Jesus and his disciples came to the other side of the sea, to the
territory of the Gerasenes. When he got out of the boat, at once a man from the
tombs who had an unclean spirit met him. The man had been dwelling among
the tombs, and no one could restrain him any longer, even with a chain. In
fact, he had frequently been bound with shackles and chains, but the chains had
been pulled apart by him and the shackles smashed, and no one was strong enough
to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the hillsides he was always
crying out and bruising himself with stones. Catching sight of Jesus from a
distance, he ran up and prostrated himself before him, crying out in a loud
voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure
you by God, do not torment me!” (He had been saying to him, “Unclean spirit,
come out of the man!”) He asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “Legion
is my name. There are many of us.” And he pleaded earnestly with him not to
drive them away from that territory.
Now a large herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside. And they
pleaded with him, “Send us into the swine. Let us enter them.” And he let them,
and the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine. The herd of about two
thousand rushed down a steep bank into the sea, where they were drowned. The
swineherds ran away and reported the incident in the town and throughout the
countryside. And people came out to see what had happened. As they approached
Jesus, they caught sight of the man who had been possessed by Legion, sitting
there clothed and in his right mind. And they were seized with fear. Those who
witnessed the incident explained to them what had happened to the possessed man
and to the swine. Then they began to beg him to leave their district. As he was
getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed pleaded to remain with
him. But Jesus would not permit him but told him instead, “Go home to your
family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.”
Then the man went off and began to proclaim in the Decapolis what Jesus had
done for him; and all were amazed.
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Reflection:
Do you plead Jesus to change you and make you a better person?
The man possessed by the legions of devil pleaded to Jesus not to drive
them away from the territory instead they wanted Jesus to send them into the
herd of pigs. So Jesus did what they wanted: He allowed them to enter the group
of swine/pigs. However the herd rushed into the sea where they drowned.
Why did Jesus did not annihilate the legion (evils) instantly instead He
allowed them to transfer to the herd of swine only to die by drowning? Perhaps,
Jesus acceded to their request because Jesus wanted them to convert and get rid
of their evil ways, but they did not.
In our own life we would always encounter life changing occurrences. Such
as survive a major health problem, an accident or a problem in the family. And
it serves as our wake-up call from God to change our ways and leave behind
sinfulness. There are some of us who get an awareness of this life changing
episode so we change and leave behind our sinfulness. However there are also
those who refuse to change and so they move forward with their sinful ways.
What would happen to those who refuse to leave behind sinfulness? To
those who continue to ignore God’s call to conversion? To those who were given
by God a second chance but refused to embrace it? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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