Citations: Matthew 8:28-34 || Mark 5:1-20 || Luke 8:26-39
Narrative summary
Jesus crosses Lake Galilee to Gentile territory (east shore). Met by demoniac(s) living in tombs, naked, unclean, uncontrollable (broken chains, cuts himself with stones, Mark). Jesus commands the demon(s) to come out. Demon(s) identify themselves: "Legion, for we are many" (Mrk + Luk).
Demons beg not to be sent to the abyss; ask permission to enter a nearby herd of pigs. Permission granted. ~2,000 pigs (Mark detail) rush down a steep bank into the lake and drown. Herdsmen flee + tell the city; people come out + find the demoniac clothed + in his right mind, sitting at Jesus's feet. They are afraid + ask Jesus to leave. The healed man asks to go with Jesus; Jesus sends him home to testify what God has done; he proclaims in the Decapolis.
Place-name discrepancy
Matthew names the place "Gadarenes"; Mark + Luke name "Gerasenes" (with manuscript variants including "Gergesenes"). Three cities are involved:
- Gadara, ~6 miles SE of Lake Galilee; one of the Decapolis cities
- Gerasa, further SE; major Decapolis city
- Gergesa (Kursi), actual lakeside site, archaeologically plausible
Critical scholarship reads this as Markan/Matthean conflation + later scribal harmonization attempts. The textual issue is noted here without resolving it.
"One" or "two" demoniacs
Matthew describes two demoniacs; Mark and Luke describe one. This is the same kind of harmony question raised by the blind man (or men) at Jericho, and the same options are on the table. Proposals: Matthew records both who were present while Mark and Luke spotlight the more notorious or vocal one; or the evangelists shape a single event differently for their own purposes. Both are set out here without forcing one, and neither proposal contradicts the others' core report.
Theological significance
Authority over demonic, Jesus's authority extends not just to one demon but Legion (a Roman military unit of ~5,000-6,000 soldiers, symbolic of overwhelming evil). The Kingdom of God's in-breaking displaces demonic occupation.
Pigs detail, many ethical questions raised: was destroying property defensible? Was the destruction necessary or merely permitted? Patristic readings sometimes saw the pig-herd as Gentile uncleanness; modern readings note pigs were unclean to Jews (Leviticus 11:7-8) and shouldn't have been raised by anyone observing kosher law. The text doesn't address the ethics directly.
Restoration imagery, "sitting at Jesus' feet, clothed and in his right mind" reverses the previous condition (naked + raging + violent). Restoration of personhood-by-Jesus is the miracle's deepest meaning.
Gentile-mission anticipation, Decapolis was Gentile territory. The healed man becomes the first NT missionary to Gentiles, sent by Jesus specifically to publish his story before the wider Gentile mission opens at Acts 10.