(Read Matt. 8:28-34; Mark 5:1-21.)
WE read in three gospels of what happened after the Lord Jesus had come, with His disciples, in the boat to the other side of the lake. Matthew, and Mark, and Luke all tell us of it, though they do not all speak of what happened just in the same way. You remember that the Lord had just before been speaking to the wild waves which lifted themselves so high upon the stormy sea, bidding them "Be still," and hushing the loud winds to silence.
As soon as He reached land, and was come out of the boat, He saw something much more terrible than the raging water and the wild fury of the tempest. There were people in that country over whom Satan had got such fearful power that travelers did not dare to pass by lest they should fall upon them and hurt them dreadfully. It is plain from the verses which you read in St. Matthew's gospel that there were two men who met the Lord, and cried out to Him, but St. Mark and St. Luke mention only one of them. What a terrible account you have just read of one of them in St. Mark's gospel. The man did not live in any house, but among the tombs. What does that mean? You must remember that in Palestine at that time people were not buried, as they are in this country, in graves dug deep in the ground, but in caves, or holes which had been cut out of the rock. Many such tombs are to be found near that eastern side of the Sea of Galilee where the Lord Jesus went on shore that day. The Jews could not bear to go near such places, but there, among the dead, homeless and hopeless, this poor man lived!
How long had he been there?
We cannot tell; but it seems that it must have been a long, long time, for he had been often bound with fetters and chains—people had tried to tame him, as if he had been a wild beast—but it had all been of no use. Strong with a strength not his own, by reason of the dreadful power over him of that wicked spirit whom the Lord Jesus called "the strong man," he tore away the chains With which they bound him, and rushed to the mountains, crying aloud, and cutting himself with stones. I want you to think of this, dear children, because you know how often Satan tries to make you think that, if you listen to him, he will give you good and pleasant things, and make you much happier than you are. He may promise beautiful things, but he cannot give anything that is really good, for he has nothing good to give; and, however much pleasure he may set before you, if you will follow in his ways, it can only end, as it had ended with this poor man, in the misery of slavery under the power of one who is strong indeed, and who uses his great strength only to bind his chains more closely round those whom he has made captive. What a picture of misery we see in this poor man! He was possessed by the devil, homeless, friendless, without clothes, crying night and day, and cutting himself with stones!
The devil, the strongman, had indeed done his worst, but a stronger than he was come, and that voice was heard, at which the devils tremble. The Lord Jesus said, "Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit." The wicked spirits knew the Lord, and they never thought of resisting His power, for God is stronger than Satan. The poor tormented man called the Lord Jesus by name—he said, "Jesus, Son of the most high God"—and when Jesus asked him, "What is thy name?" he replied, "My name is Legion; for we are many." There were many Roman soldiers in the country, and their great regiments were called legions; one of these regiments had as many as six thousand men, so we see how well this man knew how to describe the way in which he was oppressed by the devil. But he was now in the presence of Christ, who went about when He was on earth "healing all who were oppressed by the devil," and all the power of the strong man was nothing now, for Jesus had come to set his prisoner free forever.
The poor man was not only delivered from the wicked spirits, but saw the end of the animals into whom they passed, when the herd of swine, which had been feeding on the hill-side, rushed down a steep place into the lake, and perished in the water. Then those who kept them fled, and told what they had seen in the city and country; whereupon crowds of people flocked to the place.
The sight that they saw struck them with great fear, and yet it was not fearful! The Lord Jesus was there, but He was not alone. At His feet sat the man who was possessed by the devil, and had the legion—but, oh, how changed! He was no longer an outcast wanderer, but clothed, and in his right mind. Those who were there told them how it had all come to pass, and about the swine, and then they turned to the Lord, and began to ask something of Him. What was their request? Was it that He who had brought such wonderful blessing and cure to the poor man, who had been the terror of the count try, would never leave them, but that He would abide with them and bless them still?
No; “they began to pray Him to depart out of their coasts." The Lord granted their request; He turned to leave that shore, upon which He had but just landed, and went again to the ship that He might go back to the other side.
But there was one to whom it was a great grief that the Lord should thus go away—for he had learned to know Him as his mighty Saviour, and he longed to be ever at His feet, and by His side—so we read that, when He was in the act of stepping into the ship, "he that had been possessed with the devil prayed Him that he might be with Him." Surely the Lord Jesus would have willingly granted such a prayer, we should think, yet He “suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.”
Though the people of that country would not have the Lord Jesus, He would not leave them without a messenger to tell them of Himself. Wherever that poor man went, he had a wonderful story to tell; "he began to publish in Decapolis" (that is the country which you may find in the map stretching on both sides of the River Jordan) "how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel.”