The Gerasene Demoniac (Legion)
This unnamed man lived among the tombs near Gerasa, possessed by so many demons that he called himself "Legion," too strong to be bound even by chains, crying out and cutting himself day and night. When Jesus arrived by boat, the demons immediately recognized him and begged not to be sent into the abyss, requesting instead to enter a large herd of swine feeding nearby; Jesus permitted it, and the herd rushed down a steep bank into the sea and drowned. The townspeople, more afraid of Jesus's power than grateful for the healing, asked him to leave their region. The healed man begged to go with Jesus, but was sent instead to tell his own family and the Decapolis what great things God had done for him - becoming one of the first Gentile evangelists in the Gospels.
Biography
- Era
- New Testament
- Nationality
- Gentile
- Also Known As
- Legion
Did You Know?
A Roman legion numbered around six thousand soldiers - the name gives a chilling scale to the man's bondage.
The healed man became the first person Jesus ever commissioned to preach - sent home to the Decapolis while Israel's crowds were told to keep silent.
When Jesus returned to the Decapolis later in Mark, four thousand people gathered - a crowd many attribute to one delivered man's testimony.
Key Chapters
Key Passages
Jesus Meets the Possessed Man
Mark 5:1-13
The demons' immediate recognition of Jesus and their plea for mercy underscores his authority even over an overwhelming, self-destructive spiritual bondage.
1nd they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.
The Man Sent to Tell His Story
Mark 5:18-20
Rather than joining Jesus's traveling group, the healed man becomes a witness in his own community - the first recorded gospel proclamation in Gentile territory.
18nd when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him.