Everybody likes to be in control, but are we ever really?
Mark 5:1-20 So they came to the other side of the lake, to the region of the Gerasenes. Just as Jesus was getting out of the boat, a man with an unclean spirit came from the tombs and met him. He lived among the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. For his hands and feet had often been bound with chains and shackles, but he had torn the chains apart and broken the shackles in pieces. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Each night and every day among the tombs and in the mountains, he would cry out and cut himself with stones.
When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed down before him. Then he cried out with a loud voice, "Leave me alone, Jesus, Son of the Most High God! I implore you by God - do not torment me!" For Jesus had said to him, "Come out of that man, you unclean spirit!" Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" And he said, "My name is Legion, for we are many." He begged Jesus repeatedly not to send them out of the region. There on the hillside, a great herd of pigs was feeding. And the demonic spirits begged him, "Send us into the pigs. Let us enter them." Jesus gave them permission. So the unclean spirits came out and went into the pigs. Then the herd rushed down the steep slope into the lake, and about two thousand were drowned in the lake.
Now the herdsmen ran off and spread the news in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man sitting there, clothed and in his right mind - the one who had the "Legion" - and they were afraid. Those who had seen what had happened to the demon-possessed man reported it, and they also told about the pigs. Then they asked Jesus to leave their region. As he was getting into the boat the man who had been demon-possessed asked if he could go with him. But Jesus did not permit him to do so. Instead, he said to him, "Go to your home and to your people and tell them what the Lord has done for you, that he had mercy on you." So he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis what Jesus had done for him, and all were amazed.
Who is in control?
The victim wasn't in control, this poor fellow was a wreck, injuring himself, running around and screaming, he probably didn't even get to sleep.
The shepherds were not in control, they probably felt uneasy everyday while they were out there with the pigs, wondering what this guy was going to do next and if they were going to get hurt.
Satan wasn't in control, how do you think he felt when he saw his demons bow down at Jesus feet and they called him the Son of God.
The disciples were not in control, they were probably still sitting in the boat, they may have been jumping overboard and trying to swim away. This is one crazy scene, of all the things that happened while the disciples were following Jesus, this is probably one of the events that they talked about the most.
Jesus wasn't surprised when the crazy demon filled man came running to him and he isn't caught off guard about any of the circumstances of our lives either.
Life is full of surprises for us but you are never shocked by what happens to us or what we do to ourselves. Help me to remember that you are in control no matter what is going on.
