FIRST GOOD SAMARITAN BAPTIST CHURCH
The Caring Church, Preparing the World by Sharing the Word

WEEKLY WORD

LESSONS FROM LEGION

“The Enemy within our Inner Me”

[A Story of Deliverance from Mental Instability]

6 When Jesus was still some distance away, the man saw him, ran to meet him, and bowed low before him. 7 With a shriek, he screamed, “Why are you interfering with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In the name of God, I beg you, don’t torture me!” 8 For Jesus had already said to the spirit, “Come out of the man, you evil spirit.” 9 Then Jesus demanded, “What is your name?” And he replied, “My name is Legion, because there are many of us inside this man.”

Mark 5:6-9 New Living Translation

When looking at this passage of scripture in context, the entire chapter deals with Deity handling Humanity’s difficulties. Mark chapter 5 opens up with Deity dealing with demons followed by the disease of a woman with a blood disorder. Finally, Deity deals with the death of a 12 year old girl. However, today’s message places our emphasis on the mental awareness of a man who was demon possessed.

There was a conversation between Deity and Humanity that asked the question: “What is your name?” The answer was “My name is Legion, for we are many…” This man in our featured text battled many mental issues based on demon possession. This man’s mental issues put him in isolation where he made is residency within the cemetery. This man also endured self-mutilation because he consistently cut on himself. This is evidence of this man’s mental issues that Mark records.

However, the mentioning of his name is not the only interpretation of the text, by the name is also symbolic of the number of demons within the man. In other words, the name Legion speaks to the number of at least 6000 men. One of the Lessons of Legion is that it cannot be limited to one name but could possibly be seen and a number of ways within the mental state of a person.

A person may be dealing with “Depression” but the number of issues from depression could be insecurity, low self-esteem, abuse, infidelity, inadequacy, insufficiency, etc. A mental issue may be the name but the number may vary in multiple ways.

Dr. James A. Simmons, Senior Pastor