<p>5:12 <em>And they pleaded with him, saying: Send us into the pigs, let us enter into them</em>- Mt. 8:31 adds: <em>&quot;</em>And the demons begged him, saying: If you cast us out&quot;. The word is used about 'casting out' to condemnation at the last day (Mt. 8:12; 22:13; 25:30; Lk. 13:28; Jn. 6:37). Legion was obsessed with the thought of condemnation at the last day, being 'tormented' at the last day (Mt. 8:28), being 'far off' from Christ and His salvation (see on Mt. 8:30), 'going away' into condemnation (s.w. Mt. 25:46), plunged into the sea of condemnation (see on Mt. 8:32). He correctly perceived that meeting Jesus in this life was in effect a meeting of Him in judgment, for even then, even now, He is the judge of all. The Lord was assuring Legion that his fear of condemnation was well and truly 'cast out'; His destruction of the pigs was an acted parable of final condemnation at the last day; and this addressed the man's paranoia about condemnation noted on :8. John's Gospel doesn't record this incident but as so often, he records the essential teaching in spiritual terms. In John's terms, we need have no fear of future condemnation, for we have received it now, and have passed from judgment to life and salvation. Legion had a fine understanding of the Lord Jesus. He realized that meeting Him was meeting his judge. And he ask that the pigs bear his condemnation. And the Lord agrees- which meant that once Legion had as it were received his condemnation, he had passed from death into life.&nbsp;</p><p>Legion believed he was demon possessed. But the Lord didn&rsquo;t correct him regarding this before healing him; indeed, one assumes the man probably had some faith for the miracle to be performed (Mt. 13:58). Lk. 8:29 says that Legion &ldquo;was driven of the devil into the wilderness&rdquo;, in the same way as the Lord had been driven into the wilderness <em>by the spirit</em> (Mk. 1:12) and yet overcame the &lsquo;devil&rsquo; in whatever form at this time. The man was surely intended to reflect on these more subtle things and see that whatever he had once believed in was immaterial and irrelevant compared to the Spirit power of the Lord. And yet the Lord &lsquo;went along&rsquo; with his request for the demons he thought were within him to be cast into &lsquo;the deep&rsquo;, thoroughly rooted as it was in misunderstanding of demons and sinners being thrown into the abyss. This was in keeping with the kind of healing styles people were used to at the time &ndash; e.g. Josephus records how Eleazar cast demons out of people and placed a cup of water nearby, which was then supposedly tipped over by the demons as they left the sick person <em>Antiquities of the Jews</em> 8.46&ndash;48. It seems to me that the Lord &lsquo;went along with&rsquo; that kind of need for reassurance, and so He made the pigs stampede over the cliff to symbolize to the healed man how his disease had really left him.</p><p>Mark 5 records three prayers to Jesus: &quot;The demons besought him&quot;, and &quot;Jesus gave them leave&quot; (:12,13); the Gadarenes &quot;began to beg him to depart out of their coasts&quot; (:17); and He obliged. And yet when the cured, earnestly zealous man &quot;begged him that he might be with him... Jesus suffered him not&quot; (:18,19). After the fascination, physically and intellectually, had worn off, very few of the crowds continued their interest. The Lord scarcely converted more than 100 people in the course of His ministry. We are familiar, from our own experience of sin and failure, with the pure grace of the Lord Jesus. We see that largeness and generosity of spirit within Him, that manifestation of the God of love, that willingness to concede to our weakness; and therefore we can tend to overlook the fact that the Lord Jesus set uncompromisingly high standards. I would even use the word &quot;demanding&quot; about His attitude.</p>