Joel M Bradshaw

2And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. 3He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, 4for 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. 5Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones….

…14The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. 15And 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.–Mark 5 (with emphasis)

I want to highlight this morning the dual nature of what Jesus did for that man. Jesus cast out a legion of demons that were within the man. Those demons affected the man’s mental health as well as his physical well-being. He was in mental and spiritual pain and often cut himself. Maybe he was trying to get the demons out of him?

He wasn’t in a good place socially, mentally, spiritually, or physically.

Mark described him at the end as clothed and in his right mind. The miracle of Jesus did drive out the demons, but also gave an answer to his mental illness. Luke’s account (Luke 8) described the man as naked and living in the tombs. And Jesus left the man clothed and in his right mind.

Biblical change is an inside-out process. My deepest spiritual need is solved by Jesus (salvation) and then my priorities and motivations change. I want to give Him glory with my life and so my behavior starts to resemble the new Joel rather than the former Joel. As He grows new fruit on my branches (Galatians 5) my life looks different and is different. My marriage, parenting, work, and other relationships are affected by these changes and now start giving God glory where they once didn’t. I also now have biblical answers and hope for the depression and anxiety I face.

How has Jesus through His Word brought inside-out change in your life?–JMB