Seventh Day Baptist
Christian Education Council
PO BOX 1678
Janesville, WI 53547
—Mark 5:1-13
by: Jo Anne Kandel.
The vivid descriptions of the life of the demon-possesed man help us to see what a miserable person he must have been. Did the local people chain him to keep him from hurting himself? Did they sneak out to the tombs with food for the man and then run away in fear? The story does not provide these details, but it does tell us that Jesus had compassion on the man and that he sent the evil spirits into pigs, relieving him of his misery.
While modern medicine has more effective treatments for mental illness than those used in the first century, the healing power of Jesus is still very important for spiritual and mental restoration.