A forty-year spiral in a cul-de-sac
Good handyman
Weak judgment
Living with grandmothers and aunts
In and out of jail – couldn’t hold him
I need a visitor
A call from jail – come get a hot meal but you cannot come inside
Ragged shirt and torn pants…no shoes, no socks
Last effort at generosity socks but no shoes
In the street without a home
Come Lord Jesus, come
GOSPEL MIRRORING
The Healing of the Gerasene Demoniac (Mark 5:1-20)
1 They came to the other side of the sea, to the territory of the Gerasenes. 2 When he got out of the
boat, at once a man from the tombs who had an unclean spirit met him. 3 The man had been
dwelling among the tombs, and no one could restrain him any longer, even with a chain. 4 In fact,
he had frequently been bound with shackles and chains, but the chains had been pulled apart by
him and the shackles smashed, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Night and day
among the tombs and on the hillsides he was always crying out and bruising himself with
stones. 6 Catching sight of Jesus from a distance, he ran up and prostrated himself before
him, 7 crying out in a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High
God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me!” 8 (He had been saying to him, “Unclean spirit,
come out of the man!”) 9 He asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “Legion is my name.
There are many of us.” 10 And he pleaded earnestly with him not to drive them away from that
territory.
11 Now a large herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside. 12 And they pleaded with him,
“Send us into the swine. Let us enter them.” 13 And he let them, and the unclean spirits came out
and entered the swine. The herd of about two thousand rushed down a steep bank into the sea,
where they were drowned. 14 The swineherds ran away and reported the incident in the town and
throughout the countryside. And people came out to see what had happened. 15 As they
approached Jesus, they caught sight of the man who had been possessed by Legion, sitting there
clothed and in his right mind. And they were seized with fear. 16 Those who witnessed the
incident explained to them what had happened to the possessed man and to the swine. 17 Then
they began to beg him to leave their district. 18 As he was getting into the boat, the man who had
been possessed pleaded to remain with him. 19 But he would not permit him but told him instead,
“Go home to your family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has done for
you.” 20 Then the man went off and began to proclaim in the Decapolis what Jesus had done for
him; and all were amazed.