Luke 8:35 Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.
Luke 8:36 And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed.
Luke 8:37 Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned.
Luke 8:38 The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying,
Luke 8:39 “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.
This man became an immediate local celebrity. Book deals, movie contracts, talk shows, the instagram followers — oh man, the world was his.
The word “Legion” would have meant 6,000 armed Roman soldiers to Jesus and the disciples when the demons answered Jesus’ question “What is your name?” The Gospel accounts say that there were 2,000 pigs that went berserk and jumped to their death.
Is it any wonder that the people of the town were “afraid” when they heard what Jesus did to those pigs? Or what about what He did to that savage crazy man? Which one would scare you more?
The first time I ever saw a miracle and knew it was a miracle, I was on a mission trip in Burma. A baby had a super-high 101+ fever, and we put our hands together and prayed. Just minutes later, without Tylenol or any of that, the fever was gone. The mother cried happiness and I was scared. I mean really scared.
I ran out of the house and somebody asked me something and I blew them off. I got away from there and walked out into a rice field. It was at that moment that I had to either really believe God had the power I said He had, or admit that I was living make-believe and just playing games.
This man had problems, and God showed up and fixed them.
One commentary I read said
“But the people loved their unclean pigs and demons more than Christ’s salvation. So they ordered Him away.”
Ouch. Let’s not be those people. Jesus is the Son of God, or He isn’t. The people of that region didn’t want to face that.
But Christ still showed them some mercy and left them a thankful demoniac evangelist. All he had was his story and the witness of several dozen unemployed pig farmers, and that was enough.
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