Revealed as Liberator
For Meditation (Corey Widmer)
In this story, Jesus crosses every imaginable boundary—geographical, social, religious, and spiritual—to encounter a man whose life has been utterly unraveled by evil. Living among the tombs, cut off from community, stripped of dignity and peace, this man is a haunting picture of what happens when the forces opposed to God’s good purposes are allowed to run their course.
The Bible is clear-eyed about evil. It does not reduce human brokenness to simple moral failure, nor does it treat evil as an abstract idea. Evil is personal, destructive, and intent on undoing what God has lovingly made. Its goal is always the same: to fracture shalom—the deep, integrated wholeness God intends for creation and for every human life.
Yet this story is not ultimately about the power of evil. It is about the greater power of Jesus. With calm authority and astonishing compassion, Jesus liberates this man and restores what had been lost—his dignity, his sanity, his relationships, his future. What was disintegrated is woven back together. What was enslaved is set free.
We are invited to come not as spectators to this story, but as participants. All of us carry places of unraveling within us—wounds, fears, habits, or forces that diminish life rather than give it. And all of us are invited to encounter Jesus, the Liberator, who still seeks out the lost, restores the broken, and sends the healed back into the world as witnesses to God’s restoring love.
As we prepare for worship, come trusting that the One who calmed storms and cast out legions is present to meet us, to free us, and to begin again the work of making us whole.
Where do you see the destructive power of evil at work in this story—and where do you see echoes of that same unraveling in our world today? How does this passage help you name evil honestly, without fear or denial?
The man in this story has lost his dignity, community, and sense of self. In what ways does evil still work to strip people of these same gifts today?
Jesus crosses every boundary to reach this man. What does this reveal about the heart of God, and what challenges or comforts you about Jesus’ willingness to go to the “graveyards” of human life?
After being healed, the man is sent back to his community to tell what God has done for him. How does this reshape your understanding of healing, discipleship, and mission?
Where in your own life do you long for greater freedom and wholeness? What would it look like to bring that place honestly before Jesus as an act of worship?
Mark 5:1-20
They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.
When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!” For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!”
Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”
“My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.
A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. The demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.” He gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.
Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man—and told about the pigs as well. Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.
As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.