So I just finished reading the story about "Legion"
(Mark 5:1-19
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%205:1-19&version=NLT)
- a story about a man so tormented, that among the many who may have tried, only Jesus was able and willing to deal with the man's demons that had destroyed so much within and around him.
It seems that the people around this man were more concerned with restraining him than restoring him as all their methods consisted of chaining and shackling him down...but still these efforts failed. For in short, the people came to the realization that they could not CONTROL him and this realization brought about fear.
While it doesn't say in the story, I can't help but wonder if the people actually sent him away to live among the tombs OR if maybe the man was so far driven by his shame that he decided to make his home among the dead - in a place where his destructive ways could be solely directed at himself.
But then, here comes Jesus, the God man whose devotion consisted of pure divine determination to rescue this man AND restore him to the person who even he himself no longer had the vision to see.
To draw this into a modern application I first thought about my recent experiences at the nursing home where I feel that I have seen many faces of torment. Some of them are rarely taken out of their room - left alone to voice their cries. And even still with all the wailing that actually reaches our ears I can't help but wonder how many cries remain within the region that lies between their own ears (the mind).
Yet while this passage comforts me when I think of times where the torment and restlessness within me seems too great to bear - I find an example in Jesus of one who is able and willing to come beside and demonstrate the almighty power of God's mercy that comes beside me to destroy a work of hell that has been operating in my life.
I still at the same time go back to the faces that I see and the voices I here that exemplify a torment that I easily conclude that we must occlude it from our reach simply because of our powerlessness to control it. Maybe what is really needed is an enlarged vision to see the person as they were before- as a restful child or as a beloved parent - either way, restoring them to a place where are no longer outside the reach of love. For ultimately this story shows me that LOVE is able to reach beyond that which we are able to control.
