Mark 5:1–20
1 They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. 2 And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. 3 He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, 4 for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. 6 And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. 7 And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” 8 For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” 9 And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” 10 And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. 11 Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, 12 and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.” 13 So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.
14 The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. 15 And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. 16 And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. 17 And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. 18 As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. 19 And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” 20 And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.
Here again, as in the first exorcism in Mark 1:21-28 the demons know Jesus identity and freely declare it. They identify him here as the "Son of the Most High God." In chapter 1 the demon identified him as the "Holy One of God."
Remember this is a theme that Mark is drawing out throughout the book. Up until this point we have had God the Father declare his identity at his baptism and two encounters with demons who declare his identity. We are yet to see a person definitively state their belief in Jesus' identity. God obviously knows who he is and even the demons do as well, but the jury is still out on his identity for the people in our narrative.
At this point in the narrative it is becoming quite laughable or even frustrating. As the reader you may find yourself shaking your head at the lack of faith of the disciples or those encountering Jesus. You may even quietly say, "What is wrong with these people? How blind can you be?" But that is the point. So many of us are tempted to think that if only God would perform miracles in the sight of unbelievers than they would be so confronted with the power of God and fall on their knees to worship him. The biblical narrative doesn't bear that conclusion out. Instead when people are confronted with the power of Jesus they often respond with fear and rejection, as we see here. In Luke 16 Jesus tells a parable of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man is in Hades asking Abraham to send Lazarus (a beggar who used to sit outside his gate and is now in heaven) to warn his family of the horrors of hell. Abraham responds, "If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead." This of course rings true, as we see with the Pharisees and religious leaders rejection of Jesus and persecution of the Apostles even after Jesus' resurrection. So what will convince them of Jesus true identity?