Mark 5:1-20 Healing Demoniac (Legion)

Demonic Man

They arrive in a distinctly non-Jewish location.

This man’s life has been ruined because of the demons that have possessed him.

He is an outcast from society and he’s in physical pain. The people are treating him poorly too.

The point of this story is not about how the man came to be this way but about Jesus demonstrating his ultimate authority and power over the spiritual realm.

The Pigs

a Jew reading this would think very differently than you or I might.

The pigs die: fine. good. They’re pigs. They’re unclean anyway. Who cares?

Jesus isn’t the one who told the demons to enter them or to destroy themselves, the demons chose to do that.

They’re still destructive even when they leave the person.

Isn’t one man’s restored life worth more than 2000 pigs anyway?

The locals

They are terrified of Jesus. They see Him as more powerful than the demons that possessed the man (and He is)

But they don’t jump to seeing that as a good thing.

This is really interesting because Jesus isn’t forcing people to believe in Himself. They still need to make that jump themselves.

The healed man

He gets the job of telling Gentiles what Jesus has done for him.

He’s the first non-Jewish missionary in Mark’s gospel.