When Jesus Went To Gadara Series

When Jesus went to Gadara

Introduction: Jesus spent the larger portion of His ministry in Judea and Galilee. He and the disciples did indeed go to a few other places, like Samaria, but this time the group headed east to the land of Gadara. They encountered some things they probably never forgot!

Prologue: The Voyage Across the Lake

Text: Luke 8:22-25, KJV: 22 Now it came to pass on a certain day, that he went into a ship with his disciples: and he said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth. 23 But as they sailed he fell asleep: and there came down a storm of wind on the lake; and they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy. 24 And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish. Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm 25 And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him.

“A certain day”. Nothing was ever random or chance with Jesus. He always obeyed the Father, going and doing only according to the Father’s will. Here is no exception: He was busy teaching and preaching until, on “a certain day”, He and the disciples got into a boat and crossed the sea of Galilee to arrive at Gadara. The Sea of Galilee was maybe a few miles across and a boat could sail or be rowed across in a few hours, some have estimated. That is, if the weather stayed good.

For at least some of the trip, all seemed well, but then the weather turned bad. Stormy. I’ve heard some Bible teachers explain that winds could more or less funnel through the mountains of Galilee and blow into fierce storms that could high waves, large enough to swamp boats or make them sink. To make things worse, for the disciples, even though Jesus was with them in the boat, He was sound asleep! If that doesn’t prove His humanity, what else would?

The disciples, frightened (and who could blame them?), knew they were in trouble. According to verse 23, the boat was beginning to fill with water and if there was too much water in a too small boat, the boat and everything in it was headed in one direction—down.

So they cried out for Jesus, saying “Master, master, we perish” or, in a word, “HELP!” Jesus, apparently calmly, rebuked the wind and water and everything calmed. Then He rebuked the disciples (!), asking, “Where is your faith?” By now they should have known that anywhere and at any time they were with Jesus, then that was the safest place ever to be.

This made such an impact on them that the disciples wondered aloud, “What manner of man is this! The winds and water obey Him when He commands them!” To be fair, this may have been the first time all 13 men were in the boat, crossing the Sea of Galilee during a storm. No matter, because, as they found out, Jesus was and is Ruler over wind, water, and all of Nature.

1 The man possessed by evil spirits

Text: Luke 8:26-31, KJV: 26 And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee. 27 And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not. 29 (For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.) 30 And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him. 31 And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep.

After the storm, Jesus and the disciples arrived at “the country of the Gadarenes (other words include Gergesenes and Gerasenes, per Ellicott based on the cross-reference in this passage to one in Matthew; https://biblehub.com/commentaries/ellicott/matthew/8.htm). This area was generally on the east and southern areas of the Sea of Galilee. We’re never told how many Jews were living there during our Lord’s days on this earth. He was about to meet one very special man from that region, however!