The Demon Possessed Man

At one time during Jesus’ ministry He came face to face with some old friends of His from the days when all the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy. This story is found in Mark 5:1-20 and is also found in Luke 8:26-37 and Matthew 8:28-34. The story is of a demon possessed man whose demons know Jesus and know of His power. They also know of their own fate when the Day of Judgment arrives. I will tell this in my own words.

One day Jesus and His disciple chums were crossing over the Sea of Tiberius and they came to the land of the Gerasenes. The minute Jesus got out of the boat some guy runs up to Him and bows down to Him. Jesus knows evil spirits possesses this man so He starts commanding the demons to come out of him. You see the man was often bound by chains and ropes to keep him subdued, but nothing worked. He always broke the chains and ropes and was constantly gashing himself with stones. He lived in the graveyard and was always crying out in agony. He was so tormented that he even tried to pull out his hair, although the same can be said of most married men today.

So the man starts crying out, “What have I to do with you Jesus Son of the Most High God? I implore you by God do not torment me.” Jesus says to him, “What is your name?” The man answers, “Legion, for we are many.” So they start asking Jesus for a favor and begging Him not to send them into the abyss (the bottomless pit). The demons knew that some of their friends had ended up in the bottomless pit for playing spin the bottle with human women. God does not take demon - human hanky panky lightly. That’s why the demons were begging Jesus to spare them eternal damnation for now. They still wanted to have some fun while they had the opportunity.

There was this herd of swine grazing for truffles on the mountainside and the demons asked Jesus for permission to enter into them. Apparently, these demons are moochers and can’t make it on their own so they are always looking for someone, or some swine, to inhabit. Anyway Jesus gives the green light on the human to swine relocation plan and the demons transferred immediately. The swine start goin crazy and run down the mountainside and right into the sea where they all drown. I don’t know what happened to the demons that were now in the swine, but I don’t think it was good.

Then the shepherds, or should I say swineherds run into town and tell everybody what just happened to the crazy man and the porky pigs. The people of the town come running out and see the crazy man who is now not very crazy and the swine floating in the sea. So they know the swine herders were telling the truth. They begin talking among themselves and feel the situation is very scary indeed. You see they didn’t have a problem with the crazy man being crazy, but now that he is normal well lets just say that was very troubling indeed.

Why? You ask. Simple. The people from this region often dabbled with Ouija boards, voodoo dolls, magic spells and such and the demons felt right at home. The people felt that if the cost of all their sorcery was one crazy guy well that was a price they could afford. Now that there was a new sheriff in town all that black magic stuff had to go and the people didn’t like that idea at all. So they all banded together and sought a referendum on Jesus’ visit. When the vote was cast, so was Jesus.

Then the used to be crazy guy comes up and begs Jesus not to leave without him. But Jesus tells the guy that he has to stay put because these people do not know the kind of trouble they are getting into. So, the crazy guy who is now sane stays and is the first missionary to the Gerasene people. Eventually the man became a traveling evangelist in the Decapolis. That’s a fancy word for a confederacy in northeast Palestine of ten Roman-controlled cities settled by Greeks. It was formed after 63 B.C. and dominated by Damascus.

It was a good thing Jesus told the guy to stay in the region and start evangelizing because we know that Peter and John didn’t take the message of Jesus resurrection to the Gentiles. Paul and Barnabas had the honor of doing that but it was several years after Jesus death when they did.

The reader should understand that there are several stories going on at the same time. First, the demons that are speaking with Jesus know His status in the universe and know their ultimate fate. These demons are fallen angels who used to honor God before they decided to honor themselves. Second, the cured man is doing what the apostles will eventually be called to do, namely witness about the works of the Lord Jesus without having Him by their side. Finally, while there is no mention of the conduct of the Gerasene people with regard to calling on evil spirits, it is clear from their reaction to the man’s spiritual cleansing they obviously did not want anything to do with God, or His power. No, they were very content with the evil spirits they had witnessed in the man Jesus healed.