Bondage and Freedom

Scripture Passage

Mark 5:1-20

Sermon Audio

Scripture Passage

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.

Sermon Text

Bondage and Freedom

Yesterday was the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Korea from Japanese occupation with the end of the World War Two.  It is so strange that one country should invade another country to conquer it. Why do they do that? Why does one person conquer another person?

Unfortunately, that is our human history and it is very sad that this is our human history. It is sad that we see this as our reality and many of us simply accept that as our reality without trying to fight against it and build an alternate reality. It is also very sad to see it still going on now, not necessarily politically and militaristically, but in many other ways such as racism, sexism, classism, and so on. At the micro level, we always see more popular people and more powerful people looking down upon less popular and less powerful people. This will always happen. It is all a game of power. Is that what life is about, a game of power? Reflecting on this, I was thinking about bondage and freedom. I hope that today’s passage illuminates our understanding on that topic.

You know, whenever I read this passage, I feel really sorry and bad for the man of the Gerasenes who was tortured by the unclean spirit. Even though he had a family, he could not have a nice dinner with the family. He was all out there by himself in the mountains and among the tombs. He wandered around howling in pain. He could not stay with his family. Day and night he was wandering around and howling. He must have been so tormented if he went around howling like that. He had to just let it all out through howling. He couldn’t contain it within himself, he was so frustrated. Something truly pressed him so much that he had to howl, but was he totally powerless then? No, I don’t think so. He had the power. No chain could restrain him. He broke chains into pieces and he was so strong that no one had enough strength to restrain him or subdue him. The power he had was not the power that he could control. He had the power but he could not control that power, rather, that power controlled him.

Bondage is a condition where the power that we cannot control controls us. Jesus asked him his name and he said: “Legion, my name is Legion.” Legion was the Roman military unit. One legion consisted of five to 6,000 soldiers, so it is like he had the power of five to 6,000 soldiers within him. That’s a tremendous power but this power completely controlled him and this power drove him crazy. I just read a New York Times article about Islamic State “ISIS” and how ISIS invaded regions of Syria and Iraq and made women as their sex slaves. They’ll go into a village and conquer the village to capture all of them and then divide the civilians by gender. Then they kill all the men and will select a few women and sexually abuse them and sell them as sex slaves. Many of these people escape from that camp and they become a witness and have done interviews with the New York Times.

This also happened when Japan occupied Korea. They made many Korean women as sex slaves for their soldiers. They called them “comfort women.” It is scary to think about what the powerful people can do to the powerless. And yet we love power. We admire power. We pursue power and we continuously work hard to acquire power, but we have to understand very well about the nature and dynamics of power. Otherwise, you will become slaves and victims to that power. Power controls you and you are trapped in bondage. Many people have power, but they are still in bondage so they turn around to make other people in bondage. They enslave other people just as they are enslaved by their own power.

As long as we love power, I don’t think liberation is possible. We can never be liberated from the bondage as long as we love power. Slowly, that power will take life away from us. Whatever power that may be, whether it’d be a religious power, money power, reputation power, political power, or military power, that power will slowly take life away from us. That power can easily cause us to be lured into the temptation of power and to lose dignity, humanity, joy, and the meaning of life. We love power so much that we we throw away life itself without realizing how precious life is. Life should not be trampled by power because life is so precious. We can’t throw away life just to have the power. Who said that it’s a good life? Who said that power is the way to life? So many of us have become blinded by the power. Much of Jesus’ teaching was about not falling into the lure and temptation of power. Jesus said, “Deny yourself. Take up your cross. Be like children. If you want to be the first, be the last. If you want to be the chief, you must be the servant.” All about Jesus’ teaching was warning against the power. Do not fall into the play of power.

Resist Temptation

You’re going to lose your life. When we look at three temptations of Jesus, they were all about power. Satan said, display your power as the son of God and do the  things that you want to do with power. That will be much easier, much more practical and a much more realistic way to achieve what you want to achieve. However, Jesus rejected all of those suggestions Satan made. Jesus knew the dynamics of power so well. Jesus knew that the real freedom can never come from the power. Sadly, this world is operated by power and many people have become victims of the world that they created. They worshiped power. They evaluated each other by how powerful you are. They put a high value on power so it is very difficult for Christians to survive in this world without blindly following what the world does. Slowly, people became slaves to power. If you’re powerful, you’re blinded. If you’re powerless and you feel small and weak, you are controlled by power. All of their thinkings become influenced by the power and they enslave each other. One group enslaves the other. One country enslaves another country. The haves exploit the have-nots. The powerful control the weak.

Jesus healed the man. He no longer had the power because the legion was chased out of him, but he came to his senses. He woke up. This is what verse 15 says:  “They came to Jesus and saw the demoniac sitting there clothed and in his right mind”. The very man who had the legion and everyone was afraid of came to his right mind. I hope that all of us come to our right mind.

But in verse 17, we see a strange reaction of the people. it says: “Then they began to beg Jesus to leave their neighborhood”. They asked Jesus to leave even though he did a wonderful thing healing this man. Why did they do that? Because they lost 2000 pigs. They lost profit. They wanted the power, not healing. We’d rather choose pigs over a right mind. We’d rather choose money over a right mind. We’d rather choose power over life. Even though I’m miserable, I need power and I want power, that’s what people say. The man with the unclean spirits was liberated and experienced freedom, but these people were still in bondage. That’s why Jesus told him not to remain there, those people were still in bondage. You become my witness as a liberated person. I believe that today’s passage is a great challenge to all of us.

Real Freedom

What controls my life? Should I just blindly let anything control my life. Should I let the world control my life? Who said the world knew what was best for me? This is my life and I want to live my life in the most authentic and beautiful way. Who said following the world is the best way to do so? Does your boss have the right to tell you what the best life is for you? What controls my life? What am I pursuing? Healing or power? Do I have real freedom or am I still in bondage? True freedom is being free from the desire for power. Whether you have power or not, when you’re free from that desire for power, then you will have true freedom. Jesus said: “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free”. Jesus wants us to be set free because that is the most beautiful life. Be free from the vanity of power. That is the most beautiful life you can live in the one life we have. I want to live the most beautiful life without being lured into the game and lose all of my precious ears, precious time and precious life. I will not do that so that I can be humble. Being humble means to be awake, to see what the power does to me and not falling into the lure of power. That’s what being humble means. Awake.

Let us not let the power lure us and dominate our thinking, but let us build solidarity with each other to pursue liberation from the bondage.  Let us share the truth with each other, that’s what this spiritual community is all about. We are different. We are pursuing an alternate reality. We are not pursuing the reality that people out there set up for us. We are pursuing the reality Jesus taught us to live and that’s what spiritual community is all about. That’s what this community is all about. From the micro level to the macro level, we treat each other with dignity and with respect, with love and honour. Instead of trying to control each other and telling others what to do, we empower each other to pursue the wonderful freedom Jesus gave us and live a meaningful life. It’s hard to do it by yourself. It is hard to do it by myself. We need each other to build that alternative reality to live a good life.