GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 5:15
The Role of Fear
Fear is a safety emotion.
On some boxes, there is a red lightning symbol that warns everyone to be cautious because there is danger of electric shock. On other boxes, there is a skull and crossbones symbol, warning that there are dangerous chemicals inside. On still other boxes, there is the symbol of a campfire, warning that the contents are extremely flammable.
Through education and experience, we learn that there are prohibition signs, warning signs, mandatory signs, and emergency signs, warning most often warning about fire exits. One emotion evoked by these signs is fear—don’t stick your hand in a box with a red lightning symbol, because you could get a deadly electric shock. If a bottle has a skull and crossbones symbol on it, keep it locked safely away because it is likely to be toxic.
St. Mark wrote, “And they came to Jesus and saw the demonized man, sitting, clothed, and in his right mind, the one who had had the legion; and they were afraid.” (Mark 5:15) He described the reaction of the crowd who heard the report of the swineherders, who went through the country and the city, repeating their account of the confrontation between a man with an evil spirit and Jesus on the lake’s shore. The onlookers gathered on the beach to see for themselves. They saw the healed man, clothed and sitting at Jesus’ feet, and “they were afraid.” (φοβέω, phobeo, cf. Eng., phobia.)
The fear the crowd experienced in Mark’s account was not the fearful emotion often described as “awe” or “wonder.” No, this was the cowering, cringing, withdrawing fear. What was there to fear? A man had been cured of a terrible condition.
There were likely those in the crowd who had abused the man, maybe beaten or shackled him. What would he now do? Then there were the evil spirits; Mark called them “evil spirits” and “demons.” If they were no longer in the man, and obviously no longer in the pigs, where were they? Still lurking about? Waiting for someone else to invade? Then there was this man, Jesus, who demonstrated charity in his ministry, an act which may have pricked their consciences. Oh, and there were dead pig carcasses clogging the seashore—hundreds of them.
Fear can either drive one away from Jesus, or, as with the healed man, attract one to Jesus.
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