Silence The Storm
When Jesus finished these parables, and on that day when evening had come, he saw the crowd surrounding him and gave orders to his disciples, “Let us cross over to the far shore,” and he departed from there after dismissing the crowd. Jesus got into the boat, and the disciples followed him, and other boats were with him. As they sailed, Jesus fell asleep. As time passed a great windstorm arose in the sea, and the waves broke into the boat, so the boat was being filled and enveloped. The disciples were overwhelmed and in peril. As this was happening, Jesus was still sleeping on the pillow in the stern. And they roused him and said to him, “Master, Teacher, does it not matter to you that we are perishing? Save us!” (Mark 4:34-38, Matthew 8:18, 23-25, Luke 8:22-25)
Jesus, being woken, rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Be silent, quell yourself!” And the wind fell, and a great calm came about. And he said to them, “Why are you so afraid? How is it you have so little faith?” And they marveled and were afraid, enormously afraid, and said to one another, “Who then is this man, that he commands even the wind and the sea, and they obey him?” (Mark 4:39-41, Matthew 8:26-27, Luke 8:25)
Demon Possessed Man
And they came to the far shore of the sea, into the region of the Garasenes, which lies opposite Galilee. As he disembarked from the boat, one or two men with impure and demonic spirits came out to meet him from the tombs, which, for a considerable amount of time, had worn no garments or lived in a house. The men were extremely dangerous, and no one was strong enough to pass by that road. The men had their dwelling among the tombs, and no one was able any longer to bind them with a chain since they had often been bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by them. They also shattered the shackles. No one had the strength to subdue them. Every night and day, he was among the tombs and in the mountains, crying out and gashing himself with stones. (Mark 5:1-5, Matthew 8:28, Luke 8:26-27)
Upon seeing Jesus from afar, the men cried out and fell prostrate before Jesus. In a loud voice, they said, “What do I have to do with you, Son of God Most High? I implore you, by God, do not torment us. Did you come here to torment us before the due season?” Jesus was commanding the unclean spirit to come out from the man and said, “Come out from the man, impure spirit.” For many times it had seized hold of him, and he had been bound with chains and fetters, and tearing the bonds apart, he was driven by the demon into the desert places. Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” And he replied, “Legion, because we are many,” for many demons had entered him. And they vehemently implored him that he would not order them to depart into the Abyss. (Luke 8:28-31, Mark 5:6-10, Matthew 8:29)
Now near the mountain, a good distance from them, there was a herd of many swine feeding there on the hills. The demons begged him to let them enter into those, saying, “If you exorcize us, send us into the swine, so that we might enter into them.” Jesus granted them permission immediately and said, “Go.” So the demons, on coming forth from the man, entered into the roughly 2000 swine, and the herd rushed down the precipice into the sea and was drowned. Upon seeing what had happened, the herdsman fled and reported it in the city and in the fields. As the townspeople went out to see what had happened and came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had departed sitting clothed and in his right mind by the feet of Jesus. They were all afraid. The eyewitnesses who had seen it recounted how the demoniac had been healed. (Luke 8:32-36, Mark 5:11-16, Matthew 8:30-34a)
The whole populace of the surrounding region of Gerasenes begged him to depart from them and pleaded with Jesus to pass on beyond their borders because they were gripped with great fear. So Jesus embarked on the boat to go back. However, the former demoniac begged Jesus that he might be with him. But Jesus did not permit him to come, but instead said to him, “Go to your house, to your own family, and report to them the things the Lord has done for you, and that he showed you mercy.” And the man departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis the things Jesus did for him, and everyone was amazed. (Mark 5:17-20, Luke 8:37-39, Matthew 8:34b)
