Luke 8:39, commentary and pictures

After freeing the demon-tormented men at Gadara, Jesus sent them back to their own house and people to tell and show how great things God had done for them. Their deliverance restored their minds and conduct and made them whole, giving them reason to praise God with gratitude. They obeyed by going through the whole city and throughout Decapolis, proclaiming how greatly Jesus had helped and freed them. Though they had heard little of His teaching, they could testify to what they had personally seen and experienced of His saving power, and as the first missionaries to that heathen region they remained as witnesses after He left. Their testimony awakened interest in His kingdom, convinced many that He was the Son of God, and opened the way for the gospel, showing that everyone whose heart has been touched by grace can bear this witness from personal experience.

Setting and Command

The command was given at Gadara, a prosperous and partly heathen city on the table-land above the lake, in connection with the freeing of two demon-possessed men. Those two dangerous men had lived among the caves and tombs beside the road leading to the city. The words were spoken at Jesus' return from that healing.

After freeing the man from demons, Jesus sent him and his fellow restored man back to his own house, home, people, household, friends, neighbors and community to tell and show how great things God had done for them. The charge was to return home and make known what God had done and how greatly He had helped and freed them. Their deliverance from demonic torment and bondage restored their minds and conduct and made them whole. Afterward they praised God and glorified the One who had made them whole, and their restoration became reason for gratitude. The people of Gadara saw the healed men sitting with Jesus, yet rejected Him because they feared financial loss over the swine. While the healed men remained with Jesus, the keepers hurried away to spread news of the loss of the swine, showing how worldly interests can lead people to refuse Christ and His teaching and to drive His Spirit from their hearts.

Testimony and Mission

The command to return home and tell how greatly God had helped him was obeyed by going through the whole city publishing what Jesus had done for him. That witness was not limited to his household, but was proclaimed throughout the region and through Decapolis, telling how greatly Jesus had helped them and freed them from demons and describing His power to save.

They were the first missionaries sent to Decapolis, charged to share the light they had received with their heathen households, neighbors, and the Gentiles. This charge was given despite the difficulty of returning to society after long isolation, yet they were to carry the message to their own people and go throughout Decapolis declaring Jesus' power to save and how He had freed them from demons. Those recently held under Satan's power thus became servants of God and channels of truth to people who had sent Jesus away and had not heard His teaching.

Though they had heard little of Jesus' teaching, they could testify to what they had personally seen and heard and felt and experienced of His saving power and mercy. Their witness shows that people changed by God's grace can tell others of His mercy, and that those freed from Satan's bondage are to serve others by sharing the good news of Christ's saving power as messengers of the gospel.

Although Jesus left the region, the delivered men remained there to make known the mercy and power of their Benefactor as witnesses to His power to people who had rejected Him. Though the people had rejected Jesus, the men freed from demonic power stayed to testify to Him, and their testimony about what Jesus had done drew attention to Christ and opened the way for the gospel throughout the region. That testimony awakened interest in His kingdom and powerfully helped convince the people of the region that He was the Son of God, and helped bring its people to hear the message of salvation.

Everyone whose heart has been touched by God's grace can bear this kind of witness from personal experience, for Christ calls for it and the world is perishing for lack of it. People whom Christ has restored are to return to their own communities and tell what God has done for them, and their testimony is evidence that God's mercy and power can transform even those deeply degraded by sin into messengers of righteousness.