They
came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. When he had come out of the boat, immediately a man with an unclean spirit met him out of the tombs. He lived in the tombs. Nobody could bind him any more, not even with chains, because he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him, and the fetters broken in pieces. Nobody had the strength to tame him. Always, night and day, in the tombs and in the mountains, he was crying out, and cutting himself with stones. When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and bowed down to him, and crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have I to do with you, Jesus, you Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, don’t torment me.” For he said to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”
Mark 5:1-8
Mark 4 [41.] They were greatly afraid, and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
Mark 5 [1.] They came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. When he had come out of the boat, immediately a man with an unclean spirit met him out of the tombs. He lived in the tombs. Nobody could bind him any more, not even with chains, because he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him, and the fetters broken in pieces. Nobody had the strength to tame him. Always, night and day, in the tombs and in the mountains, he was crying out, and cutting himself with stones. When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and bowed down to him, and crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have I to do with you, Jesus, you Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, don’t torment me.” For he said to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”
Mark 5 [9.] He asked him, “What is your name?” He said to him, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” He begged him much that he would not send them away out of the country. Now on the mountainside there was a great herd of pigs feeding. All the demons begged him, saying, “Send us into the pigs, that we may enter into them.”
Meaning:
Mark 5 opens immediately after Jesus calmed the storm. The disciples had just asked, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (Mark 4:41). On the far shore the answer comes from an unexpected witness: a tormented man, ruled by an unclean spirit, who runs to Jesus, falls before him and calls him “Son of the Most High God.” These verses show the terrible bondage that evil brings, the failure of every human remedy, and the unrivalled authority of Jesus, who crossed a stormy sea to reach one desperate man.
- A Gentile Shore and a Place of Death
The “other side of the sea” was the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, a mainly Gentile area linked to the Decapolis, a league of Greek-style cities. Ancient manuscripts name the district in different ways: Gadarenes, Gerasenes or Gergesenes. Gadara was a city a few miles inland, Gerasa a larger city further away, and Gergesa probably a village on the shore where steep slopes meet the water. The names describe the same region rather than contradict one another. Matthew mentions two men possessed by demons, while Mark and Luke focus on the one who spoke with Jesus and later became his witness.
Everything about the setting was unclean to a devout Jew: Gentile territory, a great herd of pigs, and tombs. Under the Law, “He who touches the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days” (Numbers 19:11), and Isaiah described rebellious people “who sit among the graves ... who eat pig’s flesh” (Isaiah 65:4). Jesus deliberately stepped into the very kind of place religious people avoided, because “the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).
- The Misery of a Bound Man
Mark paints a vivid picture. The man lived among the tombs, cut off from home and town. He had been bound with fetters and chains, but tore them apart. Night and day he roamed the tombs and hills, crying out and cutting himself with stones. Luke adds that “He wore no clothes, and didn’t live in a house, but in the tombs” (Luke 8:27). He was dangerous to others and destructive to himself, a picture of what evil does to people made in God’s image.
People had tried to control him by force, yet “Nobody had the strength to tame him.” Chains, guards and isolation could restrain his body for a time but could not set him free. His self-harm recalls the prophets of Baal, who “cut themselves in their way with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them” (1 Kings 18:28). Dark powers degrade the bodies of those they hold, whereas God declares that the bodies of his people are “a temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:19).
- The Spirit Recognizes the Son of the Most High God
When the man saw Jesus far off, he ran and bowed down before him. The spirit within him knew exactly who Jesus was. “Most High God” was a title for the God of Israel often heard on Gentile lips; years later a spirit-possessed slave girl in Philippi would call Paul and his companions “servants of the Most High God” (Acts 16:17). In the synagogue at Capernaum another unclean spirit had cried, “I know you who you are: the Holy One of God!” (Mark 1:24), and Mark tells us that unclean spirits regularly “fell down before him, and cried, ‘You are the Son of God!’” (Mark 3:11).
Yet recognition is not faith. “The demons also believe, and shudder” (James 2:19). There is irony in the spirit’s plea, “I adjure you by God,” the language an exorcist would use, as though it could bind the Son of God with an oath. Matthew records the fuller cry, “Have you come here to torment us before the time?” (Matthew 8:29). The spirits knew that their judgement was fixed and that the Judge stood before them.
- Jesus Commands, and Evil Must Obey
Verse 8 explains the outburst: Jesus had already said, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” There was no ritual, no incantation and no long struggle, only his word. In Capernaum he had said, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” (Mark 1:25). He had also taught that “no one can enter into the house of the strong man to plunder, unless he first binds the strong man” (Mark 3:27). The man whom no one could bind now met the One who binds the strong man.
The order of events in Mark is deliberate. The Jesus who rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” (Mark 4:39) now rebukes the storm raging inside a human life. His authority over chaos in nature extends to chaos in the spiritual world.
The Significance of Mark 5:1-8
- No One Is Beyond Christ’s Reach
If anyone looked hopeless, it was this man. Yet Jesus crossed a stormy lake and landed exactly where he was. Believers should never write people off: the addicted, the violent, the mentally tormented, or those living on the edges of society. Wise care will include medical and practical help, for the Gospels distinguish illness from demonic oppression, and we should not label every struggle as demonic. But we can go where Jesus went, with compassion and the good news that sets people free.
- Christ’s Victory Over the Works of the Devil
“To this end the Son of God was revealed: that he might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). Through his death and resurrection Jesus delivers “all of them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Hebrews 2:15). Christians need not fear evil powers. We stand under the authority of the One whose word made a legion of spirits tremble.
Cross-References:
Mark 3:27: "But no one can enter into the house of the strong man to plunder, unless he first binds the strong man; and then he will plunder his house." The man no chains could hold meets the One who binds the strong man.
James 2:19: "You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe, and shudder." The spirit’s confession shows that knowing who Jesus is differs from trusting him.
Isaiah 65:4: "who sit among the graves, and spend nights in secret places; who eat pig’s flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels;" Isaiah’s picture of graves and pigs matches the unclean setting Jesus entered.
1 John 3:8: "He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. To this end the Son of God was revealed: that he might destroy the works of the devil." Jesus came to undo the devil’s works, as this deliverance shows.
Conclusion: Mark 5:1-8 shows the depth of human bondage and the greater depth of Christ’s power and compassion. Tombs, broken chains and self-harm describe a life ruined by evil, yet one command from Jesus begins a new story. Whatever chains bind us or those we love, the Son of the Most High God is stronger, and he still comes to the outcast to set him free.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible