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CROSS EXAMINATIONS: THE KINGDOM COMING BUSINESS

MARK 5:1-20

Bringing in the kingdom of God can be tough work. Just ask Peter, James, or John--they would tell you. They had been praying that the Kingdom would come for a long time. In fact, they were so interested in the Kingdom coming that they had volunteered to give their lives for it. They were now in the Kingdom coming business full-time.

But bringing in the Kingdom is never easy. Take yesterday morning, for example. They had gotten up early to begin another day of Kingdom coming work, and they'd barely been able to choke down their poached perch and barley bran-flakes before the crowds begin to filter in for another session of Kingdom coming class.

The problem was they weren't just crowds anymore--they were multitudes. And they weren't just staying for the morning anymore either. It was turning into an all-day affair.

Bringing in the kingdom of God can be tough work. At least in the evenings they could take some time off to relax--except last night. There are always exceptions in the Kingdom coming business. When they'd finally said farewell to the last Kingdom candidate of the day, Jesus gave what seemed to be a practical suggestion, "Let's get in the boat, go to the other side of the lake, and take a few hours off. The time away will do us good."

Having said that, Jesus climbed into the boat, fluffed up some nets, wrapped up in a blanket, and went to sleep. "Let Jesus sleep. After all, it's been a long day." The Kingdom coming business is tough work.

The disciples launched the boat and started to the other side of the lake. But they had only traveled halfway across when the breeze began to turn into a stiff wind. That wasn't a good sign at all. It was beginning to seem as if the only thing needed for a boat-swamping squall to kick up was for these 12 guys to be on the water. And before they knew it, it wasn't just a stiff wind anymore--it was a gale. Hurricane Helen's great-grandmother. The waves began to crest so high they couldn't even see the boats right behind them.

There's only one thing worse than being in a boat slightly bigger than a life raft, in the eye of a raging storm, in the black of night. And that's being in a boat slightly bigger than a life raft, in the eye of a raging storm, in the black of night, with four people too many. The Kingdom coming business can be tough work.

I see James bailing water with his evangelism notebook; Thomas in the corner with his head hung over the bow; John wishing he'd listened to his dad and stayed home; Judas wondering what to throw over next, Matthew or the money bag; and Peter standing in the middle of it all screeching, "I can handle this!"

And then there's Jesus. He's still sleeping in the stern. Andrew screamed, "Will somebody please wake Him up?" Sensing the disciples were having a problem, Jesus sat up, stood to His feet, leaned into the wind and waves, and said, "SSSSSSSHHH!" "Quiet! Be still!" (Mark 4:39).

And guess what happened? No sooner had He gotten the words out of His mouth, in an instant, the wind stopped blowing, the waves flattened out, and there was perfect calm. And all the disciples said together, "Whoa!" Suddenly they could see all the other boats again, with their passengers looking just as flabbergasted as the 12 monkeys in Jesus' boat. "Only God could control the abyss; only God could command the wind." There was a power at work they had never known before.

In the meantime, the storm had done its work. The boat was sufficiently off course, and the disciples were sufficiently lost. Storms have a way of blowing you into the most unusual places. As the sun began to peek over the horizon, and the hull of their boat ground into the sand, nothing looked familiar. Nothing looked kosher.

"Uh-oh." There was only one shoreline close and it was unfamiliar territory--the region of the Gerasenes. And if landing in Gentile country wasn't bad enough, by the looks of the holes hewn into the limestone cliffs, they had docked their skiff right in the middle of a graveyard. Thomas began having dry heaves again, and Peter stepped back into the boat.

The disciples' reaction to their unfortunate navigating makes Woody Allen look like the Rock of Gibraltar. Wringing their hands, they were undoubtedly thinking, "Gentiles, graveyards, corpses. It's enough to make Moses roll over in his grave. They're never going to let us back in the synagogue. With our luck, there are bound to be pigs too. Just put me out of my misery." The Kingdom coming business can be tough work.

Suddenly their silent fretting is interrupted by a piercing scream. It was a violent, heavy scream. The very sound of it ran chills up and down their spines, and they could feel their hair stand on end. There it is again. It sounds like an angry animal, like a wounded animal, like a dangerous animal. Every head was snapping around to locate the scream. And then they saw him--an enormous man charging out from the black tombs at the edge of the cliff. It was hard to tell for the dried mud clinging to his body, but he appeared to have no clothes. His hair was a long, matted, tangle of filth, and a white froth was running down his beard.

There were fleshy scars over most of his body, and some of them weren't scars--some were wounds. His wrists and ankles were stained a ghostly white, where there appeared to have been chains, but no longer.

He was a man such as they had never seen before, if he was a man. He looked more like a monster--a monster from their worst nightmare. He was howling as if he were giving a warning, or as if he were in pain. He was ranting and raving, flailing his arms in the air. The disciples had seen enough, all 12 sitting in utter disbelief.

But Jesus steps out of the boat and onto the beach. The man continues down the side of the cliff, until he sees Jesus. And in the presence of Jesus, he abruptly stops at the edge of the sand and stares at Him. It's as if he's seen Him before. Then, to the disciples' astonishment, the man falls to his knees, writhes on his stomach, and like a rabid animal he kicks the sand in a frenzy and cries out pitiful wails--at Jesus' feet.

An ominous and foreboding sense of evil swept over the disciples. It was as if Satan himself had greeted them from the caves. They had heard of the demon-possessed before. In fact, they had even seen a few on the outskirts of the city, but none like this. None were like this. None were this horrible. None were this tormented. And they felt their fear melting into pity.

It was then that the man spoke. With a deep, raspy voice he said, "What do you want from me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won't torture me!" (5:7). Even the demons know Jesus and are in awe of Him.

It was then that Jesus spoke. With the same voice of authority that had spun a howling storm into a gentle whisper, Jesus speaks, "Come out of this man, you evil spirit!" (v. 8).

It is now early afternoon. What the disciples have witnessed in the past several hours has been nothing less than a transformation. They have seen a madman return to sanity. They have seen an unclean man become pure. And there he sits. Clean. Bathed. Clothed. Peaceful. Talking. Laughing. Human! Jesus has made him human again. And the disciples have learned a lesson: the Lord of the storm is also Lord of the soul. The Lord of nature is also Lord of a human life. When no one had been strong enough to subdue this man, Jesus had transformed him.

The one thing that was still a concern, though, was the herd of pigs. Don't misunderstand, the disciples had no special fondness for pigs. In fact, as far as they were concerned, the more swine off the face of the earth the better. But just a few hours ago they had seen 2,000 pigs, no, 2,000 denarii sink into the "primeval abyss." And by the looks of the herdsman running toward town, it wasn't something they were all that thrilled about.

The Kingdom coming business not only is tough work but also can be expensive. Judas started recounting the money. They didn't have to wait long. Because coming over the crest of the hill was a crowd that didn't look like they were there to offer congratulations. There were the herdsman, pointing fingers, making animated gestures, and muttering something about Jesus, demon possession, and those pigs.

But if the citizens of the region were angry, they were also a little apprehensive. Because there sat the man they had tried to restrain for the past several miserable years. Not only did he look subdued, but he appeared to be in his right mind. And then there was Jesus. "What sort of man could exercise that kind of authority? Who is He? What is He?"

But as it always does, economics got the better of theology. "It really doesn't matter who Jesus is. What right does He have to come in here and destroy our property? Who does He think He is coming into our territory, trying to change everything, and stirring things up? All for a crazy man. So what if he was a little out of control. At least he was predictable. Why, if this kind of thing is allowed to go on, we're all liable to go broke."

The citizens of Gerasene are more agitated by the loss of their property than joyful over the transformation of a man's life. All they can see are dead pigs. All they can see are investments lost. All they can see is money down the drain. What they can't see is the living miracle right before their eyes.

Isn't that just like us sometimes? More concerned about our stuff than a human soul? And isn't it just like Jesus to help us see the difference?

The truth of the matter is the citizens are really no different from the man in the tombs. They are possessed by their own demon--a demon they couldn't recognize within themselves.

They had known the evil of this man and had even spent considerable time and expense trying to control him. But in their management of the demonic in others, they had allowed themselves to be blinded to the demons within themselves. By focusing on the shortcomings of a more obvious corruption, they managed to distance themselves from their own self-centered sinfulness.

But now the power of God had been manifested in their midst and dislodged them from a comfortable world, and it scared them to death. You see, even when it is for a better world, power that can be neither calculated nor managed is disturbing. And we, like them, find ourselves asking the hard question, "If God continues to do this, what's He liable to do next?"

There is a price to be paid for bringing people to sanity. There is a price to be paid for bringing us to sanity. Ultimately it will cost us the total consecration of our lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

The Gerasenes had a lot to lose. And finally they found the price to be too great. They were not praising God that a man was restored to wholeness. They were counting the costs--and it was too expensive. They asked Jesus to leave.

Let me ask you something. How many lives went unchanged? How many sick went unhealed? How many captives remained in bondage because a herd of pigs was considered more valuable than a human life?

God's kingdom has its enemies, and sometimes those enemies are not "them"--sometimes they are "us." Sometimes the Kingdom coming business is hard; sometimes it costs us everything.

Many have witnessed the miracle, but only one understands. "Please, let me go with You. Please, take me with You."

"No," Jesus said. "I want you to go home."

The disciples overhear the conversation: "NO? What do You mean, no? This Kingdom coming business is hard enough as it is. We need all the help we can get. He would be a great illustration of Your power. We could put him in a booth and charge people to come see him. We could use him to get people into the Kingdom. The Kingdom is never going to come if You keep turning down opportunities!"

And yet Jesus' answer was still, "Go home to your family and tell them" (v. 19). "Go back to your friends, go back to your neighborhood, and tell them." The call to follow Jesus is always the call to live among our relationships.

What would God's kingdom look like if it came? In our community? in our church? in our homes? in our marriages? in our lives? I don't have all the details, but I'll tell you what I do know. When the Kingdom comes, storms are quieted. When the Kingdom comes, the unclean are made pure. When the Kingdom comes, captives are set free, the dead are raised to new life, and demoniacs become missionaries.

Oh, by the way. There's a rumor going around. Have you heard it? I've heard the Kingdom has come!