Set Free from Bondage!

Mark 5:1-20

A Demon-Possessed Man Healed

1 Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes. 2 And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, 3 who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, 4 because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him. 5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones.

6 When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him. 7 And he cried out with a loud voice and said, "What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me."

8 For He said to him, "Come out of the man, unclean spirit!" 9 Then He asked him, "What is your name?"

And he answered, saying, "My name is Legion; for we are many." 10 Also he begged Him earnestly that He would not send them out of the country.

11 Now a large herd of swine was feeding there near the mountains. 12 So all the demons begged Him, saying, "Send us to the swine, that we may enter them." 13 And at once Jesus gave them permission. Then the unclean spirits went out and entered the swine (there were about two thousand); and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and drowned in the sea.

14 So those who fed the swine fled, and they told it in the city and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that had happened. 15 Then they came to Jesus, and saw the one who had been demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. 16 And those who saw it told them how it happened to him who had been demon-possessed, and about the swine. 17 Then they began to plead with Him to depart from their region.

18 And when He got into the boat, he who had been demon-possessed begged Him that he might be with Him. 19 However, Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, "Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you." 20 And he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him; and all marveled.

Here is the account of a possessed man who seemed beyond all hope of living a normal life among his fellow men ever again.  The demonic realm had a grip on him and imprisoned the man in both body and soul, chained for moments and for a lifetime.  The physical chains could not restrain this man of the Gadarenes, for the unclean spirit who ruled over him from within would whip him into a frenzy and would snap the restraints as well as cause him to cut himself and run loose in the hills and among the dead.  He was both untamable and unchainable.  Yet when Jesus approached this tormented prisoner bound in his soul, the first action he took was to worship the Lord!  The demon in him begged for Jesus not to torment him even though he was tormenting the man he inhabited.  That is the aim of the devil and his fallen demonic angels, to kill and destroy everything holy and good.  That unclean spirit also acknowledged the identity of Jesus as the Son of God because it lived in the spiritual realm and knew what mortal men refused to accept at the word and works of the Lord among them.  Jesus asked the name of the spirit so others could hear it and understand, not because He did not know it.  The evil one told his name when asked by the Lord as Legion, meaning a multitude like a whole Roman regiment of over five thousand men.  The man had many uninvited squatters of evil in his house.  Then the Lord commanded that uninvited squatter that brought uncleanliness into the man’s house of his body and soul to leave.  They begged not to be sent far away, perhaps even expecting to enter their destined torment before it was time (Jude 1:6).  Jesus obliged them to possess a herd of about two thousand pigs nearby instead.  The Legion used that opportunity to destroy even more of God’s creation by running them violently off a cliff and drowning them all as soon as they entered the poor beasts.  The keepers of the swine ran to tell others what they saw and the whole village begged Jesus to leave them after seeing the possessed man in his right mind as calm as you and I.  They likely feared the power of God to set prisoners free from sin and the attacks of the devil against them if they opposed him.  Jesus got back in His boat to leave when the man set free asked to come with Him, but Jesus gave him the task of telling all those around him there what great work God had done for him and the compassion given him.  The man gladly went about proclaiming the good news of God’s transformative work to make him whole and release him from the bondage of the evil one.  What a testimony of God’s love and compassion with mercy in the work of Christ to set men free (John 8:36, Romans 6:22-23) from the bondage and grip of sin with its consequences on us all!   We are free indeed from the evil one set on destroying us as God’s precious creation according to His image to bear witness of the work of the Lord with the hope of this great news.