Mark 5
The man possessed by Legion
They came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. When he had come out of the boat, immediately a man with an unclean spirit met him out of the tombs. He lived in the tombs. Nobody could bind him any more, 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. Nobody had the strength to tame him. Always, night and day, in the tombs and in the mountains, he was crying out, and cutting himself with stones. When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and bowed down to him, and crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have I to do with you, Jesus, you Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, don’t torment me.” For he said to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”
He asked him, “What is your name?” He said to him, “My name is Legion, for we are many.”
He begged him much that he would not send them away out of the country. Now on the mountainside there was a great herd of pigs feeding. All the demons begged him, saying, “Send us into the pigs, that we may enter into them.”
At once Jesus gave them permission. The unclean spirits came out and entered into the pigs. The herd of about two thousand rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and they were drowned in the sea. Those who fed the pigs fled, and told it in the city and in the country. The people came to see what it was that had happened.
They came to Jesus, and saw him who had been possessed by demons sitting, clothed, and in his right mind, even him who had the legion; and they were afraid. Those who saw it declared to them what happened to him who was possessed by demons, and about the pigs. They began to beg him to depart from their region.
As he was entering into the boat, he who had been possessed by demons begged him that he might be with him. He didn’t allow him, but said to him, “Go to your house, to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you and how he had mercy on you.”
He went his way, and began to proclaim in Decapolis how Jesus had done great things for him, and everyone marveled.
Across the lake in Gentile territory, a man possessed by many demons, living among tombs and beyond all restraint, meets Jesus. The spirits, calling themselves Legion, beg to be sent into a herd of pigs, which then rush into the lake and drown. The frightened locals ask Jesus to leave, and the healed man is sent home to tell what the Lord has done for him.
What does this mean?
A 'legion' was a Roman army unit of several thousand soldiers. 'Adjure' (KJV) means to implore under oath. 'Coasts' (KJV) means region. The Decapolis ('Ten Cities') was a group of Greek-style cities, mostly east of the lake and the Jordan.
Historical context
Manuscripts differ on the region's name — Gadarenes, Gerasenes or Gergesenes — and the exact location is uncertain. Pigs were unclean animals under Jewish law and tombs places of impurity, marking this as non-Jewish territory. Some scholars think the name 'Legion' also comments on Roman military occupation.
Why does it matter?
This is Jesus' first venture among Gentiles in Mark. Unlike others he heals, this man is told to go and tell, and he becomes the first to proclaim Jesus in the Decapolis. The townspeople's fear at his restoration echoes the disciples' fear after the storm.
Editorial notes, not scripture.
Told in three Gospels
Matthew 8:28–34
Two men possessed by demons
How Matthew tells it
Matthew has two possessed men where Mark and Luke have one, and his account is far shorter. The demons' name, Legion, is not given, and there is no healed man asking to go with Jesus and being sent home to tell his story. Only Matthew's demons protest at being tormented 'before the time'.
Continue reading in Matthew →Luke 8:26–39
The man possessed by Legion
How Luke tells it
Luke, like Mark, has one man (Matthew has two). Only Luke has the demons beg not to be sent into "the deep," and he notes that the man wore no clothes. Luke gives no number of pigs (Mark: about two thousand). Jesus tells the man to declare what "God" has done (Mark: "the Lord"); he proclaims what Jesus has done.
Continue reading in Luke →How Mark tells it
Mark tells the longest version. As in Luke there is one man (Matthew has two). Only Mark describes him crying out night and day and cutting himself with stones, and only Mark gives the size of the herd — about two thousand. Mark ends with the man proclaiming throughout the Decapolis what Jesus had done for him.