Bài Tin Mừng hôm nay cho chúng ta thấy một người bị quỉ ám sống trong những ngôi mộ rất hung dữ có có sức mạnh vô thường chân tay có thể bẻ gẫy cã những xích xiềng. Thánh Phaolô cũng có nói về người bị quỷ ám với nghĩa khác. Đó là người bị hoàn toàn cai trị bởi những ham muốn của cải riêng mình về thể chất và ý tưởng, những người chỉ biết và thích sống một cuộc sống gợi cảm, "họ đầy bất chính, xấu xa, tham lam, độc ác đủ thứ; nào là ganh tị, giết người, cãi cọ, mưu mô, thâm hiểm; nào là nói hành nói xấu, vu oan giá họa. Họ thù ghét Thiên Chúa, ngạo ngược, kiêu căng, khoác lác, giỏi làm điều ác, không vâng lời cha mẹ," (Rom. 1: 29-30).
Đây là tình huống đáng thương của sự yếu đuối con người chúng ta và cũng vì tình yêu bao la của Thiên Chúa đối với chúng ta mà Ngài đã sai Con Một của Ngài, là Chúa Giêsu Kitô đến để cứu chúng ta và cho chúng ta có khả năng mới để biến đổi cuộc sống của chúng tôi. Chúng ta có thể được mặc với Chúa Thánh Thần và những ý thức hệ của chúng ta được hướng về Thiên Chúa và tha nhân.
The gospel presents a demoniac who lived in the tomb and could not be shackled.
St. Paul said to us that the demonic is the person who is ruled entirely by his own physical desires and ideas, who only lives sensual lives, as the letter to the Roman said that "men steeped in all sorts of depravity, rottenness, greed and malice, and addicted to envy, murder, wrangling, treachery and spite, without love, pity and honor" (Rom. 1: 29-30). Jesus himself tells us that this is the situation within our heart "evil intentions emerge: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, pride, folly. This is what makes man unclean" (Mk 7: 21-23). This is our pitiable situation that is why out of immense love of God for us, He sent His only Son, Christ to save us and give us the new possibility to transform our lives. We can be clothed with the Holy Spirit and our senses directed towards God and our neighbor.
Jesus and his disciples came to the other side of the sea, to the territory of the Gerasenes. When he got out of the boat, at once a man from the tombs who had an unclean spirit met him. Mark 5:1–2
The day prior to today’s Gospel, Jesus taught the Jews many parables. Afterwards, Jesus asked the Twelve to accompany Him to the other side of the sea, despite the long day. When they arrived, they disembarked and immediately encountered a man possessed by demons. Jesus asked the demons their name and they replied, “Legion is my name. There are many of us” (Mark 5:9). This name illustrates this man’s horrific state. “Legion” referred to a group of 5,000–6,000 Roman soldiers. It might have been that this number of demons possessed the man.
The demoniac lived among the tombs, a place of sorrow and death, and manifested supernatural strength: “In fact, he had frequently been bound with shackles and chains, but the chains had been pulled apart by him and the shackles smashed, and no one was strong enough to subdue him” (Mark 5:4). Notably, as soon as Jesus arrived and disembarked, the demoniac ran up to Jesus, prostrated himself, and said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me!” (Mark 5:7). Even a legion of demons was powerless in the presence of the Son of God and was compelled to submit to His divine authority. As Jesus was commanding the demons to come out of Him, the demons pleaded to be sent into a herd of about 2,000 swine feeding on the hillside. Jesus permitted this, and the possessed swine immediately ran into the sea and drowned.
One easily missed detail found in today’s Gospel is that Jesus’ ministry in the territory of the Gerasenes, on the shore opposite Capernaum, was limited to this one act. The Gerasenes were a Gentile people living in a predominantly pagan region, where Jewish customs and the worship of the one true God were likely unfamiliar or disregarded. Their livelihood, symbolized by the swine—a ritually unclean animal in Jewish law—reflected their culture and religious distance from the Jewish faith. This cultural backdrop underscores the significance of Jesus crossing into this territory. His mission was universal. He came to bring liberation and salvation even to those outside the covenant, challenging barriers of ethnicity and religion.
The swine’s self-destructive plunge into the sea vividly illustrates the ultimate goal of demonic forces: destruction. The water symbolizes the defeat of evil, ultimately through Baptism. The Gerasenes’ response to Jesus’ healing was marked by fear rather than faith. Rather than welcoming Him, they begged Him to leave their district, showing their attachment to material concerns (the loss of the swine) and their inability to recognize the profound spiritual significance of His actions. This highlights the tragic reality of rejecting divine grace when it challenges human priorities or comfort. Once Jesus freed the demoniac, He and His disciples got back in the boat and returned home.
When Jesus entered the boat with His disciples the night before, He undoubtedly knew that His ministry would be limited to this one man, yet that was enough for Him to cross the sea. Through this act, Jesus planted a seed of faith. Although the Gentile Gerasenes rejected Him, this event likely sparked many conversations and much reflection. Slowly, the seed of faith did begin to grow in some of their hearts—mission accomplished!
Reflect today on the significance of this one powerful act of evangelization. We must imitate Jesus’ act of charity, even toward those who appear unredeemable. Ponder those you know who live objectively sinful lives. Are you willing to journey “across the sea,” stepping out of your comfort zone to extend love and mercy, even to those who might reject your efforts? Jesus was not discouraged by rejection. Though the demoniac converted, the townspeople did not—at least not immediately. Yet, that one seed bore fruit, as the healed man proclaimed Jesus’ mercy throughout the territory. Pray for the wisdom and courage to plant seeds of faith, trusting that God will bring the growth, even in the minds and hearts of those who appear lost and incapable of change.
Most merciful Jesus, Your authority is all-powerful, and Your love for all people is boundless. Grant me the wisdom and courage to go out of my way to reach those most in need of Your mercy and grace. Help me to see that no person is beyond redemption. Use me as an instrument to plant seeds of faith so that, through Your grace, they may grow and bring many into Your Kingdom. Jesus, I trust in You.
To most people, such an encounter would be terrifying. This man whose words are recorded above was possessed by a multitude of demons. He lived on the hillsides among various caves by the sea, and no one wanted to go near him. He was a violent man, crying out day and night, and all the townspeople were fearful of him. But when this man saw Jesus at a distance, something amazing happened. Instead of Jesus being terrified of the man, the multitude of demons possessing the man became terrified of Jesus. Jesus then commanded the many demons to leave the man and enter a herd of about two thousand swine instead. The swine immediately ran down the hill into the sea and drowned. The possessed man returned to normal, becoming clothed and in his right mind. All who saw him were amazed.
Clearly, this brief summary of the story does not adequately explain the terror, trauma, confusion, suffering, etc., that this man endured during the years of his diabolical possession. And it does not adequately explain the grave suffering of this man’s family and friends, as well as the disorder caused to the local townspeople as a result of his possession. Thus, to better understand this story, it is useful to contrast the before-and-after experience of all involved. It was very difficult for everyone to comprehend how this man could go from being possessed and out of his mind to calm and rational. For that reason, Jesus told the man to “Go home to your family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.” Imagine the mix of joy, confusion and disbelief that his family would have experienced.
If Jesus could transform the life of this man who was completely possessed by a Legion of demons, then no one is ever without hope. Too often, especially within our families and among old friends, there are those whom we have written off as irredeemable. There are those who have gone so far astray that they seem hopeless. But one thing this story tells us is that hope is never lost for anyone—not even those completely possessed by a multitude of demons.
Reflect, today, upon anyone in your life whom you have written off. Perhaps they have hurt you over and over. Or perhaps they have chosen a life of grave sin. Look at that person in the light of this Gospel and know that there is always hope. Be open to God acting through you in a profound and powerful way so that even the most seemingly irredeemable person you know will be given hope through you.
My most powerful Lord, I offer to You, this day, the person whom I call to mind who is most in need of Your redeeming grace. May I never lose hope in Your ability to transform their life, to forgive their sins and to bring them back to You. Use me, dear Lord, to be an instrument of Your mercy, so that they will come to know You and experience the freedom You so deeply desire that they receive. Jesus, I trust in You.
Encountering the Word of God
1. Divine Authority over Demons: In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus has begun to establish his twelve apostles as the new spiritual leaders for the Kingdom of God and the new family of God. He is demonstrating his divine authority to his apostles and will soon confer a share in this same authority upon them (Mark 6:7-13). On Saturday, we heard how Jesus calmed the storm on the sea. Today, we read about Jesus’ authority over demons in Gentile territory. “Just as the stilling of the storm showed his power over the forces of destruction in nature, so the exorcism of the demoniac shows his power over the forces of destruction within the human person” (Healy, The Gospel of Mark, 98). The demon tried to gain control over Jesus by invoking his name and title, “Jesus, Son of the Most High God.” But Jesus demands the demon’s name, “Legion,” and easily exorcises the demon or demons from the possessed man. Down through the ages, exorcists have continued this practice of asking the demon’s name and driving out the demon from the possessed in the name of Jesus.
2. Go Home to your Family: The demons asked to be allowed to enter the pigs grazing on the hillside in Gentile territory. When the demons left the man and entered the swine, they were unable to control their new hosts and met a watery demise. In fact, the treacherous waters of the sea, in the Old Testament, often symbolized the abode of evil. The man who was possessed allegorically represents the Gentile nations saved by Christ. “As pagans, they once lived apart from God amid the tombs of dead works, while their sins were performed in service to demons. Through Christ, the pagans are at last cleansed and freed from Satan’s domination” (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: Old and New Testament, 1796). The man, through his encounter with the merciful Christ, is brought from old life among the dead to new life among his family. The same happens to us in and through Baptism.
of Abraham, Issac, Jacob, and Joseph (Hebrews 11:8-22), and the faith of Moses (Hebrews 11:23-31), the author speaks about the time of the judges and King David as well as the stories in the Books of the Maccabees. He mentions those who were victorious and subdued kingdoms: “Gideon, who triumphed over the Midianites thanks to his obedience and faith on God (see Judg 7:2,4,7); Barak, who triumphed over the king of Hazor (Judg 4:14-16); Jephthah, conqueror of the Ammonites (Judg 11:29-33); and David, conqueror of the Philistines (2 Sam 5:17-25)” (Vanhoye, The Letter to the Hebrews: A New Commentary, 191). The list of the triumphs of faith reaches its peak not in military victories but in the victories obtained over death itself by women who voluntarily faced affliction. The author concludes, however, that these Old Testament heroes of faith did not obtain the promise of eternal inheritance and life before the victory of Jesus Christ. “It is Christ who, through his paschal mystery, made entry into the eternal inheritance possible. He it is who has “inaugurated the way” (Hebrews 10:20). The situation of Christians is therefore better than the former situation of the believers in Old Testament times. They were not able to precede the Christians. They had to wait to be “made perfect” with them through the unique oblation of Christ (Hebrews 10:14)” (Vanhoye, The Letter to the Hebrews: A New Commentary, 194).
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, make my faith in you rock solid, unwavering, and strong. May it weather the storms of life and resist the evil temptations of this world. May it flourish in good works of justice, charity, and mercy that merit eternal life.
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