Jesus and his disciples crossed Lake Galilee and came to shore near the town of Gerasa.
When he was getting out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit quickly ran to him from the graveyard where he had been living. No one was able to tie the man up anymore, not even with a chain. He had often been put in chains and leg irons, but he broke the chains and smashed the leg irons. No one could control him. Night and day he was in the graveyard or on the hills, yelling and cutting himself with stones.
When the man saw Jesus in the distance, he ran up to him and knelt down. He shouted, “Jesus, Son of God in heaven, what do you want with me? Promise me in God’s name that you won’t torture me!” The man said this because Jesus had already told the evil spirit to come out of him.
Jesus asked, “What is your name?”
The man answered, “My name is Lots, because I have ‘lots’ of evil spirits.” He then begged Jesus not to send them away. Over on the hillside a large herd of pigs was feeding. So the evil spirits begged Jesus, “Send us into those pigs! Let us go into them.” Jesus let them go, and they went out of the man and into the pigs. The whole herd of about two thousand pigs rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned.
The men taking care of the pigs ran to the town and the farms to spread the news. Then the people came out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had once been full of demons. He was sitting there with his clothes on and in his right mind, and they were terrified.
Everyone who had seen what had happened told about the man and the pigs. Then the people started begging Jesus to leave their part of the country. When Jesus was getting into the boat, the man begged to go with him. But Jesus would not let him. Instead, he said, “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how good he has been to you.”
The man went away into the region near the ten cities known as Decapolis and began telling everyone how much Jesus had done for him. Everyone who heard what had happened was amazed.
Mark 5:1-20
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Quickly find that famous story. These pages show the life of Jesus as a timeline. There are four different ways to view it. You can see the major events in Jesus’ life, from his birth to his death and resurrection. You can also look at his parables and soundbites, and at his miracles. Each version of the timeline has plenty of links which lead to the original stories of Jesus, written in his own time by his first followers.
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Jesus is born
Baptized in the Jordan
Water into wine
Lowered through the roof
Born again
Calling first disciples
Jesus’ manifesto
Salt of the earth
Rock and sand
Don’t judge others
A log in your eye
Where the seed fell
Calming a storm
The man in the graveyard
Jairus’ daughter
The woman in the crowd
Feeding 5,000 people
Walking on water
The real neighbour
Rich… but stupid
One of our sheep is missing
Lost and found
Welcome home
A slave to two masters
Gaining the whole world
Jesus is transfigured
A boy with epilepsy
Mustard seed faith
Pride and humility
Camels and needles
Blind Bartimaeus
Riding into Jerusalem
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