Mark 5: 8-15…..Pigs in a Jewish area.

For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.” 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.
The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.

Comment: Continuing on from yesterday… Jesus had as this passage opens already recognized the ‘spirit’ problem from which the man was suffering and had ordered it (they) to leave the man. The word ‘Legion’ meant a specific large number in military terms but here I fancy is equivalent to ‘many’. I have no idea why the evil spirits did not want to leave the area. Possibly as they had been destructive in the demonised person they wanted to be destructive to the property of the person(s) who owned the pigs and maybe underneath it all bring an accusation against Jesus. The owners and their friends would, as business people often are, be hugely annoyed at their property loss.

The city came out when notified by the swineherds of the healing of the man and the loss of the pigs. What did they see? They saw the Son of God clothed in human flesh and a miracle. How will they react?

Prayer: Help me not to judge by outward appearances nor to miss eternal realities, O God.