Chapter Five
Mk. 5:1. And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.
Mk. 5:2. And when He came out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,
Mk. 5:3. He had his dwelling among the tombs, and no one could bind him, not even with chains,
Mk. 5:4. Because he had been often bound with fetters and chains, but he broke the chains apart and smashed the fetters, and no one had the strength to tame him.
Mk. 5:5. Always, night and day, in the mountains and in the tombs, he was crying out and cutting himself with stones. In the more correct manuscripts it reads: "to the country of the Gergesenes." Matthew says that there were two demoniacs (Mt. 8:32), while Mark and Luke (Lk. 8:26–33) speak of one. These latter chose the more fierce of them and narrate about him. The demoniac goes and confesses Christ as the Son of God. Since those who were on the ship were uncertain about who He was, the most reliable testimony about Him follows from His enemies, I mean the demons. The demoniac lived among the tombs, because the demon wanted to instill through this the false idea that the souls of the dead become demons, which one must by no means believe.
Mk. 5:6. But when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshipped Him,
Mk. 5:7. And crying out with a loud voice, he said: What have I to do with Thee, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure Thee by God, do not torment me!
Mk. 5:8. For Jesus said to him: Come out, unclean spirit, from this man.
Mk. 5:9. And He asked him: What is your name? And he answered, saying: My name is Legion, for we are many.
Mk. 5:10. And they begged Him earnestly not to send them out of the country. The demons consider it a torment to come out of a man, which is why they said: "do not torment us," that is, do not cast us out of our dwelling, that is, out of the man. On the other hand, they thought that the Lord would no longer tolerate them because of their excessive audacity, but would immediately deliver them to torment, and therefore they begged Him not to torment them. The Lord asks the demoniac not in order to know Himself, but so that others might know about the multitude of demons that had entered him. Since before their eyes stood one man, Christ shows how many enemies this wretched man was fighting against.
Mk. 5:11. Now a great herd of swine was feeding there near the mountain.
Mk. 5:12. And all the demons begged Him, saying: Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.
Mk. 5:13. Jesus immediately permitted them. And the unclean spirits, having come out, entered into the swine; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and there were about two thousand of them; and they drowned in the sea.
Mk. 5:14. Those who were feeding the swine ran away and reported it in the city and in the villages. The demons begged the Lord not to send them out of the country, but to let them into the herd of swine. He agrees to this. Since our life is a warfare, the Lord did not wish to remove the demons from it, so that through their struggle against us they might make us more skilled. He permits them to enter the swine so that we may know that just as they did not spare the swine, so they would not have spared that man either, had the power of God not preserved him. For the demons, being hostile to us, would immediately destroy us if God did not protect us. Therefore, know that demons have no power even over swine, and still less over people, unless God permits it. But know also this: that into people who live like swine and wallow in the mire of sensual pleasures, demons enter and cast them down from the precipices of perdition into the sea of this life, and they drown.
Mk. 5:14. And the inhabitants went out to see what had happened.
Mk. 5:15. They come to Jesus and see the one who had been demon-possessed, in whom was the legion, sitting and clothed, and in his right mind; and they were afraid.
Mk. 5:16. And they that saw it told them how it befell him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine.
Mk. 5:17. And they began to ask Him to depart from their region.
Mk. 5:18. And when He got into the boat, the demon-possessed man begged Him that he might be with Him.
Mk. 5:19. But Jesus did not permit him, and said: Go home to your own people and tell them what the Lord has done for you and how He had mercy on you.
Mk. 5:20. He went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis what Jesus had done for him; and all marveled. Struck by the miracle, the inhabitants of that city came out to Jesus, and having heard the details, they were even more frightened. Therefore they also begged Jesus to depart from their region. They were afraid of suffering something even greater. Having lost the swine and grieving over this loss, they refuse even the presence of the Lord. On the contrary, the demoniac asked Him for permission to be with Him, as he feared that the demons, finding him alone, might enter into him again. But the Lord sends him home, showing that His power and providence would guard him even in His absence. He sends him away also so that he might benefit others who would see him. Therefore he began to preach, and all marveled. But see how the Savior is free from boasting! He did not say, "Tell what I have done for you," but, "what the Lord has done for you." So you also, when you do something good, ascribe what was done not to yourself, but to God.
Mk. 5:21. When Jesus had crossed over again by boat to the other side, a great multitude gathered to Him. And He was by the sea.
Mk. 5:22. And behold, there comes one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing Him, falls at His feet.
Mk. 5:23. And he besought Him greatly, saying: My little daughter lieth at the point of death; come and lay Thy hands on her, that she may be healed and she shall live.