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.
Mark 5:3-5
Someone once said that the greatest lies in the world can be found on resumes. Based on the ones I’ve seen; it certainly sounds true.
Take a look at LinkedIn[1], Indeed[2], or any of the more than 50 resume search engines available. They each have over 200 million candidates, who are nothing but the smartest, hardest working, most successful people on the planet. They’re the most qualified people in the world. And, according to their resumes, you’d be insane not to immediately hire them.
The thing about resumes, they only talk about the past. Past employers, past jobs, past accomplishments. And, as we all know, the past is not necessarily a great predictor of the future.
And you know what? None of the people behind all those resumes have ever made a mistake. None of them have ever failed at anything they’ve ever done. How do I know this? Easy, just read the resumes and there’s not one word about any mistakes or failures. It’s like what my dad said.
“I’ve never made a mistake. Once I thought I made a mistake, but I was mistaken.”
Everything, and I mean everything in a resume that’s almost true is written in glowing terms. There’re only five-star recommendations. Only great accomplishments. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. And not even a hint of weakness, failure, or inability to succeed beyond your wildest dreams.
Here we have the resume about this guy. We have his address; he lived in a neighborhood called the tombs. And then we move into his accomplishments.
· No one could bind him – he was unstoppable.
· Chained hand and foot – they tried their best.
· Tore the chains apart – overcame obstacles.
· Broke the irons on his feet – overcame more obstacles.
· No one could subdue him – couldn’t even slow him down.
· Crying out night and day – loud shrieking all the time.
· Cut himself with stones – mangled, scar covered body.
Wow. That’s some resume.
They tried everything they could to control him. They got the best rope. They got the finest chains. They hired the strongest, most skilled people they could find. One day a committee from the neighboring town came together and tackled him. They put his hands together so he couldn’t hit them. They put his feet together so he couldn’t chase or kick them. They must have thought, “Finally, our neighborhood is safe again.”
But it wasn’t safe. They weren’t safe. They hadn’t done enough. No matter what they did, it didn’t work. He’s rubbed the rope or chains on the nearby rocks to wear them down. Day after day, hour after hour, he rubbed and rubbed until finally breaking them.
While this was going on, he was constantly screaming. The internal torture from the impure spirit tortured him with agony. He also was covered with self-inflicted wounds, cutting himself everywhere he went.
What do we do when someone comes into our life that’s just a little odd? Well, we try to distance ourselves from them. We might pretend not to see or hear them. We might look at our phone and say that we have a call or text that needs our attention. We might move to the other side of the room. Or we might even just leave.
While this guy is really in deep trouble, needing lots of help, so are we. We might not be experiencing demonic attacks. No one has tried to have us committed and put into a straitjacket. We’re probably not cutting ourselves to the point of having lots of visible scars.
But we are just as lost. We can’t control ourselves. Other people can’t control us either. We act out our internal torment when we hurt others and ourselves. Under our breath we cry out from pain and loneliness.
It was just this kind of person that Jesus came for. Not the people that have their spiritual stuff together. But just plain sinners.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8
Our resume might not read like this this poor guy. But we’re just as lost, needing the same thing: forgiveness, healing, and a new start from Jesus.
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