August 11 Daily Devotional

Matthew 8; Mark 5; Luke 8

Jesus with his disciples came unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes—so the people were called who lived in and around the large city of Gadara. And when Jesus was come out of the ship, a man came running to meet them. This man was in a pitiful condition. Evil spirits had taken possession of him, and made him so wild and fierce that other people were afraid of him. “He made his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.

“But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him, and cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the Most High God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not … and he asked of him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many. And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country.

“Now there was nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine, feeding. And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine; and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea (about 2,000) and were choked in the sea.

“And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done. And they came to Jesus, and saw him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid. And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine. And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts.”

The man for whom Jesus had done so much, followed him to the ship, and “besought him that he might be with him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, Return to thine own house, and show how great things God hath done unto thee. And he went his way, and published throughout the whole city, how great things Jesus had done unto him.”