The Man Nobody Could Fix
The Man Nobody Could Fix
He broke every chain they put on him.
Literally. The townspeople had tried everything … rope, iron, even sheer manpower. But nothing worked, so they eventually gave up. Instead of trying to contain him they just kept their distance. Now this man lived in a cemetery, screaming through the night, cutting himself on rocks. Nobody would come near to him.
Imagine it. As you go about your daily tasks you hear the screams echoing through the town. You rearrange your routes to avoid him. You keep your distance because you aren’t quite sure what he is capable of.
Now, most of us aren't living in a cemetery, but we are carrying something that hasn't responded to the usual fixes. Anger that keeps blowing up relationships no matter how many times we promise it won't. A habit that outlasted every this time is different. Shame from something years ago that still has a voice in your head. Fear that's been running the show longer than you'd like to admit.
We've tried, really tried. But the trying hasn't been enough.
That's the man in Mark 5. But then Jesus gets off a boat and walks straight toward him. He walks toward the one person everyone else had written off. And with a word sets him free.
A while later, the townspeople show up and they see something shocking, the man is sitting calmly, in his right mind, and fully clothed. This can’t be the same man, right?!
For years the town had written this guy off as hopeless. But after one encounter with Jesus he was forever changed.
The demons knew exactly who they were dealing with. They called him "Son of the Most High God." They begged, they negotiated, and they lost. They were no match for the authority Jesus carried into that cemetery.
And the same authority is for you today too. Whatever has hold of you isn't stronger than Jesus.
I know some of you reading this are on the edges. You come to church when it works out, you're not sure how deep you want to go with all of this, and stories about demons feel like they belong in a different category than your actual life.
But notice where this miracle happened. This doesn’t happen around a religious crowd, but in Gentile territory—among those who weren’t religious. Jesus got in a boat and crossed a lake specifically to reach one man who was a complete outsider.
That wasn’t an accident. It was the whole point.
After the man is healed, he begs Jesus to let him come along. He’s thinking clearly for the first time in years, and he doesn't want to lose it. Jesus says no. Go home and tell your people what happened. Go back to the people who remember who you were. Go back to the relationships and the people you knew and live differently. That's where the story matters most.
The man does it. He travels through ten cities with nothing but his own story. No training, no platform, no cleaned-up past. Just: Here's what Jesus did for me. And Mark tells us people were amazed.
That's a remarkable outcome for someone with the worst possible starting point.
Most of us are managing something. We've gotten pretty good at containing it, keeping it away from certain relationships, not letting it show too much at work. The people of the town tried that with the demoniac for years. It didn't fix anything; it just kept everyone at a safe distance from the problem.
The man in the cemetery didn't get cleaned up before he encountered Jesus. He encountered Jesus and then got cleaned up. That sequence is everything.
You don't have to resolve your doubts first. You don't need a perfect track record or a clear plan for how all of this works. The invitation is to take a step toward Jesus with whatever you're actually carrying right now—the questions, the habits, the parts of your life you haven't let anyone near—and see what he does with it.
That's how it started for the man in the cemetery. One step toward Jesus. And nothing was ever the same. And the same invitation is available to you today.
If this encouraged you, check out more articles from our Flatirons Spiritual Formation Team for practical tools, encouragement, and ways to grow in your faith and leadership. Click here.