Jesus Overpowers Legion

International Sunday School March 26 2023 Spring Quarter Lesson 4

Mark 5:1-13 ESV  They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes.  (2)  And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit.  (3)  He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain,  (4)  for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him.  (5)  Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.  (6)  And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him.  (7)  And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.”  (8)  For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”  (9)  And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.”  (10)  And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country.  (11)  Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside,  (12)  and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.”  (13)  So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.

Mark 5:1-13 ESV 

Mark 5:18-20 ESV  As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him.  (19)  And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”  (20)  And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.

Mark 5:18-20 ESV 

Notes

Background

• The messianic secret did not apply here.
• Some healed folks became part of the traveling team but not this one.

Possessed — Mark 5:1-2

• Happened right after calming the sea — Mark 4:39 (ESV) And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
• Preacher In one passage only (Act 10:38) mention is made of the healing of “all that were oppressed of the devil.” But in all other like passages there is no mention made of “the devil,” but of “unclean spirits” or “demons.”

Among Tomb — Mark 5:3-4

• Numbers 19:16 (ESV) Whoever in the open field touches someone who was killed with a sword or who died naturally, or touches a human bone or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.

Crying Out — Mark 5:5

• Self-mutilation — 1 Kings 18:25-28 (ESV) Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose for yourselves one bull and prepare it first, for you are many, and call upon the name of your god, but put no fire to it.” [26] And they took the bull that was given them, and they prepared it and called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no voice, and no one answered. And they limped around the altar that they had made. [27] And at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.” [28] And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them.

Come Out — Mark 5:6-8

Legion — Mark 5:9-10

• Matthew 12:43-45 (ESV) “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. [44] Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. [45] Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.”

The Pigs — Mark 5:11-13

• Legion might have been planning on coming back into the man — 2 Corinthians 2:11 (ESV) so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

Go and Testify — Mark 5:18-19

• Psalms 66:16 (ESV) Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for my soul.

The Word Spreads — Mark 5:20