Monday,12 July 2021
Title: Herd Community to Whole Communities.
Ong Hwee Soo

Mark 5:1-20 (ESV).

In my previous three Devotionals, we have seen Jesus’ encounters with different individual Gentiles. Today’s text is another troubling tale, but similarly has a marvelous tail end.

The passage opens with Jesus and His disciples entering the region of Gerasenes (v1), part of the Decapolis (v20), a predominantly Gentile area, as evidenced by the presence of a “great herd of pigs” (v11), animals considered unclean by the Jews.

As in previous passages, the theme of uncleanness runs through this narrative. The man was possessed by “unclean” spirits (v2) and was living “among the tombs ” (v3), unclean because of the corpses. The text gives the sense that Jesus’ intention of going to this Gentile region was to heal the demoniac as “when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit ” (v2). The man was possessed by not just one spirit but many, under the name of “Legion ” (v9). A Roman legion consisted of six thousand men, but the explanation “for we are many ” (v 9) implies a general rather than specific usage. No matter, Jesus cast out the demons, suffice to send “about two thousand ” (v13) swine into a stampede.

It is perplexing that, Jesus who throughout the episode exhibits full control of the situation would allow the demons to bargain for their fate. (v10). However, the results reveal that He is fully in command as the demons got more than they bargained for. Literally spooked, the entire swine herd “rushed down the steep bank into the sea and were drowned ” (v 13b). The irony is that unclean spirits and unclean animals are decimated and a human being is cleansed.

Jesus permitted the demons’ request (v 13a), as a visual demonstration to the demoniac and to the crowd that all the demons had actually been exorcised from the man. The loss of animal life served a greater good of revealing Jesus’ authority, and provoking faith in the man. The herdsmen broadcast to the city and countryside what Jesus had done (v14). But, instead of being appreciative of Jesus delivering the demoniac, the herd community bemoaned their hurt economy due to loss of porky income, and fearful of further losses, begged Jesus to leave (v 15-17). Apparently, they valued the hogs more than the human.

The man is now described as “sitting there, clothed and in his right mind ” (v15) in contrast to being restless (v5), naked (Luke 8:27) and insane (v 3-4). Such tremendous transformation wrought by the grace and power of Jesus! Come to Christ, if you desire renewal in your life, and experience His transformative power.

Whereas the herd community begged “Jesus to depart from their region ” (v17), the demoniac begged Jesus to go with Him (v18). While it is understandable that the healed man would wish to remain in Jesus’ company, Jesus instead commissioned him as a missionary to his own people: “ Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you.” (v19). The transformed man obeyed immediately: “ he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marvelled.” (v20). The Decapolis was a cluster of ten Greek cities.

Are we intentional in bringing the Good News to the ‘Decapolis’ of diaspora clusters in our region?

PRAYER:
Dear Jesus, we come to You to Live the Life of a delivered past. Grant us, Lord, Your transforming Grace and Power. Amen.

班底浸信教会
每日灵粮
星期一，2021年7月12日
标题：从牧民群体到整个社区
讲员：翁辉赐弟兄
翻译：陈劲年姐妹

【马可福音5:1-20】

在我之前的三篇灵修中，我们看到耶稣与不同的外邦人相遇。今天的篇章是另一个令人不安的故事，但同样有一个奇妙的结局。

这段经文以耶稣和祂的门徒进入 格拉森 (第1节) 地区开始，这是 低加波利 (第20节)区域的一部分，一个主要是外邦人的地区，“一大群猪” (第11节)的存在就证明了这一点，这些动物是被犹太人视为不洁的。

就像之前的段落一样，不洁的主题贯穿了这段叙述。被 “污鬼” 附着的人(第2节)，住在 “坟茔里” (第3节)，因死尸而不洁净。这段经文给人的感觉是 耶稣去这个外邦地区的意图 是为了要治愈这被污鬼附着的人，因为 “耶稣一下船，就有一个被污鬼附著的人从坟茔里出来迎着他” (第2节)。这人不是被一个污鬼附身，而是被称为 “ 群 ”（Legion即军团） 的 很多污鬼所附（第9节）。一个罗马军团是由六千人组成的，但解作 “因为我们多的缘故” （第 9 节）暗示了一般用法而不是特定的具体用法。无论如何，耶稣赶出污鬼，足以让 “大约两千”（第13节）头猪惊跑乱窜。

令人困惑的是，在整个情节中表现出完全控制局势的耶稣，竟然会允许污鬼为自己的命运讨价还价(第10节)。然而，结果显示，祂完全掌握了主动权，因为污鬼得到的比他们所求的更多。整个猪群都吓坏了，它们 “闯下山崖，投在海里，淹死了。” (第13节下)。讽刺的是，不洁的污鬼和不洁的动物都被消灭了，一个人被洁净了。

耶稣准许了污鬼的央求(第13节上)，以此向被污鬼所附的人和群众展示，所有的污鬼都已经从这人身上驱赶了。动物生命的丧失对揭示耶稣的权柄和激起人们对耶稣的信心有更大的好处。牧民将耶稣所作的告诉了城市和乡下的人 (第14节)。但是，牧民群体非但没有感激耶稣驱赶了污鬼，反而抱怨由于失去丰厚的收入而造成的经济损失；担心进一步的损失，他们恳求耶稣离开(第15-17节)。显然，他们更看重猪而不是人。

这个人现在被描述为 “坐着，穿上衣服，心里明白过来” (第15节)，而不是焦躁不安(第5节)、赤身露体(路加福音8:27)和精神错乱(第3-4节)。耶稣的恩典和能力带来了如此巨大的转变！如果您渴望生命的更新，到基督这里来，体验祂转化的能力。

牧民群众央求 “耶稣离开他们的境界” (第17节)，曾被污鬼所附的人恳求与耶稣同在(第18节)。虽然被治愈的人希望留在耶稣身边是可以理解的，但耶稣却委派他向亲属宣教：“ 你回家去，到你的亲属那里 ” 并 告诉他们，主为你作了何等大的事 (第19节)。转变后的人立刻服从了：“他走了，在低加波利 开始宣扬 耶稣为他作了何等大的事，众人就都希奇 ”(第20节)。低加波利是十座希腊城市组成的群集。

我们是否有意识地把好消息带给散居在我们地区的 “低加波利”？

祷告：
亲爱的耶稣，我们到祢这里来，为已被释放的过去 活出生命 。主啊，求赐给我们祢转化的恩典和能力。阿们。