MARK 5: HEALING OF THE DEMONIAC

Parallel accounts are found in Matthew 8 and Luke 8. One apparent discrepancy is that Mark lists the location as the country of the Gadarenes instead of Gerasenes. The region was known as Gadarene, but archeologists have discovered a town in that area named Gerasa. So it probably depends on whether the region or town is being referred to.

Mark 5:2 Matthew says there were two men, one as the spokesman.

Living among the tombs – This would have been an unclean area for a Jew; other images associated with uncleanliness are nakedness, Gentiles, and blood. Jesus goes where the rabbis would have avoided.

Mark 5:4 Techniques such as coercion and restraint fail with demon possession. The novel and subsequent movie A Clockwork Orange provide a rather shocking example of unsuccessful attempts to rid a person of his evil desires by incarceration or psychiatric conditioning. We can even extrapolate this point to show that morality cannot simply be legislated. Only an inner transformation will work.

Mark 5:6 “Demons were like moths drawn to the flame and then scorched by it.” (Kistemaker, The Miracles)

Mark 5:7 A Greek title for Jesus is used this time. The speaker is probably a Gentile since Jews would

not have been tending pigs. This literally reads, “what to me to you?”

 

Mark 5:9 “What is your name?” (1) Knowing a demon's name gives you power over it. (2) Jesus

wanted to recall the man to a realization of his own personality. Legion = about 5,000 men. This is an 

indication not only of the numbers of demons but also their strength.

Note the reversal of the condition Satan wanted from Jesus during his temptation (“bow down before 

me”).

 

Mark 5:10 Luke has “into the abyss” instead of “out of the country,” suggesting that the demons 

feared complete disembodiment or being sent to the bottomless pit for punishment.

 

Mark 5:11-13 Max Lucado: “They can't even lease a pig without Jesus' permission.”

 

Mark 5:13 Evil always turns against itself and turns to self destruction. Witness the popular saying, 

“There is no honor among thieves.”(Trench)

Is Jesus guilty of speciesism, as some animal rights organizations have claimed? In response, see the 

five points below. In any case, he certainly deprived a number of people of their livelihood.

(1) The demoniac or the demons may have scared the pigs although it was not intended by Jesus.

(2) A sacrifice was necessary to prove to man that the demons were gone

(3) The pigs may have been owned by Jews who shouldn't have been herding pigs in the first place.

(4) One man's soul is worth more than all the animals in the world.

(5) There is the unlikely possibility suggested by some that no miracle actually took place at all. This 

whole story was an elaborate parable teaching the Jews that the Roman “legions” occupying Israel 

needed to be driven out.

Trench hints that this passage proves that even lower forms of life are receptive to spiritual forces. 

What do you think about that idea? (Romans 8:19-23). The Jesuit priest Teilhard De Chardin even felt 

that rocks can respond to God in a way (see Luke 19:40).

 

Mark 5:15 Note the reversal of the man's previous state: sitting instead of restless, clothed instead of 

naked, and in his right mind instead of raging.

Mark 5:17 Why would they not welcome such a dramatic healing? What were they afraid of? Perhaps financial loss, the unexpected, interference in their own lives. Is this any different from some politicians fomenting hatred of outsiders and any legislation to help the underprivileged because it might result in those same three outcomes?

Mark 5:19 The command here is different from that following most other healings (especially in 

Mark's Gospel) where Jesus told the people not to talk about them. The difference is that in this case 

they are in Gentile, not Jewish, territory. There is no fear that the miracle will be used for political 

means to start a revolt against the Roman authorities.

Bloesch: “The will of God may not necessarily be the most heroic or daring thing to do.... What may 

be the humdrum cross of His choosing takes precedent."

  

Matthew 15:29-31 describes how the crowd followed Jesus. One suggestion is that the cured demoniac 

had prepared the people beforehand. It is a possibility, but not stated in the Gospel accounts at all.