The passage
      v1. After the storm on the lake Jesus and his disciples come ashore a few kilometers from the modern town of Kersa.
      v2-5. The demon-possessed man lives in caves nearby, caves that once served as tombs. The people of the village had tried to subdue him with chains to protect themselves from his lunacy, but they had failed. He now wonders aimlessly, flaying himself with stones in an attempt to end his torment. His state is of total ruin, his personality possessed by dark powers. Mark has taken great pains to describe his state of loss.
      v6-8. The demonic confronts Jesus, and in response Jesus commands the evil spirit to "come forth out of the man." The demon immediately takes up a defensive stance, obviously aware that he now confronts one more powerful. First, there is the act of kneeling, then a raised voice, a claim that Jesus has no right to interfere with him, a precise description of Jesus' person (the knowledge of a person gives power over them), an invocation of God's name (interesting that a demon would invoke God's name in defense), and a plea that Jesus not torment him (them). The title "Son of the Most High God" is more likely a divine title than a messianic one. The demon knows well where Jesus came from.
      v9-10. Jesus asks for the demon's name, but receives an evasive reply. To give their name is to hand power over to Jesus. The term "Legion" is probably a desperate attempt to resist Jesus. A kind of "we are many." Whatever Jesus' intention, they plead that he will not drive them off into a lonely place. Demons were usually sent to uninhabited mountains, the ends of the earth, the sea, and particularly deserts, where they can no longer harm people.
      v11-13. To be cast into the pigs seemed, to the demons, the best of some rather bad options, but the trouble is that they spooked the pigs and so ended up in the very place they didn't want to go. What we have here is an example of New Testament humour.
      v14-15. The existence of a herd of pigs illustrates that this is a Gentile area. The herdsmen ran back to the village in terror to report the events to the owners. The village comes out in force, and is filled with fear by what they see. The pigs were gone and the once lunatic demoniac now sits quietly at Jesus' feet.
      v16-17. The sane state of the demonic is one thing, but the loss of the pigs is fearful indeed. Would God's powerful presence in the person of Jesus result in the destruction of all their livestock? They "began to plead with Jesus to leave their region."
      v18-20. Mark compares the faithless Gentile crowd with the demoniac. His desire to "go with" Jesus is a formula for discipleship, a discipleship with an interesting brief. First, following Jesus for him will take place within his family and village community. Second, unlike the Jews who must keep the secret, he is to go and "tell". The Gentiles need not be protected from the confusion of a suffering messiah. Third, he is to tell all that Jesus has done, rather than who Jesus is. He is to speak of the one who "had mercy" on him.

A disciple's brief
      Again in Mark's gospel, we see the powers of darkness overcome by a word of authority. The dark powers may resist the dawning Kingdom of God, but in the end they can only flee in terror. God is gathering a people to be with him for eternity, and so the prison doors can no longer resist his kind intention. We may not easily see how vulnerable is the secular city, but in truth the church, with its word of authority (the gospel), has Babel on the run. As Jesus promised, "the gates of Hades will not overcome it (his church)."
      The brief of this once possessed demoniac, now a free disciple, gives us a clue to how we may similarly confront the powers of darkness, driving them away to lonely places.
        i] "Go home to your family." When the apostles left their boats beside the Sea of Galilee, they forever instilled a sense of guilt, or at least second-rate discipleship, in we mere mortals who fail to follow their example. It is a nice change to see this new disciple following Jesus in his own community, within his own social environ.
        ii] "Tell them." A word of power has no power when sentenced to silence. Again, we are reminded that the Kingdom of God confronts the powers of darkness with a declared word. The Kingdom of God is realized through the preaching and teaching of the word of God.
        iii] Tell "how much the Lord has done", tell of his "mercy". The gospel concerns the consequences of Christ's death and resurrection - the free offer of life eternal. Let us declare his kindness and mercy.