26 And they came to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee.
27 And when he had come to the land, there came to him a certain man from the town who had evil spirits; and for a long time he had had no clothing on, and was not living in a house but in the place of the dead.
28 And when he saw Jesus, he gave a loud cry and went down on the earth before him and in a loud voice said, What have I to do with you, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Do not be cruel to me.
29 For he gave an order to the evil spirit to come out of the man. For frequently it would take a grip of him: and he was kept under control, and prisoned with chains; but parting the chains in two, he would be sent by the driving of the evil spirit into waste places.
30 And Jesus said to him, What is your name? And he said, Legion; for a number of spirits had gone into him.
31 And they made a request to him that he would not give them an order to go away into the deep.
32 Now there was a great herd of pigs in that place, getting food on the mountain: and the evil spirits made a request to him that he would let them go into the pigs, and he let them.
33 And the evil spirits came out of the man and went into the pigs: and the herd went rushing down a sharp slope into the water and came to destruction.
34 And when the men who took care of them saw what had come about, they went quickly and gave news of it in the town and the country.
35 And they went out to see what had taken place, and they came to Jesus and saw the man out of whom the evil spirits had gone, seated, clothed and with full use of his senses, at the feet of Jesus; and fear came on them.
36 And those who had seen it gave them an account of how the man who had the evil spirits was made well.
37 And all the people of the country of the Gerasenes made a request to him to go away from them; for they were in great fear: and he got into a boat and went back.
38 But the man from whom the evil spirits had gone out had a great desire to be with him, but he sent him away, saying,
39 Go back to your house and let them have news of all the great things which God has done for you. And he went away, giving word through all the town of the great things which Jesus had done for him.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Luke 8
Commentary on Luke 8 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 8
Most of this chapter is a repetition of divers passages of Christ's preaching and miracles which we had before in Matthew and Mark; they are all of such weight, that they are worth repeating, and therefore they are repeated, that out of the mouth not only of two, but of three, witnesses every word may be established. Here is,
Luk 8:1-3
We are here told,
Luk 8:4-21
The former paragraph began with an account of Christ's industry in preaching (v. 1); this begins with an account of the people's industry in hearing, v. 4. He went into every city, to preach; so they, one would think, should have contented themselves to hear him when he came to their own city (we know those that would); but there were those here that came to him out of every city, would not stay till he came to them, nor think that they had enough when he left them, but met him when he was coming towards them, and followed him when he was going from them. Nor did he excuse himself from going to the cities with this, that there were some from the cities that came to him; for, though there were, yet the most had not zeal enough to bring them to him, and therefore such is his wonderful condescension that he will go to them; for he is found of those that sought him not, Isa. 65:1.
Here was, it seems, a vast concourse, much people were gathered together, abundance of fish to cast their net among; and he was as ready and willing to teach as they were to be taught. Now in these verses we have,
Now from the parable itself, and the explication of it, observe,
Luk 8:22-39
We have here two illustrious proofs of the power of our Lord Jesus which we had before-his power over the winds, and his power over the devils. See Mk. 4 and 5.
We may learn a great deal out of this story concerning this world of infernal, malignant spirits, which, though not working now ordinarily in the same way as here, yet we are all concerned at all times to stand upon our guard against.
Let us now see what was the effect of this miracle of casting the legion of devils out of this man.
Luk 8:40-56
Christ was driven away by the Gadarenes; they were weary of him, and willing to be rid of him. But when he had crossed the water, and returned to the Galileans, they gladly received him, wished and waited for his return, and welcomed him with all their hearts when he did return, v. 40. If some will not accept the favours Christ offers them, others will. If the Gadarenes be not gathered, yet there are many among whom Christ shall be glorious. When Christ had done his work on the other side of the water he returned, and found work to do in the place whence he came, fresh work. They that will lay out themselves to do good shall never want occasion for it. The needy you have always with you.
We have here two miracles interwoven, as they were in Matthew and Mark-the raising of Jairus's daughter to life, and the cure of the woman that had an issue of blood, as he was going in a crowd to Jairus's house. We have here,