The Life of Jesus

“Where is your faith?” He asked. Frightened and amazed, they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him!”

Then they sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, across the lake from Galilee.

When Jesus stepped ashore, He was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothing or lived in a house, but he stayed in the tombs.

When the man saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before Him, shouting in a loud voice, “What do You want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You not to torture me!”

For Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was bound with chains and shackles, he had broken the chains and been driven by the demon into solitary places.

“What is your name?” Jesus asked. “Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him.

And the demons kept begging Jesus not to order them to go into the Abyss.

There on the hillside a large herd of pigs was feeding. So the demons begged Jesus to let them enter the pigs, and He gave them permission.

Then the demons came out of the man and went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside.

So the people went out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and found the man whom the demons had left, sitting at Jesus’ feet, clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.

Meanwhile, those who had seen it reported how the demon-possessed man had been healed.

Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to depart from them, because great fear had taken hold of them. So He got into the boat and started back.

The man whom the demons had left begged to go with Jesus. But He sent him away, saying,

“Return home and describe how much God has done for you.” So the man went away and proclaimed all over the town how much Jesus had done for him.

When Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed Him, for they had all been waiting for Him.

Just then a synagogue leader named Jairus came and fell at Jesus’ feet. He begged Him to come to his house,

because his only daughter, who was about twelve, was dying. As Jesus went with him, the crowds pressed around Him,

including a woman who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years. She had spent all her money on physicians, but no one was able to heal her.

She came up behind Jesus and touched the fringe of His cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.

“Who touched Me?” Jesus asked. But they all denied it. “Master,” said Peter, “the people are crowding and pressing against You.”

But Jesus declared, “Someone touched Me, for I know that power has gone out from Me.”

Then the woman, seeing that she could not escape notice, came trembling and fell down before Him. In the presence of all the people, she explained why she had touched Him and how she had immediately been healed.

“Daughter,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”

While He was still speaking, someone arrived from the house of the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” he told Jairus. “Do not bother the Teacher anymore.”