Joel M Bradshaw

14The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. 15And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. 16And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs.17And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. 18As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. 19And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” 20And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.–Mark 5

1. CLOTHED AND IN HIS RIGHT MIND. The transforming work of Jesus brought changes both to the man’s outside and to his inside. The formerly demon possessed man literally was living Paul’s later words to put off the old self and put on the new (Colossians 3:9-10).
2. THEY WERE AFRAID. The man’s neighbors were once afraid of the monster he had become. Now they were afraid because he had been radically transformed. Seeing those demons come out must have been shocking. Seeing the new man was still shocking. For all the scorn of the old man, they simply weren’t prepared for the new.
3. GO HOME TO YOUR FRIENDS. Jesus made it possible for him to be restored to his community again. The man was once an outcast living in the tombs and the scorn of the town. He could go home and pursue friendship again. The Gospel aims to restore and reconcile.
4. TELL THEM. I see two motivations here. The first is one of gratitude. The former possessed man would have been the greatest traveling companion for Jesus in terms of advertising (not that Jesus needed that!). I see him as wanting to give back to Jesus. People come to Christ and want to serve at church. They want to give back. I also see the possibility that he didn’t want to go back home and face those people. It might have been easier to go with Jesus. Jesus wanted him to share his testimony with those God would bring to hear.

Know your story of transformation by Jesus and be prepared to share with others.–JMB