20. Someone said to Jesus, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside. They want to see you.”
21. Jesus answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those who listen to God’s teaching and obey it!”
22. One day Jesus and his followers got into a boat. He said to them, “Come with me across the lake.” And so they started across.
23. While they were sailing, Jesus fell asleep. A big storm blew up on the lake. The boat began to fill with water, and they were in danger.
24. The followers went to Jesus and woke him. They said, “Master! Master! We will drown!”Jesus got up and gave a command to the wind and the waves. The wind stopped, and the lake became calm.
25. Jesus said to his followers, “Where is your faith?”The followers were afraid and amazed. They said to each other, “What kind of man is this? He commands the wind and the water, and they obey him!”
26. Jesus and his followers sailed across the lake from Galilee to the area where the Gerasene people live.
27. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man from the town came to Jesus. This man had demons inside him. For a long time he had worn no clothes. He lived in the burial caves, not in a house.
28. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him. The man said with a loud voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Please don’t punish me!”
29. He said this because Jesus had commanded the evil spirit to come out of him. Many times it had taken hold of him. He had been kept under guard and chained hand and foot. But he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon out into the desert.
30. Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”The man answered, “Legion.” (He said his name was “Legion” because many demons were in him.)
31. The demons begged Jesus not to send them into eternal darkness.
32. On the hill there was a large herd of pigs eating. The demons begged Jesus to allow them to go into the pigs. So Jesus allowed them to do this.
33. Then the demons came out of the man and went into the pigs. The herd of pigs ran down the hill and into the lake. All the pigs drowned.
34. The men who took care of the pigs ran away. They told about this in the town and the countryside.
35. And people went to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and found the man sitting there at Jesus’ feet. The man was clothed and in his right mind because the demons were gone. But the people were frightened.
36. The men who saw these things happen told the others all about how Jesus had made the man well.
37. All the people of the Gerasene country asked Jesus to go away. They were all very afraid. So Jesus got into the boat and went back across the lake.
38. The man that Jesus had healed begged to go with him. But Jesus sent him away, saying,
39. “Go back home and tell people what God did for you.” So the man went all over town telling how much Jesus had done for him.