Jesus had just calmed a great storm on the sea and was immediately confronted with two violent demon possessed men. One of the men had been so violent that the leaders of the community had attempted to bind him in chains. This was to no avail. The man was so strong he broke the chains like slicing through butter.
The local residents were terrorized. Night and day the strongest of the two screamed, tearing off his clothes he ran naked, bleeding from self inflicted wounds. This was especially disturbing because these men lived in the local grave yard. Can you imagine not being able to visit the grave of your loved ones for fear of your life?
Everyone knew not to go near the place, but Jesus intentionally landed on that specific shore.
“What are you doing here?” The demonic spirits demanded. “Have you come to terrorize us?” This is the only place we see Jesus carrying on a conversation with demons. Jesus asks the man for his name. The demons responded, “Legion” because there were many demons.
Jesus does an interesting thing. He casts the demons out into a herd of pigs. They immediately drove the animals off the cliff into the sea so they drown. Both men returned to their right minds and sat down to talk with Jesus (Mt 8:28-32; Mk5:1-13; Lk 8:26-33).
What is the point of the story? Neither nature nor demonic forces can withstand the power of God.
