1Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes. 2And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, 3who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, 4because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him. 5And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones.
6When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him. 7And he cried out with a loud voice and said, "What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me."
8For He said to him, "Come out of the man, unclean spirit!" 9Then He asked him, "What is your name?"
And he answered, saying, "My name is Legion; for we are many." 10Also he begged Him earnestly that He would not send them out of the country.
11Now a large herd of swine was feeding there near the mountains. 12So all the demons begged Him, saying, "Send us to the swine, that we may enter them." 13And at once Jesus gave them permission. Then the unclean spirits went out and entered the swine (there were about two thousand); and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and drowned in the sea.
14So those who fed the swine fled, and they told it in the city and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that had happened. 15Then they came to Jesus, and saw the one who had been demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. 16And those who saw it told them how it happened to him who had been demon-possessed, and about the swine. 17Then they began to plead with Him to depart from their region.
18And when He got into the boat, he who had been demon-possessed begged Him that he might be with Him. 19However, Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, "Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you." 20And he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him; and all marveled.
This text is quite a contrast to the previous one. In the boat before reaching this shore, Jesus' followers saw miracles performed and they questioned who he must be that he could command the wind and the sea. In contrast, the demons immediately recognized Jesus as the Son of the Most High God. On the other side of the sea, people crowded around Jesus to be healed and witness miracles, yet this demon possessed man ran to Jesus to worship Him!
Here Jesus shows his easy command over even a legion of demons. There must have been many in this legion, because they possessed a herd of 2000 swine. As you can see, even a legion of demons bow down to the power of Jesus and do only what Jesus allows and commands.
It is interesting to note all the begging going on that day, especially who is begging for what. First the demon possessed man begs that the demons do not be cast out of the country. Because it is worded that "he begged" and "would not send them out of the country", it sounds like the man is doing the begging here, not the demons. Next the demons begged to let them enter the swine. This is worded as "all the demons begged", reinforcing the fact that if the first begging had been meant to be by the demons, it would have been worded differently. Later the man, no longer demon-posessed, begged Jesus to let him go with Him.
Why did the demon-posessed man beg for the demons to not be sent out of the country? This seemed really weird to me until I gave it lots more thought. It is still weird, but I can see many reasons why we might do something similar today.
This poor man had often been shackled and bound by the people of the area. The people were probably afraid of him. The man probably had no great love for the people who had treated him this way so now he had a strong desire to follow the one man who helped him. Did he want the demons to remain in the country because he intended to leave? Or, was he saying that Jesus should leave the demons in the country rather than allowing such a large legion of demons to go into the city? Or, was he so used to being controlled by the demons that he was afraid of what life would be like without the demons? Or, did he want the demons to remain, just so he could now face them head on?
What do you do with the demons you face in life? The many struggles and problems we face can probably be likened to how we would handle the demons the man faced that day. Do you wish your demons on your enemy? Do you ever desire to leave the demons just as they are, because maybe it's not so bad and it could be worse? Do you like having the presence of the demon because it is a handy crutch when you would rather not have to claim responsibility for your actions. Once you break the hold of the demon, do you still need it there so you can fight it head on? I know there have been times I have felt all of these feelings and more.
I don't know why the man begged for the demons to not be sent out of the country. I do know that in all the many cases where Jesus cast out demons, it never said he destroyed them. Whether by our desire or by Jesus', I think we need the demons around in order to exercise our ability for how to deal with them. Though won't heaven be wonderful when we will no longer have demons to deal with!
Why did Jesus allow the demons to enter the swine? In all other cases we have read so far, Jesus simply cast the demons out. The only reason I can come up with is to help demonstrate to others how many demons were possessing this man, and what a large legion of demons over which Jesus had easy command. There were witnesses - those who fed the swine. Jesus may have allowed it for their benefit.
What did these witnesses do? They ran to the city and the country and told everyone what they had seen. Now more people who heard of this came to see for themselves what had happened and to get more of the details. Their reaction to seeing this "crazy" man now in his right mind, and a herd of dead pigs? They became afraid! They wanted Jesus to leave!
Up until now, Jesus always asked those who were healed to tell no one. Here the man who was healed wanted to simply follow Jesus, but Jesus commissioned him to tell the story of what happened. Why? I think Jesus needed someone to remain and calm the fears that were raised in those who were there that day. If no one remained to explain the great work and compassion of the Lord, the fears started that day would have compounded. And as the text continued, it sounds like the man did a good job because it says all marveled at what he proclaimed.
It is interesting that this scene should follow right after the storm at sea where his followers were asking Jesus if he even cared. Here Jesus is commissioning someone to go out and spread the word including the compassion He has shown! Jesus feels very deeply for all the troubles we have. He deals with all our troubles in the way that is best for us. And for our biggest trouble of all, He died for us so we can be saved. All because he cares!
This story also demonstrates the awesome strength of man's spirit. Here one man's spirit survives a legion of demons which possessed his body for years, but which quickly destroy a whole herd of pigs. Your demons cannot destroy you if you do not let them. God is ready to help us. He may not destroy our demons, but he will give us the strength that we need.