The Pulpit Commentary — Mark — Volume 1 — Section 226

ma.y come. How is that promise fulfilled in him, " Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool I " (Isa, i. 18,)-M, Ven.. 2-6.-The demoniac of Gadara.. This is the most detailed and important account given in the Gospels of demoniacal possession. Some are content to identify this phenomenon with lunacy or epilepsy, and suppose that our Lord used current phraseology upon the subject, althou!!:h it expressed a popular delusion. We are slow to accept an explanation which would seem to credit him, who was always true and himself "the Truth," with thus sanctioning error; especially as he used the 'same language when he was alone with his disciples, to whom he Eaid it was "given to know the mysteries of the kingdom" (eh. ix. 28, 29). On the other hand," possession" was not identical with moral degradation. The idea that Mary Magdalene was one of peculiarly evil life, because "out of her the Lord cast seven demons," is untenable ; and there is little doubt that Caiaphas, who was shrewd, callous, and self-controlled to the last, was morally worse than such snfferers. Yet a weak yielding to animal passions wo.s possibly the primary cause of possession by evil spirits, in whose existence we cannot but believe. Good was incarnate in those days, and evil also appeared as in a special sense inca.rna.te. Buckle shows that there have been ebb and flow in the currents of national history; and so there have been in moral history, and in the days of our Lord spiritual forces were at the flood. The more we study the works and the Word of God, the more we a.re convinced that the inexplicable is not to reverently thoughtful men incredible or absurd. We enter on the study of this scene not with the hope of elucidating all mystery, but with the prayer that we may gain from it some spiritual help. Depicted as it is in strong, dark colours, it may euable us to understand the nature of Christ's work in the soul. \Ve see here- I. A MAN m.'DEB BONDAGE TO Evn.. The expression an" unclean" spirit, and,the strange willingness to enter "the swine," denote the nature of the man. By the indulgence of appetite habit had conquered will, and he had no mastery over himself. That is the essence of "possession." Modern forms of it are not difficult to find. Describe the drunkard in his downward progress. At last, although he knows that ruin is before him, if temptation is in his way, his resolutions go to the winds. He is fasci- nated, or" possessed." So with the gambler and others. 'l'he condition of the demoniac resembled theirs. Domestic comfort was gone ; the respect of others was lost; life was laid waste. He could see fingers pointing at him, eyes glaring on him, bell yawning for him, and his foes seemed coming on him resistlessly as the advance of the dreaded Roman "le~ion." Notice also the deranging effects of evil. He was" dwelling in the tombs"-a dreary, fearsome place, in harmony with his melancholy state. "All they that hate me, love death." The prodigal must" come to himself" before be returns to the Father. As this demoniac cut himself with stones, caring nothing for pain, so some destroy their moral sensibility; as he was a cause of misery or of terror, so is it with them; as he dreaded the near approach of a Judge he could not deceive, of a King be could not escape, so do they. Beware of tampering with sin. II. A MAN CASTING OFF HUMAN BEBTBAINTII. He was not without those who loved him. They had done their best to restrain or cure him. As they saw the growth of the evil, his parents would try to make the home attractive, inviting companions who would divert his thought; sisters would give up their innocent pleasure to fall in with hi£ wishes• and when the outburst came, he was "bound with fetters and chains," lest he sb~uld harm himself or others. All in vain, Human restraint will never conquer moral evil It represses it _or alt~rs its form, bu~ does. not root it ?ut: The Jisorder and restlessness now seen m eociety portend serioUB issues, and indicate a breaking down of much in our boasted civiliz~tion. . E_duca.tion only chang~s B_ill Sykes the buralar, into Carker, the smol)th, lying villain. We may restra.m dis- honesty drunk:nness, swearing, etc., so tha.t they are no longer in respectable homes ; but tho~gh we shut our eyes to the fact, the demoniac has only slipped his chains, and is there in "the tombs" and dens <,f our land, Pa.rental restraint does much, but a time comes when independence and self-assertion make themselves felt, and the father or mother can only pray. Speak to those who still remember the old home in which they were so different from what they are now. OH, V, 1-43,] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK. 223