Prayer:
God of peace, thank You for calming me in my sometimes chaotic world. Help me to focus on You today and to witness Your love around me.
Take a few minutes of silence. In your own words, ask God to meet you here.
Reading:
So they arrived in the region of the Gerasenes, across the lake from Galilee. As Jesus was climbing out of the boat, a man who was possessed by demons came out to meet him. For a long time he had been homeless and naked, living in a cemetery outside the town.
As soon as he saw Jesus, he shrieked and fell down in front of him. Then he screamed, “Why are You interfering with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Please, I beg You, don’t torture me!” For Jesus had already commanded the evil spirit to come out of him. This spirit had often taken control of the man. Even when he was placed under guard and put in chains and shackles, he simply broke them and rushed out into the wilderness, completely under the demon’s power.
Jesus demanded, “What is your name?”
“Legion,” he replied, for he was filled with many demons. The demons kept begging Jesus not to send them into the bottomless pit.
There happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding on the hillside nearby, and the demons begged him to let them enter into the pigs.
So Jesus gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the entire herd plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned.
When the herdsmen saw it, they fled to the nearby town and the surrounding countryside, spreading the news as they ran. People rushed out to see what had happened. A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, and they saw the man who had been freed from the demons. He was sitting at Jesus’ feet, fully clothed and perfectly sane, and they were all afraid. Then those who had seen what happened told the others how the demon-possessed man had been healed. And all the people in the region of the Gerasenes begged Jesus to go away and leave them alone, for a great wave of fear swept over them.
So Jesus returned to the boat and left, crossing back to the other side of the lake. The man who had been freed from the demons begged to go with him. But Jesus sent him home, saying, “No, go back to your family, and tell them everything God has done for you.” So he went all through the town proclaiming the great things. Jesus had done for him. (
Response:
After reading those verses, what are your first impressions? What seemed to be the strangest part of the story to you? Write down anything that comes to your mind about this passage.
Insight:
This might be one of the strangest stories in the gospels. A naked man is talking to Jesus; a herd of pigs runs off a cliff…it’s an easy story to imagine in your mind because of the vivid details.
One thing a Jewish person would notice right away in this scene is that it is very unclean. There were very specific Jewish laws in the Old Testament that gave instructions about clean and unclean things. Almost everything in this story is unclean: Gerasenes is mainly a Gentile area, therefore considered to be unclean, as were cemeteries, demons and pigs. Jesus, as a Jewish teacher, should be far away from all unclean things, and here He is in the middle of it.
Jesus said in the beginning of His ministry that He was going to bring freedom to captives, sight to the blind, and that the downtrodden will see freedom and wholeness. In this story, the naked, possessed man ends up clothed and healed, sitting at Jesus’ feet. This story shows Jesus entering into our uncleaness and bringing wholeness.
Reflection:
In your Bible, read
