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Soon after Jesus calmed the storm they arrived in the country of the Gerasenes just opposite Galilee. When Jesus arrived he immediatly met a man with demons at the shore. Mark tells us this man ran to Jesus to worship Him. We are told the man was naked and lived among the tombs. We are told many times this man was kept under guard but that he broke the chains and was driven by the demons into the desert. When he saw Jesus,he cried out and fell before him.He said to Jesus "what do you have to do with me, Jesus son of the most high God. I beseech you do not torment me!! For Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out. Jesus then asked him "what is your name?" and he answered Legion for we are many. They begged him not to command them to go into the abyss. A large herd of swine was feeding on the hillside and they begged him to let them depart into the swine. Jesus gave them permission and they came out of the man and went into the swine.. The herd then rushed down the steep slope into the lake and were drowned, because the demons had entered them. The herdsmen who had seen this,then fled and told it in the city and the country. Then people went out to see what had happened.They came to Jesus and found the man out of whom the demons had fled sitting at Jesus feet, clothed and in his right mind. Those who had seen it, told how he who had been possessed with demons was healed.
Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave for they were seized with great fear.I'm sure the man who had lost the herd of swine was very unhappy at all the money he'd lost by losing the pigs. What is more this is clearly a sign of Israels apostasy which probably made them feel uncomfortable before the Lord and King of Israel. So Jesus obliged and got back into and returned to where he'd come from.. The man who had been delivered from the demons begged Jesus that he may go with him, but Jesus refused and told him to go to his home and declare the great things God had done for him. So he went away proclaiming through the whole city what God had done for him. This mans great deliverance by the King of Israel was to be Gods sign and testimony to the people of Gerasene that God was in Jesus His Christ delivering Israel from her enemies and forgiving her many and grievious sins. What strikes one is that the land of the Gerasenes was in Israel. It shows how the northern Kingdom with its synchronisation of pagan religion, with the faith of Israel were like any other gentile land. It is clear that these people were dabbling into spiritism in its many forms. Also to find a herd of swine show that these people had no real interest in following the commands of the one true God of Israel. They were a people compromised and far away from the God of their fathers.Jesus had come to bring them back to their true God and king More so we find that this is a confrontation between the true God and the powers of the satan who had enslaved these people and the demoniac in particular.Rather it is God in Jesus confronting the enemy of his departed and apostate people. Jesus has come to save Israel from her enemies and to show them that the promised Christ has come to them. There is clearly a recognition that Jesus is the Son of the most high God. Satan had addressed Jesus as the son of God in Jesus temptation in the wilderness. It is the title of the King of Israel, the promised Christ from the line of David. The demons recognise who it is that they are up against. Instead of putting up a fight they recognise they have no chance if Jesus has already overcome the chief of demons,Satan. Rather they plead the terms of surrender and ask not to be sent to the abyss but rather into the swine. What we have here is by no means the final defeat of the evil one. We have here instead a mighty display of Jesus binding the strong man satan with his armies clad in all their weapons and armour. He binds the strongman boasting in his might and armour and robs satan of his possesion, the man they have enslaved as their own and made their goods. It is no small thing nor had such things ever been witnessed or heard of before in Israel. What was impossible with man was possible with God in Jesus Christ. Mighty is the Lord who saves, we find the man completely healed and delivered sitting at the feet of Jesus in his right mind. However when the people return they are not receptive to Jesus, they are indeed in fear of him, and ask Jesus to leave. We are not told but it is clear these people are afraid in the sense of what might happen to their livelihood. Mark tells us there were 2000 swine and that must have carried a heavy loss monetarily. None the less Jesus got in the boat to leave. The man who had been delivered was not of the same mind as the people, but wanted to go with Jesus and be his disciple. He was clearly very grateful to Jesus. But Jesus says no. Jesus plan in delivering him was to send him back to his own people knowing what a testimony he would be. Jesus tells him to be his voice to the Gerasenes and to declare how much God had done for him. The man obeyed Jesus and went away proclaiming in the city how much Jesus had done for him. This should be the true response of all who have been delivered from their enemies by Gods Christ Jesus. God delivered the man for His glory and to witness and show all men Jesus, as His chosen King. |
