Mark 5:1–20
They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of
the Gerasenes. And when Jesus 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 any more, 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 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.
Reflection:
Do I have many masks?
Would I be grateful when Jesus takes all my masks away?