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. And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. 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.” And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.
Comment: I’m assuming, maybe wrongly, that the pigs were Jewish pigs. Jesus’ ministry was primarily to the Jews. The Decapolis an area of 10 towns of which Gadara was one was apparently inhabited by Hellenistic Jews (Jews who combined their religion with Greek thinking) but there were no doubt some Gentiles living in the area. The herdsman, of whatever nationality fled to tell the pig-owners of their loss. They were no doubt scared because ‘they’ had lost their master’s animals. The now cured man had been both a spectacle and a problem to the whole area. When the towns-people came they saw the man, cured, at the the Master’s feet. They saw but it didn’t click in their minds, which were fixed on the pigs! ‘They began to beg Jesus to depart from their region‘ – I assume for selfish reasons. As Jesus set out to go across the Lake of Galilee the healed man wanted to leave with Him but Jesus, as He tells those of us who have been healed by Him, to go evangelize his local area! (In Amharic the word for Saviour is ‘medhanitachen’, ‘our medicine!’ – the One who heals us.) He, so the passage tells us, turned out to be a marvellous witness!
Proverbs 25: 20 Whoever sings songs to a heavy heart is like one who takes off a garment on a cold day, and like vinegar on soda. – May God help us to learn to sensitive to where people are!
Prayer: By life and lip and in every way possible, help me to be a faithful witness to You, Lord Jesus.
As I read it! 