Luke 8

Haystack bible commentary

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==Luke 8:26-35:

They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee. 
​27 When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. 
​28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!” 
29 For Jesus had commanded the impure spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.
30 Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”
“Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him. 
31 And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.
32 A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he gave them permission. 
33 When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.
34 When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside,
 35 and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.

​Jesus confronted a maniac who had been demonized for a long time. In this state, the man had the spirit of fear, which drove him to acts of violence, nudity, uncleanness, and no permanent structured homelife. When the demons left him at the command of Jesus, he was found sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind.

Luke 8:35 – “Then they went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind: and they were afraid.” This man was once mentally deranged but now is completely healed. He is now capable of thinking logically, soberly and spiritually.
--Olin Williams; Choctaw Nation