"And Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" He replied, "My name is Legion, for we are many." And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him, saying, "Send us to the pigs; let us enter them." So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out, and entered the pigs, and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and were drowned in the sea."
Introduction
This passage (Mark 5:9–13) describes Jesus' encounter with a man possessed by many demons. When asked his name, the man answers 'Legion, for we are many.' The unclean spirits plead not to be expelled from the region and ask to be sent into a great herd of pigs. Jesus permits this, the spirits enter the swine, and the herd—about two thousand animals—rushes down a steep bank into the sea and drowns.
Historical-Cultural Context and Authorship
The Gospel of Mark is traditionally attributed to John Mark, a companion of Peter, and most scholars date it to the 60s–70s CE, writing for a largely Gentile audience in Rome or along important Roman trade routes. Mark’s Greek is vivid and concise; here his language emphasizes immediacy and authority (frequent use of 'εὐθύς' or rapid narrative movement elsewhere in the Gospel). The phrase the man speaks is reported in Greek as 'Λέγιων, ὅτι πολλοί ἐσμέν'—'Legion, for we are many.' The term 'Legion' carries a clear Roman military resonance: a Roman legion was a large military unit, ordinarily several thousand soldiers, so the name communicates a powerful multitude.
Pigs are strictly 'unclean' in Jewish law (Leviticus 11:7–8), so their presence signals that the episode takes place in a predominantly Gentile area. Manuscript evidence varies in the place-name attached to this story (Gerasenes, Gadarenes, or Gergesenes), but most scholars place the scene on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, in or near the Decapolis, a Hellenistic-Gentile district. In the ancient Mediterranean world pigs were raised by Gentile villagers and were part of rural economies; the loss of a large herd would be an obvious economic catastrophe for local owners. Mark’s account thus intersects issues of purity, cultural boundary, economic life, and Roman political realities without importing speculative details beyond what early sources and the text support.
Characters and Places
Jesus — the itinerant teacher and healer who exerts authority over unclean spirits.
The possessed man — a socially isolated and tormented figure who speaks with the voices of the spirits within him and is restored by Jesus.
The unclean spirits — who identify themselves as 'Legion' and demonstrate both self-awareness and fear of expulsion.
The herd of pigs — unclean animals in Jewish law, significant as the receptacle for the spirits and as an economic loss to the region.
The hillside and the sea — the setting where the herd rushes down into the Sea of Galilee (or the nearby lake) and drowns.
The 'country' or region (Gerasenes/Gadarenes/Gergesenes) — a Gentile district on the eastern shore of the lake, marking a border between Jewish and Gentile worlds.
Explanation and Meaning of the Text
Mark presents this scene to show Jesus’ authority over hostile spiritual powers and to dramatize the liberation he brings. The demons’ self-designation 'Legion' signals not merely plurality but organized power; when confronted by Jesus, that power is exposed as destructive and ultimately subject to his command. Their plea not to be sent 'out of the country' and their request to enter the swine show the demons’ desire to remain present in this landscape; Jesus’ permission may be read as a deliberate act that forces the demons to reveal their nature and self-destruct, thereby making their evil visible and defeated.
The choice of pigs is theologically and socially significant. Pigs are ritually unclean for Jews, and their presence points to a Gentile milieu—Mark often locates Jesus’ power at the margins, among those excluded from normal religious life. The drowning of the herd underlines the devastation that demonic forces bring: their domain ends in ruin. At the same time, the economic loss helps explain the later fear and rejection by the local population (in the wider pericope): freedom for the man comes with a visible and costly disruption to the local order.
Linguistic notes: Mark’s Greek term for 'unclean spirits' (πνεύματα ἀκάθαρτα) aligns with Jewish ritual language about purity, while 'Λέγιων' evokes Roman military imagery for a largely Gentile or Roman-aware audience. The narrative functions theologically to show the in-breaking of God’s reign: Jesus confronts chaos and restores a human being to social and personal integrity, even when that restoration unsettles the social and economic structures around him. The episode also illustrates Mark’s recurring theme that Jesus’ actions provoke mixed responses—astonishment, fear, and sometimes rejection—because the kingdom he inaugurates reconfigures values and power.
Devotional
This passage invites us to stand with the one set free and to wonder at the authority of Christ over powers that wound body, mind, and community. Jesus asks for the demon’s name and meets the man where he is: exposed, tormented, and unheard. In the same way Jesus knows the names of our afflictions—fear, addiction, despair—and his power to restore is personal, precise, and compassionate. We can bring to him the darkest parts of ourselves, trusting that his authority holds even when the cost of liberation is unsettling or when healing upsets the status quo around us.
We are also called to examine what we value when the work of God brings change. The villagers were afraid and chose safety over the costly transformation Jesus enacted among them; their reaction challenges us to choose differently. Will we welcome freedom for others even if it disrupts our comfort or economic security? Will we pray for those oppressed by forces they cannot name, and will we follow Jesus as he reorders life toward wholeness? In quiet trust and honest courage, we can ask Christ to name and heal what binds us and to give us grace to live into the costly but liberating work he accomplishes.