0451401 Legion cast out of a violent man – Matthew 8:28-34, Mark 5:1-20, Luke 8:26-39, A.D. 27 Gerasenes
And when they came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes, which is opposite Galilee and when he had come out of the boat and stepped ashore; immediately, there met him two people possessed with demons coming out of the tombs one of which was a certain man out of the city with an unclean spirit. He had demons for a long time. They were extremely fierce, so that no man could pass that way. And he wore no clothes, and did not live in a house, but he lived in the tombs; for the unclean spirit had often seized the man and he was kept under guard. Nobody could bind him anymore, not even with chains, because he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him, and the fetters broken in pieces. Breaking the bands apart, he was driven by the demon into the desert. Nobody had the strength to tame him. And always, night and day, in the tombs and in the mountains, he was crying out, and cutting himself with stones.
And when he saw Jesus from afar, behold, they cried out and he ran and fell down before him, and bowed down to worship him, and crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What do we have to do with you, Jesus, you Son of the Most High God? Have you come here to torment us before the time? I beg and adjure you by God, do not torment me.” For Jesus was commanding the unclean spirit to come out of the man and he said to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”
And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” And he said to him, “My name is Legion, for we are many demons that had entered into him.” And they begged him much that he would not command and send them to go away out of the country and into the abyss. And now on the mountainside there was far away from them a great herd of many pigs feeding. And all the demons begged him that he would allow them to enter into those saying, “If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs that we may enter into them.”
And Jesus gave them permission. He said to them, “Go!” And the unclean spirits and the demons came out from the man, went and entered into the herd of pigs; and behold, the whole herd of about two thousand pigs rushed down the cliff and the steep bank into the lake and into the sea. They were drowned and died in the seawater. And when those who fed them saw what had happened, they fled, and went away into the city and in the country and told everything, and what happened to those who were possessed with demons. And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus.
And the people went out and came to see what it was that had happened. And they came to Jesus, saw and found the man who had been possessed by demons and from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, clothed, and in his right mind, even him who had the legion; and they were afraid. And those who saw it declared to them how it happened to him and how he who had been possessed by demons was healed and about the pigs. And when they saw him, all the people of the surrounding country of the Gadarenes asked him and they began to beg him that he would depart from their borders and from their region for they were very much afraid.
But as he was entering into the boat, the man who had been possessed by demons and from whom the demons had gone out begged him that he might go and be with him. Jesus did not allow him and sent him away, but said to him, “Go and return to your house, to your friends, and say to them what great things the Lord God has done for you, and how he had mercy on you.” And he went his way and began to proclaim in Decapolis and throughout the whole city what great things and how Jesus had done great things for him, and everyone marveled. And he entered into the boat and returned.
