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The Gerasene Demoniac (Legion)

Portrait of 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.

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Biography

Era
New Testament
Nationality
Gentile
Also Known As
Legion
New Testament Healed By Jesus Gospels

Did You Know?

1

A Roman legion numbered around six thousand soldiers - the name gives a chilling scale to the man's bondage.

2

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.

3

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.

A1nd they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.

2 And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, 3 Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: 4 Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. 5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones. 6 But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him, 7 And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not. 8 For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. 9 And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many. 10 And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country. 11 Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding. 12 And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. 13 And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea.

Read full chapter: Mark 5 โ†’

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.

A18nd when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him.

19 Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee. 20 And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel.

Read full chapter: Mark 5 โ†’