Sun Kwak, “Silencing Our Muzzled Foe”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jA6qP_SqGkk

TEXT: Mark 5:1-20

[1] They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. [2] And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. [3] He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, [4] for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. [5] Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. [6] And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. [7] And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” [8] For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” [9] And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” [10] And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. [11] Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, [12] and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.” [13] So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.

[14] The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. [15] And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. [16] And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. [17] And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. [18] As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. [19] And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” [20] And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.

SERMON: “Silencing Our Muzzled Foe”

I once heard through the narrating of Tim Keller of an interview involving J. R. R. Talkien, the author of The Lord of the Rings. And he shared how, when he would re-read the story, there was always one part of the story that he just couldn’t read without crumbling into tears. And it’s near the end of the second book, when Gollum is about to betray Frodo and Sam into the lair of the monstrous spider Sheelob. And right before he’s about to lead them to her lair, he finds them asleep. And in this moment, Gollum’s other side, his good twin Smeagol resurfaces. And in the way that Tolkien narrates the character of Gollum, when he’s got green in his eyes, he’s completely Gollum and overtaken by evil. And it’s in this moment when he finds them sleeping that something happens. Because Frodo has been so kind to Gollum, though Samhad not. But in this moment, when Gollum is about to lead these two into the lair and to their death, Smeagol seems to reappear to stop Gollum from following through on his evil desires. And there, he’s caressing Frodo’s knee and about to change. But right when he’s about to change, Sam wakes up. And he starts accusing him of villainous activity and starts to put names on his evil identity. And initially, he’s referring to his actions as being nice to his master, as Frodo. But Samjust won’t stop. He keeps going and hurling insults. And as Frodo wakes up, the look on his face says that he’s actually believing Sam’s narrative. And so, what was initially a moment of hope passes by. And eventually, the green light returns to the eyes of Gollum. And as Tolkien narrates, the fleeting moment passed, without recall. And it’s a sad story but one that’s not just fantastical but a representation of things that happen much more often that we’d like them to.

And to put this into a real life scenario, I remember hearing a story of a woman who grew up in the church. And she had her own Gollum versus Smeagol warring within her. In her teens, she found her sexual desires to be disoriented. And so, she came out and told her parents and told the leaders in the church — almost to test them, to see what they would say and how they might react. And the pastor of the church she was attending told her — Leave this church and do not return. And she never did — not to that church or to any other church. It’s as just read — the fleeting moment passed, without recall. It’s a sad story, because through the interview, you could hear this warring within her, where she’s desiring to resolve this inner conflict. But the voices from outside confirmed one side of what’s happening within. And I don’t know if you caught this in the dialogue Jesus has with this demon-possessed man. But the voice goes back and forth from him speaking to them speaking, with the them represented by legion, the demons inside him and the himrepresented by the man himself. And it shows this scary picture here, with this interchangeable manifesting of when evil controls him and of when his humanness emerges out. And I want to be delicate with how this is addressed, because there is real evil out there that needs to be called out. And yet, there’s something so Satanic about the way narratives are formed about people and their sins. And what I want to convince you of today is that there is a word so powerful that it can redefine your narratives of sin and shame. Where if you’re under the cover of Jesus, there is no sin that can overpower the grace of God that is active in your life.

And that’s where we want to lean into this morning. This interplay of God’s grace and acceptance that runs in tandemwith his power and authority. Last week, we concluded our look into our previous passage, with Jesus shushing the windstorm when on the boat with his disciples. We mentioned the greatness and the lordship of Jesus over these storms last week — with the mega calm that confronts the mega storm that brings about this mega fear. That as the author of lifeand creator of the world, his Word carries power. His Word doesn’t call upon another’s authority — the Word itself carries that authority and power. And something that the rabbis taught during these times was that the storms of the seas were caused by demons. And with Jesus’ engagement with this demon-possessed man in chapter 5, you could see the connection. And you could see this incredible power and destruction through these demons who are forcing the movements of this man. And in a way, it’s meant to create the sentiment of an equally aggressive manifestation of the demon-possessed man with the aggression and dangers of the storms on the sea. And in both of these scenarios, what Jesus is showcasing is his authority and the power of his Word. And in both of these cases, what we’re shown is that Jesus has consummate authority over the demonic forces of this world and over all the turbulent and chaotic powers that seem uncontrollable and volatile.

We noted verse 39 of chapter 4 last week of how Jesus tells the storm — Peace! Be still! And with our kids with us, we noted that this was him saying — Shh! But Tim Keller, who I’ve already referenced, so I’m out of lifelines now. He says that this is better translated — Shut up! And stay shut up! His words, not mine. Because when you get into the actual Greek, the second command is a word used not as a forbidden expression for children. But in Greek literature contemporary to Jesus’ time, it was often used to refer to the taming of domesticated animals. It could be literally rendered as — Be muzzled. And in the same way, we read over in chapter 5 and in verse 4 of our passage today of a man who is uncontrollable, like these waves and the winds on the sea. And it’s said that no one was able to subdue him. And that word to subdue takes us all the way back to the Garden in the creation story, where that word — to subdue — was given to Adam regarding his relationship to the rest of creation, as the ruler and vice regent who was to exercise dominion over the creation. And since Genesis 3 and the Fall and the effects of sin that have ravaged the world, there have been uncontrollable aspects of the creation that we deem as more powerful than us, and thus, a danger to us. And here, when we run across these words — to be muzzled and subdued. Here, we have Jesus who comes in consummate authority as the Second Adam. And in his muzzling the sea and the storms, he treats the tumultuous waves as if they were domesticated puppies. And then, as the Second Adam, he comes ultimately to subdue the serpent, as the head crusher. And under the supposed watch of the First Adam, in the creation story, the serpent had entered a sacred placethat Adam was supposed to guard and protect. And upon entering, he wasn’t subdued. And here in this passage, these demons have done likewise, in entering some place sacred. In this case, it’s not a Garden but an image bearer. And what does Jesus do? With in consummate authority, he subdues him. And so, here we have the entrance of the Second Adamwho is doing what the First Adam couldn’t as the ultimate Gardener and protector.

And I wonder if some of us feel this way this morning. Maybe it’s just one of those seasons, where the accusations won’t stop. Maybe it’s a sin struggle that Satan really wants you to keep recalling, to tell you things like — You don’t deserve love and grace. You’re a sinner, you’re an outsider, you’re a phony, you don’t belong in God’s sacred spaces. And if those are metaphorically or even literally the things you’re hearing, it’s because we live in a world where evil isn’t subdued by anything we can present it. There’s only one voice that has the power to still these accusations. But if we can learn the language, we have the power to subdue these false accusations. Because something that C. S. Lewisarticulates regarding the person of Jesus is that he’s the Great Playwright. And what Lewis says of the best stories, as a storyteller himself is that the greatest stories always involve the greatest heroism, which entails the greatest danger. And unique to him, what Jesus does is write himself into the story he wrote — as the Word who became flesh, as the Second Adam, as the Lord who entered the boat, as the Jew who went to the other side. And it’s as he views the tyranny of sin and death and wickedness and evil that he inserts himself into the plot. And here, we get not only the author who authoritatively writes over evil. But here, we get the protagonist who comes into the perils of great danger, in order to confront these false narratives and to silence them, to muzzle them, to subdue them.

And we’re going to come back to this passage for a second week next week. But a couple observations from a step back. We noted last week, that when you look at Jesus calming the winds, the word great appears three times. And this is not like awesome or amazing, but it’s referring to size and magnitude. It’s about this mega. That there were storms that were already overwhelming. But this was mega — meaning out of the ordinary and uncontrollable. And here in chapter 5, when he delivers this man from the demons that have been ravaging him from within, what do they call themselves? They call themselves legion. And this is a word that describes the forces of no less than two thousand soldiers — some commentators even say six thousand. And in the story, what’s manifested is not just two thousand demons, but they also enter into two thousand pigs. And we get terrified when one animal acts out of accord. But here, you have two thousand pigs that are going crazy. And you read over in verse 17 that the people in the town beg Jesus to depart from their region. Not just because he’s befriended this manic beast of a man. Not just because he’s calmed him down. But because two thousand pigs into the sea was not just a crazy scene and demonstration. This was about draining a region of its economic resources. And the visual that we’re getting is warfare. Legion, with the number depicting two thousand soldiers, depicts a battle. But with the depleting of economic resources, it would have evoked remembrances of what the Old Testament people knew as herem warfare. And this was when God would commission his people to not only defeat their enemies but to burn all cultural artifacts and idols. And these were often to delete the emblems and presence of atrocious forms of false worship involving things like child sacrifice and sexual exploitations and extreme indulging. And here, what this was to represent was not only the power of God over those who oppose him. But the power of God that is greater than even the influences of those who oppose him. It was a complete eradication.

Because the powers that Jesus is facing here are described to be monumental and powerful and numerous. And we’ve said from the very outset of our series here in The Gospel of Mark that this is about the kingdom of God and how Jesuscomes to inaugurate his upside down kingdom of gospel counterculture. For here is Jesus who goes into enemy territoryand cleanses it out, as if to say what Abraham Kuyper exclaims in his ideology of the Christianization of all things — that there is not a square inch of this universe that Jesus does not exclaim, “Mine!” That includes the worship of his people and the works done in his name. But that also includes things that oppose him and things we deem to be outside the realm of the church. And what it seems here, once again, is that Jesus is stepping onto the battlefield and ready to fight what’s been ravaging his people. For where else have we seen the powers of God plunging enemies into the depths of the sea? Where the kingdom of God waged war against the captors of his people? And as the author enters the plot, as the Playwright writes himself into the story, he comes to enact something that was familiar but distinct to him — to show his people that he was there and had never left. For just as we read of God plunging the captors of the Israelites in the Egyptians and their chariots into the depths of the Red Sea, here he does so with legion and the demonic powers that can overwhelm us in spiritual warfare. And not just to plunge but to keep them down. That in order to hold these down, Jesus would not only have to send them down into the sea but commit to going down himself, in order to hold them downand keep them down. To be able to say — Shut up, and stay shut up. Because sin and the real presence of evil are ominous. But we know the true authority, the author of life. And while, his Word is against these, his Word is for us.

Because here’s how we’ll begin closing our time. There’s a certain word that’s used of the demon-possessed man in verses 3-4. As someone who couldn’t be subdued, it’s that no one could bind him, that he was often bound with shackles and chains. And because of the incomparable power, there was nothing that could keep him bound. And something we read over in Matthew 16:19, after Peter has just confessed Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of the living God, we have Jesus, the author of this great Story, tell him — I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. And so, put these two things side by side. There’s the ferocity and the strength of this demon possessed man. And because of what’s terrorizing him, nothing could bind him, hold him down. That’s a visual of what an identity under sin looks like when we let false narratives control our beliefs and trust. When we hear things like — Get out and stay out and never return. When we start to believe that our sins and our identity are one and the same. When we aren’t able to distinguish the fact that those God loves belong to him, because we are made in his image and remade in the image of Christ, by his blood and redemption.

Because when we hear the words of Matthew 16:19, words from Jesus to Peter about proclaiming the gospel — I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. That there is this power, this authority that transcends heaven and earth. And this proclamation, it’s this Word spoken. And it has the power to bind otherwise unable to be bound powers. And it might be the case for some of us, that there are some powerful narratives that have gripped your heart. And these false narratives constantly speak into your heart. These might relate to your wounds, your hurts, your past. And they certainly relate to our sin. And it’s precisely for people like you and like me that Jesus entered the plot. In order to liberate us from what we can’t free ourselves from. Because some of these false identities and false narratives are overwhelming. Know that Jesus has come decisively to do battle with your sin so that we can, by the power his Word, have victory over our sin.

Because the powerful thing about a story is that it’s something we hear and listen to. It’s something that’s already written, something already done, something we just have to tell and to hear. We don’t need to wrestle out the outcome of the story, because it’s already been written. And what we’re told through this story and throughout the Bible is that there is power in the words we tell to share about this story. Because we’re not just saying that Jesus is more powerful. But as the one who writes in stone and has entered the plot to engrave our names onto the palms of his hands — that’s Isaiah 49:16. And as those whose names are in the Lamb’s Book of Life, we not only have stories, we have receipts. We have proof that we don’t owe our former captors our allegiance any longer. Because our God, our Playwright, our Savior was nailed to the cross, and along with him were our sins. And as Colossians 2:12 tells us, we bear them no more. These no longer have the powers to overwhelm and suppress us, because they stormed on Jesus when on the cross so that we might be free from the shackles of sin and death. To drown the power of our captors and to hold them down, as he was held on the cross for us. And so, by the power of the gospel and in the authority of Christ, we can authoritatively speak over these muzzled foes with absolute certainty to shut up and stay shut up. Because Jesus wins. And when you’re on team Jesus, all you have to do is tell his story. So, let’s tell it, let’s sing it, let’s trust it. And let the Story of the Gospelredeem and repair your broken narratives and silence the false narratives.