Jesus told the crowd, “These who come to listen to me are like my mother and my brothers. They’re the ones who long to hear God’s words and put them into practice.”
One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s get in a boat and go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set sail, and soon Jesus fell asleep. But a fierce wind arose and became a violent squall that threatened to swamp their boat. Alarmed, the disciples woke Jesus up and said, “Master, Master, we’re sinking! Don’t you care that we’re going to drown?”
With great authority Jesus rebuked the howling wind and surging waves, and instantly they became calm. Then Jesus said to them, “Why are you fearful? Have you lost your faith in me?”
Shocked, they said with amazement to one another, “Who is this man who has authority over winds and waves that they obey him?”
As soon as they stepped ashore on the eastern side of the lake in the land of the Gerasenes, the disciples were confronted by a demon-possessed madman from a nearby town. Many times he had been put under guard and bound with chains, but the many demons inside him had repeatedly thrown him into convulsions, breaking his shackles and driving him out of the town into the countryside. He had been demonized for a long time and was living naked in a cemetery among the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet and screamed out, “What are you doing here? You are Jesus, the Son of the Most High God!”
Jesus commanded the demons to come out of him, and they shouted, “We beg you, don’t torture us!”
Jesus asked the man, “What is your name?”
“Mob,” the demons answered. “We are a mob, for there are many of us here in this man. We beg you, don’t banish us into the Abyss!”
On the hillside nearby, there was a large herd of pigs, and the demons pleaded with Jesus, “Let us enter into the pigs.” So Jesus ordered all the “mob” of demons to come out of the man and enter the pigs. The crazed herd of swine stampeded over the cliff into the lake and all of them drowned.
When the herders tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off in fear and reported it to the nearby town and throughout the countryside. Then the people of the region came out to see for themselves what had happened. When they came to where Jesus was, they discovered the notorious madman totally set free. He was clothed, speaking intelligently, and sitting at the feet of Jesus. They were shocked! Then eyewitnesses to the miracle reported all that they had seen and how Jesus completely delivered the demonized man from his torment.
After hearing about such amazing power, the townspeople became frightened. Soon all the people of the region of the Gerasenes and the surrounding country pleaded with Jesus to leave them, for they were gripped with fear. So Jesus got into the boat, intending to return to Galilee. But the man who had been set free begged Jesus over and over not to leave, saying, “Let me be with you!”
Jesus sent him away with these instructions: “Return to your home and your family, and tell them all the wonderful things God has done for you.” So the man went back and preached to everyone who would listen about the amazing miracle Jesus had worked in his life.
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