Gospel

Mark 5:1-20

Jesus and his disciples came to the other side of the sea,

to the territory of the Gerasenes.

When he got out of the boat,

at once a man from the tombs who had an unclean spirit met him.

The man had been dwelling among the tombs,

and no one could restrain him any longer, even with a chain.

In fact, he had frequently been bound with shackles and chains,

but the chains had been pulled apart by him and the shackles smashed,

and no one was strong enough to subdue him.

Night and day among the tombs and on the hillsides

he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones.

Catching sight of Jesus from a distance,

he ran up and prostrated himself before him,

crying out in a loud voice,

“What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?

I adjure you by God, do not torment me!”

(He had been saying to him, “Unclean spirit, come out of the man!”)

He asked him, “What is your name?”

He replied, “Legion is my name. There are many of us.”

And he pleaded earnestly with him

not to drive them away from that territory.

Now a large herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside.

And they pleaded with him,

“Send us into the swine. Let us enter them.”

And he let them, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine.

The herd of about two thousand rushed down a steep bank into the sea,

where they were drowned.

The swineherds ran away and reported the incident in the town

and throughout the countryside.

And people came out to see what had happened.

As they approached Jesus,

they caught sight of the man who had been possessed by Legion,

sitting there clothed and in his right mind.

And they were seized with fear.

Those who witnessed the incident explained to them what had happened

to the possessed man and to the swine.

Then they began to beg him to leave their district.

As he was getting into the boat,

the man who had been possessed pleaded to remain with him.

But Jesus would not permit him but told him instead,

“Go home to your family and announce to them

all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.”

Then the man went off and began to proclaim in the Decapolis

what Jesus had done for him; and all were amazed.

Reflection

The most fascinating thing about this passage is the dialog between Evil, Legion and Jesus Divinity incarnate. What you see is a subtle thing. It is the fact that this man who is filled with the Legion's power is being tormented and he’s no longer able even to be contained because of his violence. And yet we see in Jesus not a desire to destroy or be violent against evil, because the image of Legion bowing before Jesus, says please don't torment me.

And Jesus, in a sense, is not interested in tormenting evil. He's interested in giving people the hope and the promise that he will keep them free of evil. He's not a destructive God. He's a healing, transforming God.

Closing Prayer

Father, we are shown in this passage a way of dealing with evil that is manifested in people around us. It is not that we need to destroy the person, but we need to pray to free them from the power of evil. Jesus knows that evil is part of our story. We're going to be dealing with it over and over again. But we cannot become like evil and want to destroy. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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