by Rich DuBose
Many are intrigued by the idea that dead people aren’t really dead, and that they can come back to haunt the spaces they once lived in.
Hollywood makes hundreds of millions of dollars by shocking our sensibilities with horror and zombie-like movies. I personally hate them, but a “good” horror film fills theater seats. People like being freaked out—sort of. As long as they know it’s not true.
Sophie Collins writes about the zombie phenomena on a website called MovieWeb:
“Despite the undead entertaining and terrifying people through film and television, the idea of the zombie was feared long before modern visual mediums. The myth dates back to Haitian origins from the 17th and 18th Century. African slaves worked on sugar plantations, and the original zombie wasn’t like the gory, brain-obsessed ones that we know and love, but akin to the slaves who were tragically worked to death. The slaves believed that at death, their souls would be released to an afterlife where they would be set free. Not everyone had this pleasure though, as suicide was common amongst the slaves—those who took their own lives would not be set free. Instead, they were sadly sentenced to prowl the Hispaniola plantations for the rest of time, trapped in their undead bodies. Thus, the zombie was created.”
Jesus Meets a Zombie
We don’t know what superstitions swirled around the man who met Jesus on a windswept beach in Decapolis, but we know it was frightening. Matthew says there were two men, but Mark mentions only one.
Jesus and the disciples had just crossed the Sea of Galilee on a “red-eye cruise” that just about sank. If Jesus hadn’t calmed the storm they wouldn’t have made it to the beach. But suddenly they were confronted with another kind of storm—a zombie-like man, practically naked and with broken chains dangling from his wrists and ankles.
“When Jesus climbed out of the boat, a man possessed by an evil spirit came out from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the burial caves and could no longer be restrained, even with a chain. Whenever he was put into chains and shackles—as he often was—he snapped the chains from his wrists and smashed the shackles. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Day and night he wandered among the burial caves and in the hills, howling and cutting himself with sharp stones” (Mark 5:2-5, NLT).
If you were a disciple, you ran for your life, which they all did. The disciples ran back to the boat thinking, this guy is scary. However, If you were Jesus, you stood your ground, because this wasn’t your first “rodeo,” and you remember your confrontations with the devil in the wilderness of temptation. Jesus was the perfect candidate for a “No Fear” T-shirt.
Jesus Knew Him
I believe Jesus landed on the beach that day where the man was because he wanted to set him free. Jesus knew who the man was—who he really was. He saw past his bleeding wounds, his putrid smell and violent behavior. He was like, “Hey dude, we need to get you out of there.” Just like when Jesus sees us, he knows the person inside the zombie-like exterior we project, and Jesus knows we are capable of being kind, intelligent, and forgiving. So he calls us out. If we give him the opportunity, he commits to the process of remaking the unique person we are (without any loss of personality), so that we reflect his character as someone who is merciful, patient, and kind.
Immediately the demons asked Jesus to not make them go away to a far country. They felt at home where they were, just like the devil feels at home with us when we embrace his ideals. When we violate the principles Jesus outlined in Matthew 5, the devil thinks he has our permission to make us do and say whatever he wants.
Jesus asked the demon, “What is your name,” to which he replied, “Legion.” A Roman infantry unit of 3,000-5,000 men were referred to as a Legion. Was this poor man really possessed by thousands of demons? Possibly.
You can read the full account of what happened in Mark 5:6-17. For brevity sake, let’s just say the demons ended up going for a swim (via a nearby herd of pigs).
Verse 13 says, “The evil spirits came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the entire herd of about 2,000 pigs plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned in the water.”
After this happened the people were afraid of Jesus and asked him to leave.
The devil’s goal was to ruin the local economy and turn the inhabitants of that region against Jesus, and it worked for a bit. But months later when Jesus returned to that area he and his disciples were received with open arms. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
The website Bible Hub says, “The presence of the Decapolis in the New Testament narrative highlights the diverse cultural and religious landscape of the region during the time of Jesus. The Decapolis was a place where Jewish, Greek, and Roman influences intersected, providing a unique backdrop for the spread of the Gospel. Jesus' interactions with the people of the Decapolis demonstrate His mission to reach beyond the Jewish population and engage with Gentiles, reflecting the inclusive nature of His message.”
“The Decapolis also serves as a testament to the early spread of Christianity beyond the confines of traditional Jewish territories. The accounts of Jesus' ministry in the Decapolis illustrate the transformative power of His message and the willingness of people from various backgrounds to embrace the teachings of Christ.”
The man Jesus healed became an effective missionary. After being released from the demons he naturally wanted to go with Jesus, but Jesus said, “‘No, go home to your family, and tell them everything the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been.’ So the man started off to visit the Ten Towns of that region and began to proclaim the great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed at what he told them” (Mark 5:20, NLT).
This is why the people accepted Jesus when he came back on a later visit. Because of the man’s personal story of deliverance, they wanted to hear more from Jesus.
Jesus wants us to be like that man; to tell our family and friends all that he’s done for us. How we were once lost—maybe even zombie-like, but now are found; blind, but now we see.
I think humanity is repulsed yet fascinated with the zombie phenomena because it takes us to the edge of that dark place we must all eventually go—death and the grave. And, it imagines what it is like to be suspended between life and death, in a zone of horror and despair. It must have been all of that and more for the possessed man in Mark’s story. We don’t even know his name, but Jesus did. And Jesus knew where he lived and how to reach him in his time of desperate need.
This story is really about us. It’s about the mystery of life—with its inequities, heartaches and tragedies. Things happen that bring us to places we don’t want to be. We don’t know when this man became demon-possessed, but it probably wasn’t at birth. He must have enjoyed a “normal” life for a time. Yet at some point, due to his own choice, or perhaps through no fault of his own he was swept into a trap of psychological or demonic servitude and became trapped.
The only reason this story was recorded is because Jesus wants us to know that he is available for whatever we're dealing with. Although our circumstances vary, we are that man. In some way—physically or spiritually we are trapped.
With the Psalmist we cry, “Lord, have mercy on me. See how my enemies torment me. Snatch me back from the jaws of death” (Psalm 9:13, NLT).
Rich DuBose writes from Northern California |
On the web at: richdubose.com. All Rights Reserved © 2025. Join me on Blue Sky @spiritrenew.bsky.social.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.