MAN IN A CAGE
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07-02-23 God is Thought. The brightness of our revelations
depends upon the correctness of our doctrines, our building blocks, our Godly
thoughts laid one upon another, ascending into the mind of Christ. These study notes are archived at tabernacleofmoses.org.
One day the following unusual story came to my desk (author unknown):
While
traveling along life’s dusty road, I happened upon a strange sight not far off
from the thoroughfare. I saw a structure that appeared to be a heavy cage,
such as one might use to contain a wild beast – a bear or a wolf, for
instance. My interest was quickly aroused and I turned my steps aside and made
my way through the grass and daisies toward this strange object.
As
I approached, I detected that it was indeed a cage, and not built of any
light material but of heavy iron bars, as if the builder had designed it
to be as secure as possible. I slowed my steps, expecting at any moment to hear
a threatening growl and see the teeth of some great beast pressed against
the bars.
The
interior of the cage was so shaded from the sunlight that I was quite near
before I could make out the form of the cage’s occupant. To my astonishment I
saw an old man sitting in a corner. His hair was white and his body
seemed to be bent with age. He sat almost motionless except that he kept
wringing his hands and sighing heavily, as if his
memory were inflicting its own punishment upon him.
My
sympathies were stirred even for one who appeared to be receiving justice for
his misdeeds. I called to the old man and asked if I might inquire about his
case. He turned his face toward me (it was not an unkind countenance) and began
to moan, “Oh, justice, justice, where is justice?”
He went on with this complaint so that I had to wait for some time before I
could ask more about his situation.
While
I was waiting, I studied the structure of the cage closely. While the material
was of typical heavy bars and the roof of similar heavy plate, the cage seemed
to be fastened together in a rather peculiar manner. This uniqueness
caught my attention so completely that I turned my mind altogether to
understanding the cage’s assembly. It soon became certain in my mind that the
only way it could be so assembled was for the builder
to be on the inside [i.e., the cage
is your mind].
“Surely
there is a door somewhere,” I thought, and began a careful inspection of the
perimeter of the cage. On the far side, I came upon what should have been a
door, but I could find no bar or lock. At last it became apparent that the bar was on the inside, strange as it may seem.
Peering
through the dimness of the cage from the opposite side, I was able to make out
a heavy bar with a large padlock securing it. The only way then for this cage
to be locked was for the occupant himself to do so.
This situation puzzled me greatly. Many questions began to surface in my mind.
Why
would anyone lock himself inside a cage? If there was a key to the lock, what
had become of it? “Sir,” I called, “what have you done with the key?” “The key?” he asked,
and he looked at me as if I had asked him how far it is to the moon and back.
“If you had a key, you could let yourself out of the cage,” I said. “The lock is on the inside.” I strained to peer into
the half-darkness. “What is that at your feet?” I asked.
With
a blank look he picked it up and held it in my direction. “Yes, yes, it is a key!” I shouted [i.e.,
the key is the Bible]. “And it has some words written on it. It says, ‘My choice’ and on
the padlock is the word, ‘Today’. Why don’t you use the
key to free yourself from your cage?” My words didn’t seem to make an
impression on him, for he began to moan again, “If only, if only, if only! Oh, for justice to be done!”
I
stepped back to ponder the fate of this man locked in
his own prison. Then I saw near the top of the cage the words engraved,
“THE PAST”. I also noticed another unique
feature of this cage I had earlier missed. On the iron bars were written such
things as INJUSTICE, WRONG, PAIN, HEART-ACHE, RESENTMENT, BITTERNESS, ANGER,
GRUDGES, HATRED, REVENGE.
“How
sad,” I thought. “of all the wrongs in this sad world, how tragic for a man to
choose to make himself a prisoner of it all!”
Not
wanting to leave him without some words of hope, I called to him, “You need not remain a prisoner. You have the key to freedom. Remember our Lord’s invitation,
‘Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest’.”
Commentary:
I have read and thought about the latter interesting story (MAN IN A CAGE) many
times, and have been enlightened with some new revelatory point or expansion
thereof with each reading, somewhat like reading the Bible. Mark 5:1-20 is a
closely related narrative (parable), the ultimate component actually, to the
story of the man (all mankind) in the prison of his own
making. In the Bible narrative our Lord God vividly paints (and resolves –
Mark 5:6) the worse-case
scenario example of an extreme
personality (a “ten”) who has confined himself to the “tombs,”
to the memories of his mind. In modern terminology this man would be
psychologically classified as suffering on the scale of an advanced bipolar
disorder or schizophrenia. To some degree, his circumstance is the grave case
of you and I (all humanity).
UNCLEAN
(unforgiven) MEMORIES
Mar
5:1 And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country
of the Gadarenes. Mar 5:2 And when he was come out of the ship,
immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean
spirit, Mar 5:3 Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man
could bind him, no, not with chains: Mar 5:4 Because that he had
been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked
asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame
him. Mar 5:5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and
in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones. Mar 5:6 But
when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him,
(Mark 5:1-6)
And they [Jesus and His disciples] came over unto the other
side of the sea [to the eastern shore of the sea of Galilee],
into the country of the Gadarenes [a hard land of unsaved people “on
stony ground”]. And when he [Jesus] was come out
of the [fishing] ship [a type and shadow of a
missionary coming out of the ship (church) to proselytize], immediately
there met him out of the tombs [Gk: remembrances:
grave, sepulcher /// memories] a man with
[“under the power of” Amplified Bible] an unclean [Gk: impure, foul; morally
lewd or specifically demonic] [evil fallen] spirit
[i.e., devils, unclean thoughts (unclean memories)], Who
had his dwelling [Gk: residence] among the tombs [fig.
among the memories, buried deep]; and no man could bind him [control
him, i.e., civilize him, tame him], no, not with chains [not
with hard restraints (laws)]: Because that he had been often
bound with fetters [Gk: shackles for the feet] and chains
[i.e., often bound with secular restrictions (rules and regulations)],
and the chains had been plucked asunder [Gk: pulled in pieces]
[i.e., rationalized away] by him, and the fetters [rules,
laws] broken in pieces [signifying an outlaw]:
neither could any man tame him [domesticate
him: train up, discipline, reclaim, pacify him] [i.e., he was a wild man].
And always, night and day, he was In the mountains [up,
falsely elated, (high)], and in the tombs [down
(severely depressed), i.e., extreme bi-polar (low)], crying [Gk:
screaming, shrieking] [and sobbing with tears], and cutting himself
with stones [continually re-living his past evil thoughts and
actions openly displayed in his memories in a painful but vain attempt to
somehow purge (cleanse) himself from those unforgiven memories – but he
could not do it, by himself]. But
when he saw Jesus [“a way to
escape” 1 Cor 10:13] afar off [Gk:
from a distance, separated], he ran and worshipped
[Gk: (meaning to kiss, like a dog licking his master’s hand); to
fawn or crouch, prostrate oneself in homage (do reverence to, adore)] him,
Amen
“…for
of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.” (2 Pet 2:19)