#BibleStudy Signs and Wonders – Healing a Man Possessed by Many Demons – Mark 1:1-20. 08-15-2021 -- Discussion

Until we finish, my Sunday school class is studying Miracles of Jesus. The comments below are from our discussion this week.

 

Signs and Wonders – Miracles

Sunday School Lesson Series

Based on Signs and Wonders: Thirteen Miracles from the Life of Christ 

Serendipity House ©1998 - ISBN: 1-57494-107-0

Miracle #7 – Healing a Man Possessed by Many Demons – Mark 5:1-20

Read the miracle. Fill in the table.

Overall impression

• Bad news for the pig owners.
• Why would the crowd send Jesus away?
• High drama when the demons enter the pigs.
• The demons knew Jesus.
• In 1962, Israel passed a law prohibiting pig farming and slaughtering in that nation.

What would you do if you were a disciple and saw this infamous possessed man running toward you?

• Stand behind Jesus.
• Grab something you could use as a weapon.
• Get back to the boat asap!

What impresses you most about the demons in this story?

• They were afraid.
• They knew who Jesus was.
• They begged Jesus to leave without doing anything to them.
• They didn’t want to be sent far away.

Why aren’t disciples mentioned in this story?

• They stayed on the boat. Going to a cemetery, in a Gentile country would require following two cleansing rituals.

Why is Legion the man’s name?

• More than one.
• In the Roman army, a legion was 6000 men.

BONUS THOUGHTS THIS WEEK

 

Pigs

• Pigs were unclean animals and wouldn't have existed in Palestine if it had been up to the Jews. (Deuteronomy 14:8) Unfortunately, it was it. Palestine was occupied by Romans, and Romans wanted pigs to sacrifice in the temples; there was even a special pig tax, although it's not wholly clear what it entailed. By sending the Legion into the herd of swine, which subsequently destroyed itself, Jesus appears to make a statement similar to "render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar." (Matt 22:21) since Jesus is truth and truth will always prevail, whatever systems of belief are enjoying their fleeting moment of support, they will essentially all evolve off the stage of human experience. Jesus seems to say that fighting them as follows; just let them go.
• The main difference between a flock of sheep in the herd of swine is it the sheep know their shepherd and follow him voluntarily to their various green pastures. Pigs don't have such instinct and must be violently driven to unfamiliar places where they don't want to go. The word translated swine herd means "a thing driven."

Legion meaning

• The designation legion as a Roman military unit came about during the Marian reforms in 107 BC. A legion would contain around 4500 to 5500 legionnaires, professional soldiers who were Roman citizens, divided into cohorts which consisted of centuries, groups of 80 legioneers. 
• By stating that his name is Legion, the demoniac was being quite specific. In modern English, we like to use the word legion to indicate a myriad, but that's not what the word legion meant to the people in the first century A.D. Back in the day, the word Legion was Roman specific much like SS was to the Nazis.

The above informational paragraphs are from www.Abarim-Publications.com

Why did Legion cut himself with rocks?

• During lucid moments, the humanity left in him knew he was demon-possessed. He wanted to die rather than live as a demon-possessed human. 
• There a many examples of mental conditions that include self-mutilation.

 

We Got This Far This Week

 

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