"The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a
land of deep darkness, on them has light shined." Isa 9:2
Mark 5 tells the
story of the madman of the Gerasenes. He
lived in a small village on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee, which was
mainly populated by Greeks and Gentiles.
This man terrorized the town, and
there was nothing his neighbors could do for him but to try and restrain his
insanity. They tied him up with ropes and even put chains on him, but he always
escaped. Banished from the village, he
lived in the cemetery, taunting and
shouting at people when they held funerals or came to visit their dead
relatives. People dreaded the sight of him. He was the ultimate hopeless case.
Have you ever known
people who everyone dreaded seeing?
There are people today who are in such bondage to mental illness or drug
addictions that they have become a danger to everyone around them. There are
also people who seem so wicked or even just so boorish that other people hate
to see them coming. Every family and
every community knows one or two such outcasts from society. It's not that we
wish them ill, we just don't know what to do with them. We think of them as
hopeless cases, beyond help.
This man was such a
case until Jesus passed by. In a matter
of minutes after meeting the Master, The demons in this man departed, and the
man became sane and sober.
Isaiah wrote that
the people who walk in darkness have seen a great light. Darkness describes the world of hopeless
cases. When we walk in darkness we
cannot see the way out. But when light
shines in the darkness, we finally see the way to a hopeful future.
The advent of Christ
is celebrated in the darkest part of the year. The shortening of days reminds
us of the shortening of our vision without God's presence and hope. If we are to understand the meaning of His
coming, we must recognize the darkness in our own lives as well. We must understand that there are some parts
of our lives that are still in darkness. Just like the demoniac of the ancient
story, we are still bound in some places by hopelessness, doubt and
despair. If all the world were a
Disneyesque universe of sunshine and flowers, we wouldn't need a savior.
Because of the dark places in our own
nature we need the Light of the World.
Our lives may seem
hopeless now, but when God's light breaks we can experience a new hope for a
better life.
"God, help me
to see beyond the problems of this moment, and embrace the light that comes
through Christ. Amen."
