Jesus visits Gadara

Jesus visits Gadara

Luke 8:26-39

Jesus had travelled with his disciples across Lake Galilee.

The wild man in Gadara

On the other side of the lake, a wild man met Jesus. Nobody could control this man, because demons controlled him. For many years, he had lived naked among graves. People put chains on him, but he broke them quickly. Jesus ordered the demons to leave.

Soon the man had clothes on, and was quiet.

There were some pigs near there. So, when Jesus freed the man, the demons wanted to go into the pigs. Jesus permitted the demons to do this. Immediately, the pigs ran into the lake. (Jews consider pigs to be unclean animals. So, Jews think that God does not want them to keep pigs. They will not eat meat from pigs.) But the people in the town preferred their pigs to Jesus. They asked Jesus to leave that place. So Jesus had to cross the lake twice. He went through a storm to help one person, that is, the wild man of Gadara.

Tell everybody what God has done!

The man wanted to go with Jesus, but Jesus refused. Jesus told the man to go home. Jesus asked the man to tell everybody what God had done for him. The man did this very well, because Jesus went back there later. Then everybody gave him a good welcome. When we read about what Jesus did here, we see his total power. He had power even over demons.