Healing the Gerasene Demoniac (Mk. 5:1-20)

They came to the other side of the sea, to the territory of the Gerasenes. 2 When he got out of the boat, at once a man from the tombs who had an unclean spirit met him. 3 The man had been dwelling among the tombs, and no one could restrain him any longer, even with a chain. 4 In fact, he had frequently been bound with shackles and chains, but the chains had been pulled apart by him and the shackles smashed, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and on the hillsides he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones. 6 Catching sight of Jesus from a distance, he ran up and prostrated himself before him, 7 crying out in a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me!” 8 (He had been saying to him, “Unclean spirit, come out of the man!”) 9 He asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “Legion is my name. There are many of us.” 10 And he pleaded earnestly with him not to drive them away from that territory. 11 Now a large herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside. 12 And they pleaded with him, “Send us into the swine. Let us enter them.” 13 And he let them, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine. The herd of about two thousand rushed down a steep bank into the sea, where they were drowned. 14 The swineherds ran away and reported the incident in the town and throughout the countryside. And people came out to see what had happened. 15 As they approached Jesus, they caught sight of the man who had been possessed by Legion, sitting there clothed and in his right mind. And they were seized with fear. 16 Those who witnessed the incident explained to them what had happened to the possessed man and to the swine. 17 Then they began to beg him to leave their district. 18 As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed pleaded to remain with him. 19 But he would not permit him but told him instead, “Go home to your family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.” 20 Then the man went off and began to proclaim in the Decapolis what Jesus had done for him; and all were amazed.

In Jesus’ first mission into Gentile (pagan) territory a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit (v. 2) was the first person to meet him.  The tombs were thought of as places where demons dwelled.  Jews regarded Gentiles as unclean.  The evangelist goes to great lengths to explain how strong and violently out of control the man was.  In OT times there was a belief that using the precise name of an opposing spirit would guarantee mastery over it.  The demon used Jesus’ true identity and Jesus asked the demoniac his name and the demoniac complied.  The demoniac submitted to Jesus’ authority by prostrating himself before Jesus.  The demoniac also indicated the great divide between the Kingdom of God and the unclean spirit realm by asking, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me!”  The demon recognized Jesus as the divine Son of God, unlike the Pharisees (Mk. 3:22), with the power to destroy him (cf. Mk. 1:34).  Jesus has power over Satan.

Since Jews believed pigs to be unclean and the spirits in the man were unclean, Jesus allowed the spirits to enter the pigs.  It appeared that the unclean spirits bargained with Jesus and won a concession, but the end result was the destruction of the unclean spirits and the unclean pigs.  This was also a demonstration of the importance of a human life (Lk. 12:7).  The townspeople came and saw the man completely cured.  When they heard the story they were in awe and asked Jesus to leave the region probably because his power led to destruction and financial loss.  They could not see that Jesus' power actually led to life.  Jesus would not permit the man who was healed to follow him.  Instead, he made him the first missionary to the Gentiles. 

Almighty God, your divine Son has power over Satan and his realm, and through your Son's suffering, death and resurrection we too, as your adopted sons and daughters, have power over Satan with respect to our lives.  Grant us steadfast faith and belief in Jesus that we too may be instruments of light and salvation to others.  This we pray through Christ our Lord.  Amen!

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References

Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.

Faculty of the University of Navarre. The Navarre Bible: New Testament Expanded Edition. Expanded Edition, Four Courts / Scepter, 2008.

Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.