Matthew 8:28 When Yeshua arrived at the other side of the lake, in the Gadarenes’ territory, there came out of the burial caves two men controlled by demons, so violent that no one dared travel on that road. 29 They screamed, “What do you want with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?” 30 Now some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. 31 The demons begged him, “If you are going to drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.” 32 “All right, go!” he told them. So they came out and went into the pigs, whereupon the entire herd rushed down the hillside into the lake and drowned. 33 The swineherds fled, went off to the town and told the whole story, including what had happened to the demonized men.
----
Mark 5:1 Yeshua and his talmidim arrived at the other side of the lake, in the Gerasenes’ territory. 2 As soon as he disembarked, a man with an unclean spirit came out of the burial caves to meet him. 3 He lived in the burial caves; and no one could keep him tied up, not even with a chain. 4 He had often been chained hand and foot, but he would snap the chains and break the irons off his feet, and no one was strong enough to control him. 5 Night and day he wandered among the graves and through the hills, howling and gashing himself with stones.
6 Seeing Yeshua from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him 7 and screamed at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Yeshua, Son of God Ha‘Elyon? I implore you in God’s name! Don’t torture me!” 8 For Yeshua had already begun saying to him, “Unclean spirit, come out of this man!” 9 Yeshua asked him, “What’s your name?” “My name is Legion,” he answered, “there are so many of us”; 10 and he kept begging Yeshua not to send them out of that region.
11 Now there was a large herd of pigs feeding near the hill, 12 and the unclean spirits begged him, “Send us to the pigs, so we can go into them.” 13 Yeshua gave them permission. They came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering around two thousand, rushed down the hillside into the lake and were drowned. 14 The swineherds fled and told it in the town and in the surrounding country, and the people went to see what had happened. 15 They came to Yeshua and saw the man who had had the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were frightened. 16 Those who had seen it told what had happened to the man controlled by demons and to the pigs; 17 and the people began begging Yeshua to leave their district.
18 As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been demonized begged him to be allowed to go with him. 19 But Yeshua would not permit it. Instead, he said to him, “Go home to your people, and tell them how much Adonai in his mercy has done for you.” 20 He went off and began proclaiming in the Ten Towns how much Yeshua had done for him, and everyone was amazed.
----
Luke 8:26 They sailed on and landed in the region of the Gerasenes, which is opposite the Galil. 27 As Yeshua stepped ashore, a man from the town who had demons came to meet him. For a long time he had not worn clothes; and he lived, not in a house, but in the burial caves. 28 Catching sight of Yeshua, he screamed, fell down in front of him and yelled, “Yeshua! Son of God Ha‘Elyon! What do you want with me? I beg you, don’t torture me!” 29 For Yeshua had ordered the unclean spirit to come out of the man. It had often taken hold of him — he had been kept under guard, chained hand and foot, but had broken the bonds and been driven by the demon into the desert. 30 Yeshua asked him, “What is your name?” “Legion,” he said, because many demons had entered him. 31 They begged Yeshua not to order them to go off into the Bottomless Pit.
32 Now there was a herd of many pigs, feeding on the hill; and the demons begged him to let them go into these. So he gave them permission. 33 The demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, whereupon the herd rushed down the hillside into the lake and were drowned.
34 When the swineherds saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the town and in the country; 35 and the people came out to see for themselves. They came to Yeshua and found the man out of whom the demons had gone, sitting — dressed and in his right mind — at the feet of Yeshua; and they were frightened. 36 Those who had seen it told how the formerly demonized man had been delivered.
37 Then all the people of the Gerasene district asked him to leave them, for they had been seized with great fear. So he boarded the boat and returned. 38 The man from whom the demons had gone out begged that he might go with him; but Yeshua sent him away, saying, 39 “Go back to your home and tell how much God has done for you.” He went away proclaiming throughout the whole town how much Yeshua had done for him.
Aren’t you the least bit curious?
Did Yeshua have compassion on the demons by agreeing with them and sending them into the pigs instead of throwing them in the bottomless pit?
I highly doubt it.
The demons knew their fate. The bottomless pit is their final destination, and they are begging to not have the End come just yet. But the End isn’t here yet.
Yeshua knew all that had to happen before that time could come so there was no dispute at all in having them stick around.
But if He had destroyed them (and kept destroying instead of just removing them from people) then you and I wouldn't be contending with as many of these critters as we do.
Shouldn’t He have just destroyed them so you and I wouldn’t need to contend with them? Wouldn’t that have been nice of Him to do? Wouldn’t a loving God erase all evil from your path so you could live a nice clean, healthy and prosperous life?
And yet…
Are you entertaining a “legion” right now? Well, it’s not likely since you are able to read this far without breaking your device. But are there strongholds you’ve surrendered over to the demonic?
“No sir! Not me. I’m a glorious creation and there is no chance these things would be dwelling within me.”
Maybe. But is that you saying that or is it one of those demons trying to trick everyone so they can stay right where they are?
Do you manipulate? Do you carefully swirl your words? Do you have <<enter ailment of your choice that has no obvious root cause>>?
Not sure? Ask those close to you.
But you getting delivered is not why you’re here. So let’s look at a different aspect of this story.
Here is the biggest thing that stood out to me through this event: The people saw a crazy man get severely healed and they told Yeshua to leave.
What?!
Wouldn’t you be mesmerized by what you just saw (or heard)? I know I would. So what did they choose instead? Mammon.
They were pig farmers and they didn’t want their herds all destroyed. Through their perverted lens of their own livelihoods, they thought it would be best if people just stayed in bondage rather than lose their means of support. (Did you have that same feeling as I did just now? You know, thinking it was ridiculous people would choose pigs over people then realizing, ”oh…”)
How many epically possessed people do they have in this town anyway? Are there really enough people this messed up to destroy an economy? Maybe.
But is it worth it? It should be.
Do they think it’s worth it? Nope.
What about you? Would you seek lifestyle over healing? If so, you could be contending with mammon.
Now go back and read about demonic strongholds.