Look at Me Now: Jesus Restores and Sends Us

Mark chapter 5 puts Jesus in a Gentile region, and the first one to meet Him is a man everybody has already given up on. The man lives among the tombs, chained up because nobody can bind him anymore. The tombs become more than a location. They become the place where people send what they cannot fix, cannot manage, and do not want to deal with anymore.

The man’s crying out and cutting himself show that he is not just causing trouble. He is in trouble. Grace crashes the party when the text makes room for the pain underneath the behavior. People may see somebody acting out, being hateful, making mistakes, or falling apart, but Jesus sees a person crying out from a deep, dark place. What looks like a bad person can sometimes be a hurting person.

Jesus refuses to let human limits become the final word over this man’s life. The chains could not hold him, the town could not help him, and the cemetery had become his address. But what people cannot change does not limit what Jesus can do. Jesus does not come to restrain people so they can be easier for everybody else to handle. Jesus comes to restore people, set people free, and give life more abundantly.

The people of the region see the man sitting, clothed, and in his right mind, and yet they become afraid. The man gets restored, but Jesus gets rejected. Their fear may have involved the pigs, the economy, or the fact that Jesus did what none of them could do. The text leaves the exact reason unstated, but the warning remains plain: familiarity with what has not changed can make people stop making room for what Jesus can change. Knowing “Junior” before an encounter with Jesus does not mean anybody knows Junior after Jesus has stepped in.

The man’s deliverance is not the end of his assignment. Jesus tells the restored man not to get in the boat, but to go home and tell his own people how much the Lord has done for him and how He has had mercy on him. Jesus’ “no” is not rejection. It is redirection. Jesus does not merely bring people out. He sends them out.

The man who had been left in a cemetery becomes a missionary throughout the Decapolis. His life says, “Look at me now.” Christ makes a new creature out of the one others wrote off, and then leaves that witness behind in the very places that wanted Him gone.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Do not write people off [01:05:53] The man among the tombs had reached the limits of everybody else’s patience, power, and understanding. Yet human inability never becomes a limit on Christ’s ability. Faith leaves room for God to work in lives that seem settled, stuck, and too far gone. [65:53]
• 2. Trouble may be a cry [01:08:35] The man’s violence and self-harm reveal a person in trouble, not merely a person causing trouble. Grace looks beneath the behavior without pretending the behavior is harmless. Christ calls His people to see pain where others may only see a problem. [68:35]
• 3. Jesus restores, not merely restrains [01:14:22] The town wanted the man controlled, contained, and kept away. Jesus gives him more than containment. Christ brings him from chains to calm, from tombs to testimony, and from a life defined by demons to a life defined by mercy. [74:22]
• 4. Deliverance becomes an assignment [01:25:43] Jesus does not allow the healed man into the boat, but He does send him back home with a word. Christ’s redirection is not a lesser calling. A changed life carries authority in the places where its former brokenness was known best. [85:43]
• 5. A witness must say something [01:32:38] The man’s story is not polished, perfect, or detached from pain, but it is true. God uses what He has brought a person through to speak hope into another person’s darkness. Those who have seen His hand have something worth saying.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [52:11] - Jesus Unfiltered and Grace
• [56:29] - When Jesus Steps Into Hopeless Places
• [58:36] - Sitting Clothed and in His Right Mind
• [61:03] - Look at Me Now
• [65:53] - Do Not Write Me Off
• [68:35] - Not Causing Trouble, In Trouble
• [70:47] - Living in the Cemetery
• [74:22] - Restrained or Restored
• [77:03] - Jesus Confronts Legion
• [82:35] - From Deliverance to Purpose
• [85:43] - Sent Home With a Story
• [88:12] - If You Have Seen Something
• [93:28] - Prayer for Those in Trouble
• [97:05] - Invitation and Prayer

Bible Reading

Mark 5:1-20
“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.” [56:55]

2 Corinthians 5:17
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” [01:14:06]

John 10:10
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” [01:15:20]

Observation questions

1. In Mark 5, what details show the condition of the man before Jesus met him, and what details show his condition afterward?
2. How do the people of the region respond when they see the man sitting, clothed, and in his right mind? What do they ask Jesus to do? [58:36]
3. What does Jesus tell the restored man to do when he asks to get in the boat with Him? Where does the man go afterward? [01:00:05]
4. What actions in the man’s life show that he was not only causing trouble but was also deeply in trouble himself? [01:08:35]

Interpretation questions

1. Why might the people have been afraid of Jesus after witnessing the man’s restoration? What does their response reveal about how people can react when Jesus changes someone they thought would never change? [01:03:26]
2. The town had tried to bind and contain the man, but Jesus restored him. What is the difference between restraining a person’s behavior and seeing them restored by Christ? [01:14:22]
3. Jesus tells the man “no” when he asks to follow Him in the boat, yet sends him home with a mission. How does this show that a closed door can sometimes be redirection rather than rejection? [01:25:36]
4. The man becomes a witness in the same region where he had been known for his brokenness. Why might a changed life be especially powerful among the people who knew a person’s past? [01:26:27]

Application questions

1. Is there someone you have quietly written off as “too far gone,” too difficult, or unlikely to change? What would it look like to leave room for Jesus to work in that person’s life? [01:06:22]
2. When someone’s behavior is hurtful, disruptive, or hard to understand, how can you take the behavior seriously while also asking whether they may be crying out from a place of pain? [01:09:58]
3. Have you ever felt like people left you in a “cemetery”—defined by a mistake, a season of sickness, depression, failure, or a painful label? What truth from Christ helps you refuse to live where others left you? [01:11:26]
4. In what area of your life are you tempted to say, “This is just the way I am”? How does the promise of becoming new in Christ challenge that belief? [01:21:28]
5. Jesus brings life, not merely restraint. Where do you need to seek deeper restoration instead of settling for simply managing the outward problem? [01:15:20]
6. What has God brought you through that could become a word of hope for someone close to you? What is one simple, honest way you could share that story this week? [01:26:43]
7. The restored man was sent home to his own people. Who are the “own people” God may be asking you to love, serve, or speak hope to right now? [01:26:09]