Jesus Delivers the Man Called Legion

5:1 So they came to the other side of the lake, to the region of the Gerasenes. 5:2 Just as Jesus was getting out of the boat, a man with an unclean spirit came from the tombs and met him. 5:3 He lived among the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. 5:4 For his hands and feet had often been bound with chains and shackles, but he had torn the chains apart and broken the shackles in pieces. No one was strong enough to subdue him. 5:5 Each night and every day among the tombs and in the mountains, he would cry out and cut himself with stones. 5:6 When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed down before him. 5:7 Then he cried out with a loud voice, "Leave me alone, Jesus, Son of the Most High God! I implore you by God - do not torment me!" 5:8 (For Jesus had said to him, "Come out of that man, you unclean spirit!") 5:9 Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" And he said, "My name is Legion, for we are many." 5:10 He begged Jesus repeatedly not to send them out of the region. 5:11 There on the hillside, a great herd of pigs was feeding. 5:12 And the demonic spirits begged him, "Send us into the pigs. Let us enter them." 5:13 Jesus gave them permission. So the unclean spirits came out and went into the pigs. Then the herd rushed down the steep slope into the lake, and about two thousand were drowned in the lake. 5:14 Now the herdsmen ran off and spread the news in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. 5:15 They came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man sitting there, clothed and in his right mind - the one who had the "Legion" - and they were afraid. 5:16 Those who had seen what had happened to the demon-possessed man reported it, and they also told about the pigs. 5:17 Then they asked Jesus to leave their region. 5:18 As he was getting into the boat the man who had been demon-possessed asked if he could go with him. 5:19 But Jesus did not permit him to do so. Instead, he said to him, "Go to your home and to your people and tell them what the Lord has done for you, that he had mercy on you." 5:20 So he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis what Jesus had done for him, and all were amazed.

Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible®, copyright ©1996, 2019 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved.

Jesus crosses into a place marked by death and uncleanness. There he meets a man oppressed by many demons. Jesus commands the evil spirits, restores the man to sanity, and sends him home to tell what the Lord has done for him.

Mark places this event on the far side of the lake, right after Jesus showed his authority over the storm. The point is clear: the One who rules the sea also rules unclean spirits. Jesus enters Gentile territory and meets a man living among the tombs. The setting is full of uncleanness and fear.

The man’s condition is terrible. He lives apart from people. No chain can hold him. Human strength has failed. He is violent, self-harming, and beyond normal restraint. Mark tells the story this way to show that Jesus does what no one else can do.

When the man sees Jesus, he runs and bows before him. But the voice speaking is the voice of the unclean spirits. They know who Jesus is and call him the Son of the Most High God. Yet this is not faith. It is hostile spirits speaking under pressure. Jesus had already commanded the unclean spirit to come out.

Jesus asks the man his name, and the answer is, “Legion, for we are many.” The name shows a large and overwhelming power at work. The demons beg Jesus not to send them away. Jesus is not their equal. They can only act within the limits he allows.

Jesus permits the spirits to enter the pigs. The herd rushes down the slope and drowns in the lake. This visible destruction shows that the demons truly left the man, and it reveals their destructive nature. The main point is not the pigs themselves. The main point is Jesus’ authority and the man’s rescue.

The people come and find the man sitting, clothed, and in his right mind. That is a picture of full restoration. He is no longer wild, exposed, or torn apart inwardly. Jesus does not merely drive out evil. He restores human dignity and order.

The crowd is afraid and asks Jesus to leave their region. This is a warning. People can prefer familiar fear and material comfort over the presence of Christ. Mercy can be unwelcome when it disrupts what people have grown used to.

The healed man wants to go with Jesus, but Jesus does not allow it. This is not rejection. Jesus sends him to his own people with a new task: tell them what the Lord has done for him and how he has received mercy. So the man goes through the Decapolis and tells what Jesus had done, and all are amazed.

This passage teaches that no human case is beyond Christ’s authority. It also shows what real deliverance looks like: not fascination with darkness, but restored life, sound mind, and grateful witness about mercy received.

• Jesus’ authority reaches into Gentile territory, tombs, and the world of unclean spirits.
• The man is truly oppressed and beyond human control.
• “Legion” chiefly shows overwhelming multiplicity and oppressive force.
• The demons can do nothing except by Jesus’ permission.
• The drowning pigs visibly confirm the exorcism and the destructive nature of the spirits.
• Jesus’ deliverance restores the man to visible wholeness and dignity.
• The crowd’s fear shows that people may resist the presence of Christ.
• The healed man is commissioned to witness at home, not rejected.
• Christian testimony should center on what the Lord has done and the mercy he has shown.

• Do not reduce this passage to a mental-health case study, though it clearly shows severe suffering.
• Do not assume that every severe disorder is demonic.
• Do not turn “Legion” into a full political allegory; the text itself stresses that the spirits are many.
• Do not make the pigs the center of the story; the center is Jesus’ authority and the man’s restoration.
• Do not read Jesus’ refusal to take the man with him as rejection; it is a commission to witness.
• Do not press the wording about “the Lord” and “Jesus” beyond what the text clearly says.

Mark shows Jesus extending God’s saving rule beyond the sea into a place marked by impurity, fear, and bondage. The same Lord who rules the storm also frees the man from destructive evil. The restored man then becomes a witness to mercy in his own land.

Do not write anyone off as beyond Christ’s help. Look for the fruit of real deliverance: restored order, sound mind, dignity, and obedient witness. Do not value comfort or control more than the presence of Jesus. Tell others what the Lord has done for you and how he has shown you mercy.

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