There was once an ancient region on a lake that was made up of about 10 small cities. This region was known as a progressive and pagan place. Today, some people would call it “godless”. If a person was a good and pious person, they knew that they should avoid this place like the plague so that it wouldn’t contaminate them. Their religious tradition, their denomination, left this place a long, long time ago.

Just as this region was considered to be on “the wrong side of the lake” by a lots of religious people, the people living in a particular city in this region east of the Galilee had their own area that they designated as “off limits” – not for religious reasons, but because there were stories about a wild man who lived there. At times the stories about this wild man seemed so bizarre, so extreme, so terrifying that people where convinced that he must just be a local legend, a myth.

But they couldn’t just write these stories off as mere legend. Because when they came near this off limits place they could hear the man’s bloodcurdling shrieks coming from the burial caves, when they were out on the lake in their boats they could see this insane, naked man scurrying around on the cliffs like some sort of beast, and – most tragically – there was a family living in town that remembered all too well the day that their son, their brother, their friend, left home and headed towards this desolate place south of town on the lake.

Over the years, they said, things deteriorated dramatically. At first, they would go to him and bring food and clothes, but each time they returned he would again be starving and naked. Then they started to notice that he was always covered with scabs and sores from self-inflicted wounds. Eventually, he wouldn’t even respond to them when they called out his name. At one point, someone decided to chain him up so that he wouldn’t harm anyone in the city. But eventually he broke through those chains. He broke through dozens of chains. Now, even the cities strongest men had decided to give up on the chains because they could no longer hold down the wild man. Yes, even they were afraid of him!

So they left him alone – everyone left him alone. It had probably been years since the wild man had any company besides the pigs grazing nearby.

Until one day he was interrupted…

As he crawled around on the side of the cliff, he noticed a boat on the lake that seemed to be purposefully coming towards him. Boats never came towards him; they always stayed north, directing their bows towards the town marina. The wild man drew near to the approaching boat. The boat reached shore and a man got out and started to move towards him. No one ever came near him – he was the wild, naked man, imprisoned by evil powers, despised and rejected by men.

But this man came near him. This man’s name was Jesus. The demons that possessed the wild man recognized him immediately and called out, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!”, because Jesus had just commanded the evil spirit to depart from the man.

For too long these evil powers had their way with this man. They had seemingly systematically stripped this man of his humanity.
He lived not among the living, but in burial caves among the dead.
He was cut off from community.
He was cutting himself with stones.
He was cut off from his own humanity.

But Jesus looked at this man – who lived on the wrong side of the tracks on the wrong side of the sea – and still saw something. It was faint. The untrained eye could not see it. But Jesus could. Jesus saw this man’s humanity; Jesus saw the image of God.

Which made Jesus angry and devastated with sadness. This was not how it’s supposed to be. This was not how human beings, the crown of the God’s creation, are supposed to live! And so, Jesus – the King and the one who was announcing the arrival of the kingdom, of God’s rescue plan, of God’s work of restoration – commanded the demons to leave the man and asked the man, “What is your name?”.

But the demons replied with their name, “Legion”. And they began to bargain with Jesus. “Don’t send us out of this area.” “Actually, please, please, send us to those pigs over there!”

In a moment of mayhem, Jesus granted their request, the evil spirits left the man and entered the pigs, and the entire herd of about 2000 pigs stampeded down the steep bank into Lake Galilee where they all drowned. Those who were tending the pigs sprinted to town, told people what happened, and the people came out to get a glimpse of what was going on. There were multiple responses:

“All of that madness was inside of this man! Poor guy!”

“What kind of prophet, what kind of Messiah causes 2000 pigs to drown in a lake? What kind of Messiah destroys these creatures and devastates the local economy?”

“Look at the wild man! He is free!”

What kind of Messiah is this? Indeed.

This is the kind of Messiah who frees the wild man! The kind of Messiah who finds clothes for the wild man, who dresses him and feeds him and treats him with the dignity and respect, the attention and love every human being deserves.

Yes, yes, the pigs are dead and the farmers are suddenly devastated and strapped for cash. But the wild, demon-possessed man is sitting there, “dressed and in his right mind.” He has been restored. His humanity has been reclaimed.

This, the locals said, was some strange and dangerous magic. This man, Jesus, is bizarre and unpredictable. This man must get back into his boat and leave at once!

But before Jesus left, the formerly wild man pleaded with him to join Jesus and his disciples and go back across the lake. Though this Jesus granted the demons’ request to stay in the region and go into the pigs, and though this Jesus has granted the town’s request that he leave, this is one request that he refuses to grant. Instead, Jesus sends the man back to his people, back to his family. Back home. And Jesus said to him, “Tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you!”

What kind of Messiah is this? What kind of Rescuer?

This Jesus is merciful.

Merciful and wild.

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This retelling of Mark 5.1-20 was inspired by (and in some places borrows from) ReJesus by Frost and Hirsch, pp. 108-111).

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