TGBC: demoniac

Mark 5:1-20

Disciples’ Literal New Testament

Jesus Casts Demons Out of a Man Into a Herd of Pigs. The Locals Beg Him To Leave

5 And they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. 2 And He having gone out of the boat, immediately a man with an unclean spirit met Him, out of the tombs— 3 who was having his dwelling-place in the tombs. And no one was able to bind him any-more, not even with a chain, 4 because he often had been bound with shackles and chains and the chains had been torn-apart by him, and the shackles broken. And no one was strong-enough to subdue him. 5 And continually, by night and by day, in the tombs and in the mountains, he was crying-out and cutting himself with stones. 

6 And having seen Jesus from a distance, he ran and prostrated-himself before Him. 7 And having cried-out with a loud voice, he says “What do I have to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most-High God? I make You swear by God, do not torment me”. 8 For He was saying to him, “Come out of the man, unclean spirit”. 9 And He was asking him, “What is the name for you?” And he says to Him, “The name for me is Legion, because we are many”. 10 And he was begging Him greatly that He not send them outside of the country. 

11 Now there was a large herd of pigs feeding there at the mountain. 12 And they begged Him, saying “Send us to the pigs, in order that we may enter into them”. 13 And He permitted them. And the unclean spirits, having come out, entered into the pigs. And the herd, about two-thousand, rushed down the steep-bank into the sea. And they were drowning in the sea. 

14 And the ones feeding them fled and reported it in the city and in the fields. And they came to see what the thing having happened was. 15 And they come to Jesus, and see the one being demon-possessed sitting, having been clothed and being sound-minded— the one having had the “legion”. And they became afraid. 16 And the ones having seen it related to them how it happened to the one being demon-possessed, and about the pigs. 17 And they began to beg Him to depart from their districts. 

18 And while He was getting into the boat, the one having been demon-possessed was begging Him that he might be with Him. 19 And He did not permit him, but says to him, “Go to your house, to your people, and report to them all-that the Lord has done for you, and that He had mercy on you”. 20 And he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all-that Jesus did for him. And they all were marveling.

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For some reason, maybe that it makes me feel close to Mark the Evangelist with his peculiarities, I especially like DLNT and Hart's new translation of the New Testament. There in the text above are Mark's writing idiosyncrasies, his repetitive kai, his historical present. I think there's a droll play on words here that might escape the Roman authorities as Mark names the unclean spirits Legion, standing for the Roman military occupation, and Jesus sending them into filthy pigs, unclean swine in Jewish thought.

Either factually or literally, Mark gets by the presence of pigs being farmed by the fact that the Geresenes were primarily gentiles.

Another remarkable thing here is the absence of the Messianic Secret as a spirit proclaims him: Jesus does not command the unclean spirit(s) to keep quiet about him. Why do you suppose that is? Again, perhaps that the idea of Jesus being the messianic son of God would have no meaning for those gentile residents in that situation? IDK. From the literary perspective, is Mark showing us that Jesus is known everywhere? Mark the Gospeller can be as imaginative as Mark the Twain. And Luke (8:26-39) remembers the even a bit differently.

Nor, in sending away "the one having been demon-possessed" does Jesus tell him to keep his mouth shut. To the contrary, Jesus tells him to go report how much the Lord has done for him, and the man obeys, telling how much Jesus has done for him. Mark's word for the Lord is ὁ κύριός, which also in the Greek Septuagint is used for God to translate the Hebrew y'hVah that would be spoken Adonai or haShem: is this significant for Mark, whom we think of as having a low Christology? Some English translations have Jesus telling the man to report how much the Master has done for him (don't know about that translation of Mark's ὁ κύριός though).

For storyteller Mark, is his story in any sense an indication of Jesus also being "for the gentiles"? IDK. 

There are people who are not interested in my elementary seminary literary approach to the Bible and who prefer a devotional approach. With that in mind, what life lesson might one bring out of this text, Mark's story of Jesus and the Geresene demoniac?

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