Costly Freedom

Numbers 19-20; Psalms 28; Mark 5

“Then Jesus asked him, ‘What is your name?’ ‘My name is Legion,’ he replied, ‘for we are many.’…The demons begged Jesus, ‘Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.’…The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned…Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.”

Mark 5:9, 12, 13, 17

The Decapolis was a Greek/Roman region with a pagan religion including the worship of Zeus and Pan. The pigs were used, not only for food, but also for pagan sacrifices. People in the region were afraid of the potential wrath of these pagan deities. When all their pigs died, they pleaded with Jesus to leave their region. The demonized man, who had been freed from a legion of demons, was sent by Jesus back into the Decapolis cities to share his story, including the Gospel.

What gods do we worship with our time, money, and ‘sacrifices’?

Are we prepared to do whatever it takes to get freedom from lust, self-indulgence, greed, and pride?

Will we go to Jesus (perhaps with a friend), and cry out to him for freedom, regardless of the cost?

“Lord Jesus, you are my deliverer and healer. My hope is in you, for your glory.”