of affairs. How shocked they were to see him standing before them, fully clothed and in his right mind. He had come home to tell of the changes in his life. He would speak for hours of the torment he felt before he met Jesus and what peace was afforded by the healing hand of Jesus.
He would be telling his friends and his neighbors the story of his marvelous transformation. His friends would hear him, his friends would understand where he had come from. The most important thing for the lunatic healed by Jesus would be of his story to his friends who also needed to know the Christ. His friends needed healing but in a different way. They needed the spiritual blessings found in believing that this same Jesus was the Son of God. What about your friends – do they know Jesus?
Tell Them What Great Things the Lord Has Done For You
The man who once was bound by the chains of torment could talk unceasingly of what great things Jesus had done for him. He was grateful beyond measure for the calm he now enjoyed. His life had been radically changed and he could not help but tell of how wonderful it was to be free.
Freedom is best expressed when we share that freedom with others. The lunatic was bound by men with chains and shackles. Satan binds us with sin and we do not have the strength to break free. Our torment is the darkness that sin brings. We cry out in our misery but no help can break the bonds of sin.
The chains of Satan bind the hearts of all men who wallow in the mire of condemnation. Jesus comes to set men free! “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:2) Earlier Paul described our condition before God: “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” (Romans 5:8-10)
Our chains are described as being “sinners,” “wrath,” and “enemies” and “that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” (Ephesians 2:12) The lunatic had no hope apart from Jesus Christ. We have no hope apart from Jesus Christ. When we experience the cleansing blood of the Son of God, we rejoice because we have been set free.
Our freedom is real! Our rejoicing should fuel our zeal to tell our friends and neighbors what Jesus has done for us. Sometimes people will say they do not know what to tell others to encourage them to obey the gospel. Jesus told the lunatic to tell people what He had done for him. Tell your friends and your neighbor what changes Jesus has made in your life. Has the Lord made you a better man? Tell people. Has the Lord made you a better woman? Tell your friends what Jesus has done.
There is no magic formula to tell people about the gospel. Tell them what changes the Lord and Savior has brought in your lives. Can it be the reason we do not tell people about the Lord is that we have not let the Lord change our lives? If you were as the lunatic, would you be able to remain silent about what Jesus did that day He stepped out of the boat? Why not tell people what happened when you stepped out of the waters of baptism and became a child of God? Glory is given to the healing power of the man from Nazareth who takes away the sins of the world – who took away my sins.
I am no longer condemned. (Romans 8:1) I have been washed from my sins. (Revelation 1:5) I am no longer dead but alive. (Ephesians 2:1-6) I am SAVED! (Ephesians 2:8) I am going to Heaven. (1 John 5:13) How can I not tell someone about these things?
Tell Them How Jesus Had Compassion on You
The final thing Jesus told the lunatic to tell people was how Jesus had compassion on him. Compassion was a characteristic often exhibited by the Son of God. (Matthew 9:36; 14:14; 15:32; 20:34; Mark 1:41; Luke 7:13) Jesus did not heal the lunatic as some methodical exercise of deity. The heart of Jesus was moved by the plight of a man in torment.
How ragged, miserable and tormented this man must have looked. When Jesus first saw him on the shore, He was struck by his appearance. No doubt His disciples were also impacted by what they saw. They would have seen a man who would have scared the bravest of men. Bloody, wild, loud, crazed and unstable would have been the picture of someone living among the tombs. Men would recoil at such a sight but not Jesus. He saw what was in the man. Jesus saw the torment.
From a heart of compassion, Jesus knew the misery of the man. Through His love he bestowed upon a lunatic the freedom from the prison of the spirits. “Come out of the man, unclean spirit.” (Mark 5:8) Jesus acknowledged the lunatic was not an animal but a “man.” This man was created in the image of Himself. (Genesis 1:27) Jesus knew how to bring peace to the man. He set him free by His heart of compassion.
When Jesus stepped from the sea of His heavenly dwelling and came to earth, He saw the miserable state of man. The cry of every soul was being tormented by the power of darkness and despair. The Jews had sought to find release through the keeping of the law and failed. The Gentiles tried to save themselves by themselves and failed. All mankind was in darkness. (John 1:1-13) Grace and truth could only come through Jesus Christ. (John 1:17)
It was the heart of compassion that took Jesus to the cross. He knew that to remove the shackles of sin from man – it would require His death. (John 3:14-17) He was willing to make that sacrifice for me. He was willing to make that sacrifice for you. How could we not tell our friends and neighbors what great compassion Jesus had to save us from our sins?
The lunatic understood what Jesus had done for him. It was not a casual remembrance the man shared with how his life was changed. He would never forget the love Jesus had for him and he would never fail to tell others of that love. We can become so trapped in our own lives that we forget what love Jesus bestowed upon us when we obeyed His gospel and He washed away our sins. Did you hear that? He washed away our sins. He took our sins away. He redeemed us. He sanctified us. He justified us. (1 Corinthians 6:11) We were bought at a price! (1 Corinthians 6:20) The way we glorify God in our bodies is to tell our friends and our neighbors what great things Jesus has done for us and how Jesus had compassion on us.
The life of the lunatic changed when he met Jesus on the sea shore. It is not known if he ever saw Jesus again. What is known is that he proclaimed “all that Jesus had done for him; and all marveled.” (Mark 5:20) Jesus lived in his life and his friends knew he was a changed man. Jesus must live in our lives and our friends must know what a change Jesus has wrought in our lives.