“My name is Legion” (Mark 5:1-20)

Biblical reflections by Mauro Leonardi*, priest and writer

Lazarus comes to meet Jesus from the tomb, but called by the affection of his loved ones and by the emotion of Christ, founded on a profound human friendship. This man is possessed, because he comes from the tombs, but there he lives alone, without self-control, isolated from the world. But here too Jesus works his miracle, and places that loneliness and desperation in a herd of pigs, bringing upon himself the fate of loneliness and incomprehension that had previously tormented that man.

From the Gospel according to Mark 5:1-20

At that time, Jesus and his disciples reached the other shore of the sea, in the country of the Gerasenes. Once he got off the boat, a man possessed by an impure spirit immediately met him from the tombs.

This man had his home among the tombs and no one was able to keep him tied, not even with chains, because he had been tied several times with shackles and chains, but he had broken the chains and split the shackles, and no one was able to tame him anymore. Continuously, night and day, among the tombs and on the mountains, he shouted and beat himself with stones.

Having seen Jesus from afar, he ran up, threw himself at his feet and, shouting in a loud voice, said: «What do you want from me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, in the name of God, do not torment me! In fact he said to him: «Come out, impure spirit, from this man!». And he asked him: «What is your name?». «My name is Legion – he replied – because there are many of us». And he insistently begged him not to chase them out of the country.

There was a large herd of pigs grazing there on the mountain. And they begged him: "Send us to those pigs, so that we may enter into them." He let her. And the unclean spirits, having gone out, entered into the pigs, and the herd rushed down from the cliff into the sea; there were about two thousand of them and they drowned in the sea.

Their herdsmen then fled, brought the news to the city and the countryside and the people came to see what had happened. They came to Jesus, saw the demoniac sitting, clothed and sane, he who had been possessed by the Legion, and they were afraid. Those who had seen explained to them what had happened to the demoniac and the incident with the pigs. And they began to beg him to leave their territory.

While he was getting back into the boat, the one who had been possessed begged to be allowed to stay with him. He did not allow him, but said to him: "Go to your house, to your family, tell them what the Lord has done for you and the mercy he has had for you." He went away and began to proclaim throughout the Decapolis what Jesus had done for him and everyone was amazed.

* Mauro Leonardi (Como 1959) has been a priest since 29 May 1988 and has lived in Rome since then. He spends many hours of his day as a priest and prefers building bridges rather than raising walls. For years he has been writing stories, articles, essays and books that revolve around the relationship between man and God. Author of the blogLike Jesus. Abelis (Lindau) is his latest novel. The volunteers of the Gionata Project thank him for wanting to share these reflections on the Word with us.