The Gerasene Demoniac is the man from the tombs who met Jesus after the boat found the other side.
He lived among the tombs.
No one could bind him anymore,
not even with a chain.
My name is Legion,
for we are many.
He begged Him not to send them out of the country.
A great herd of pigs was feeding.
He gave them permission.
The herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea.
They found the man sitting there, clothed and in his right mind.
Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you.
The town begged Jesus to leave.
The man begged to go with Him.
Peace, be still had just hushed a lake. The far shore is Gentile country—Gerasenes, Gadarene hills, a graveyard for a house, a self no chain could hold. He runs to Jesus. Worship and screaming share a throat: What have You to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Matthew tells of two men. Mark and Luke linger on one until he has a mind again. Legion is an army word. The request is not for theology class. It is for permission to enter swine rather than the abyss yet. Two thousand pigs become a visible ruin so a hidden ruin can sit dressed. The herdsmen run. The people see and fear—not the tombs now, the calm man. They plead with Jesus to depart. The delivered man pleads to stay in the boat. Jesus will not take him as a trophy on the next crossing. Home. Friends. Tell how much the Lord has done, and how He has had mercy. Decapolis hears a preacher who used to scream from the graves. The other side was never only geography. It was a man and a region that had learned to live with tombs.
- The other side of the storm is a person, not a picnic.
- Chains failed. The Son of the Most High does not.
- Legion tells the truth about occupation. Many does not outvote Jesus.
- Pigs and a bank make the invisible loss countable—and still cheaper than the man.
- Clothed and in his right mind is the sign the town cannot bear.
- They beg Him to leave. Deliverance can cost a market.
- Go home and tell is apostleship for a man who wanted a seat in the boat.
- The Tombs – House of the dead; night and cutting.
- Legion – Many; a name like an army.
- Son of the Most High – Even the unclean know the title.
- The Herd – Permission; sea; two thousand.
- Right Mind – Sitting; clothed; at Jesus’ feet.
- Leave Us – The town’s plea.
- Go Home – Mercy told in the Decapolis.
- Mark 5:1-20 – They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes… “My name is Legion, for we are many.”… He gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs… about two thousand… they saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid… “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him.
- Luke 8:26-39 – He was a man from the city who had demons… He was driven by the demon into the desert… sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind… “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.”
- Matthew 8:28-34 – Two demon-possessed men met Him, coming out of the tombs… the whole city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw Him, they begged Him to leave their region.
- Mark 4:35, 41 – Let us go across to the other side… Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?
- Mark 1:24 – “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.”
- Luke 8:31 – They begged Him not to command them to depart into the abyss.
- Revelation 20:3 – He threw him into the pit… so that he might not deceive the nations any longer.
- Psalm 68:6 – God settles the solitary in a home; He leads out the prisoners to prosperity.
- Isaiah 65:4 – Who sit in tombs, and spend the night in secret places; who eat pig’s flesh.
- Acts 10:38 – Healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
Let us go across to the other side. My name is Legion, for we are many.
They found him sitting, clothed and in his right mind.
The whole city begged Him to leave. The man begged to be with Him.
Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how He has had mercy on you.
He began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him.
Do not live in the tombs as if chains were the last idea. The Most High is in the boat. Let Him send the many out. Sit. Get dressed. Go home and talk. A town may prefer its pigs. Tell the mercy anyway.
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