After their scary boat ride, Jesus and the twelve arrived in the “country of the Gerasenes” (5:1). This country was a Gentile region. The Jews viewed Gentiles as unclean people. And the most unclean person in that place was about to meet Jesus. As soon as Jesus stepped off the boat, “a man with an unclean spirit” (5:2) rushed toward him. He was possessed by demons and lived in a tomb cut from stone that was filled with dead bodies (how very unclean!). If that’s not bad enough, there was “a great herd of pigs . . . feeding there on the hillside” (5:11). Now you might think, “Piglets are so cute.” But God’s law clearly stated: “And the pig . . . is unclean to you” (Lev. 11:7). So this is one unclean scene! There’s a demon-possessed Gentile living with dead bodies and pigs.

This super-unclean man needed some superstrong cleaning powers. But it was worse than that, because Mr. Super-Unclean was also Mr. Superstrong. “And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him” (Mark 5:3–4). His strength came because he was possessed by a large and powerful group of demons called “Legion” (5:9). In those days, the word legion described a group of six thousand Roman foot soldiers. Who was strong enough to crush that many demons? Could the Snake Crusher do it? Amazingly, the battle scene lasted only a few seconds. Who do you think won? It was the Snake Crusher! Jesus simply commanded, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” (5:8), and soon the thousands of unclean spirits came out. And where did they go? Into the unclean pigs. The pigs were so spooked that they stampeded down the steep mountainside and crashed into the sea. With just a few words Jesus conquered the demons, showed he was the Son of God, and cleaned this man of his unclean spirit. What do you think that man did? He “began to proclaim . . . how much Jesus had done for him” (5:20). He had really good news to share!