“Think for a moment about the townspeople. What did they see? There was Legion, a man they all knew. It had been many years since they had seen him look the way he did that day.
They had been long accustomed to hearing his shrieks as he ran through the graveyard in the middle of the night (Mark 5:5). For years they had warned their children not to play near him.
Perhaps they had even used him as a kind of bogy-man to frighten naughty children. There was no greater threat heard by a Gerasene child than ‘I’ll send you up to old Legion if you don’t behave!’
Some of these people were probably related to Legion. Others remembered playing with him in childhood. What kind of response do you think would be appropriate when they saw him gloriously normalized? For years they had not been able to control him, but now he was as biddable as an obedient child. What an occasion for rejoicing!
So we might think. But we would be seriously mistaken. For Legion seems to have been greeted with a stony silence. There was no ‘welcome-mat’ on the faces of his townsfolk that day. Were they so taken up with gratitude to Jesus that for a moment they forgot Legion? On the contrary. They begged Jesus to leave their shores (Mark 5:17).
What possible explanation can there be for such a response to the power of God? A moment’s self-examination should give the answer. Jesus’ presence had cost the Gerasenes dearly in terms of this world’s goods. What had Legion ever been or done to merit the expenditure of two thousand (of their!) pigs for his salvation?
If these were the thoughts passing through the minds of the people, they were wrong on several counts. In the first place, they did not understand the depths of man’s need, or the costliness to Christ of the salvation of men.
To ‘save’ Legion would ultimately cost the Lord Jesus His life. The loss of these pigs was incidental by comparison. But they valued their pigs more than Legion’s salvation. In doing so, they revealed that they valued their pigs more than their own salvation, and more than they valued Legion’s Saviour.
But there was probably another element in their rejection of Jesus. They could see the radical transformation which Jesus had produced in Legion’s life.
Did they fear Jesus’ continued presence with them because they suspected it might produce a similar transformation in them? Could it be that they would prefer to have Legion demon-possessed and live without Christ themselves? If so, it was they who were ensnared and in bondage to the Evil One.
How tragic that men, both then and now, cling to the sins which will ultimately destroy them, and beg Jesus to leave them rather than change them.
Legion’s response was very different. With all his heart he wanted to follow Jesus and be with him. He longed to have Jesus’ protecting presence (Mark 5:18).
Yet our Lord had other plans for him, and refused his request (Mark 5:19). He wanted to use him as his permanent apostle to the region of the Decapolis. So he gave him orders to return to his home and family, and to tell them what the Lord had done for him (Mark 5:19)
Legion obeyed. It seems that his life left a lasting impression on his people. For later in the Gospel, when Jesus returned to Decapolis, some people brought him a man who was deaf and almost completely dumb (Mark 7:31-37). They believed Jesus could deliver him. Had they learned that from Legion?
Mark presents us here with a contrast which may seem puzzling at first sight. Jesus refused the request of the man who trusted him, but granted the request of those who rejected him.
We need to learn that Jesus’ refusals to his followers are always because he has some better purpose for us than that which we request. But our refusals of Jesus, when granted, lead to hardness of heart and judgment.
Like the parables, the miracles of Jesus bring us a profound challenge. The challenge of this one is simple:
Do you want to go with Jesus? Or, do you want Jesus to go?
These are the most important questions you could ever answer.”
–Sinclair Ferguson, Let’s Study Mark (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1999), 68-70. Ferguson is commenting on Mark 5:1-20.
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