Day 15: Jesus shows His terrifying power over demons
In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the evil Lord Voldemort has possessed the little sister of Harry’s best friend, Ron. Voldemort is controlling Ginny and making her do terrible things she would never have done by herself. But at the end of the story, Harry confronts Voldemort and attacks the diary that Voldemort has been using to possess Ginny. Voldemort’s power gets sucked out of Ginny and she’s back to normal. In our passage today, Jesus calls evil spirits out of a man who has been completely overrun by them, and once again, we’ll see how terrifying Jesus’ power is.
How does Mark describe the demon-possessed man in verses 3–5?
In verse 6, what does the man do when he sees Jesus?
In verse 7, what does the man say to Jesus?
How is this similar to what the first demon-possessed man said to Jesus (see Mark 1:24)?
In verse 9, what does the man say when Jesus asks his name?
In the Roman army, a “legion” was a group of about 5,500 soldiers who worked together. So, the name Legion suggests that the man has been possessed by many demons and that they’re like a strong fighting force.
In verse 12, what do the demons ask Jesus to do?
How does Jesus respond to the request (v. 13)?
What happens when the demons go into the pigs (v. 13)?
How does this show the power of the demons and the even greater power of Jesus?
In verses 14–15, the pig herders run to tell everyone they know what has happened and people come to see for themselves. What do the people find when they come, and how do they react?
Why do you think the people are afraid?
In verse 17, the people beg Jesus to leave their region. But in verse 18, the man who used to be demon-possessed begs Jesus for something else. What is his request?
In verse 19, what does Jesus tell the man to do instead?
Jesus tells the man to tell his people how much the Lord (God) has done for him. But what does the man tell people in verse 20?
How does this story help us see that Jesus is God?
Praise Jesus for His power over the spiritual forces of evil, and ask Him to help you be like the man who was set free from demons and told everyone he knew how much Jesus had done for him.