They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. And when he had stepped out of the boat, immediately a man out of the tombs with an unclean spirit met him. He lived among the tombs; and no one could restrain him anymore, even with a chain; for he had often been restrained with shackles and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and the shackles he broke in pieces; and no one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always howling and bruising himself with stones. When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed down before him; and he shouted at the top of his voice, 'What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.' For he had said to him, 'Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!’ Then Jesus asked him, 'What is your name?' He replied, 'My name is Legion; for we are many.' He begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now there on the hillside a great herd of swine was feeding; and the unclean spirits begged him, 'Send us into the swine; let us enter them.' So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and were drowned in the sea. The swineherds ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came to see what it was that had happened. They came to Jesus and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the legion; and they were afraid. Those who had seen what had happened to the demoniac and to the swine reported it. Then they began to beg Jesus to leave their neighborhood. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed by demons begged him that he might be with him. But Jesus refused, and said to him, 'Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and what mercy he has shown you.' And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.
The word “tombs” speaks to me in this passage. I’m not sure if I ever noticed it in prior readings. The man with the unclean spirit lived among the tombs. We still associate tombs and gravesites with scary places where spirits are thought to linger. The man that Jesus encounters doesn’t only have one unclean spirit, but has many. The man has been tormented by the demon for some time. The demon knows exactly who Jesus is, and immediately pleas for mercy.
In the passage Jesus performs an exorcism and casts a demon out of a young man. The manner in which it is done is interesting. Jesus chooses, at the demon’s request, to be cast into a herd of swine. I wonder why the poor pigs were allowed to suffer such a fate. We must realize that the Jewish laws of Leviticus and Deuteronomy considered the swine an “unclean” animal, unfit for human consumption. What a better use for an “unclean” animal then an “unclean” spirit.
After the man has been cleansed, people came and saw him sitting there in his right mind. They were afraid and begged Jesus to leave. The man wants to go with Jesus, but Jesus told him that he needed to return to his family and tell everyone how much God has done for him to restore him. Everyone was amazed.
The call I hear today is to tell the good news. The swineherds told the good news in the city and the country, and the man proclaimed the good news in the Decapolis. The good news is what wonderful things God does in order to restore things to the way they are supposed to be. As hearers and responders to God’s wonderful works, we too are proclaimers of the good news so that others might come to believe and have faith.
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