Legion, II

The Legion’s ghastly face contorted as he leered at Jesus. Scabs and ragged scars covered his entire naked body. Father had once told me that Legion gashed himself with rocks as he wailed at night by the tombs. Now I could see for myself the awful destruction the demons had caused—nothing I had ever seen had terrified me so. The awful thing before me had the shape and language of a man, yet its body and voice were completely inhuman.
Legion shrieked a hideous laugh, scrabbling and writhing among the rocks. Jesus continued toward the Legion almost as quietly as before. I could see His lips moving slowly, forming words I could not hear, and I realized that the teacher’s eyes were closed as He walked. Was He praying at such a dangerous time? Didn’t He see that Legion was possessed? Hadn’t He heard the stories of men who had chained the Legion, only to find that the demons gave him strength to break any shackles?
Then Jesus stopped before the Legion. When he spoke, his words were clear, spoken in a gentle and level tenor. “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”
The Legion fell instantly to his knees, groveling at Jesus’ feet. His whole body trembled in the brown dust, thrashing and contorting before Jesus. Father clutched me close as Legion gave an agonizing howl, as if his body was breaking under the strain of the thousands within him. In his sickening, many-toned voice he wailed, “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son lf the Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment us!”
Awe stole my breath as the Legion’s words roared in my ears, so incredible I almost couldn’t comprehend them. Legion had never laid eyes on Jesus of Nazareth, yet the Legion had named Him the Son of God! The Messiah. This Jesus had the power to frighten hordes of demons, demons who called him the Son of God! As I watched him stand in peaceful strength, regarding Legion with compassion while he harshly rebuked the demons, the cold sweat of fear dried on my hands. I knew in that instant—I knew—that this man was He. With this knowledge came a sudden sense of peace, and as my pounding heart slowed I realized how my limbs had shaken and my breath had come in gasps.
Before my palms were completely dry and my breath caught deep in my lungs, the Legion ended his howling cries. He thrashed in the soil at Jesus’ hem, holding up his torn hands in supplication, head thrown back at a horrible angle as he stared sightless into the sky. There was a sudden silence as the Legion drew a great breath, broken only by the eerie cry of a bird overhead. Jesus spoke again, his voice still more calm and resonate than before.
“What is your name?”
The Legion’s body stiffened straight and still. As he spoke, the tones of his voice became increasingly garbled and earnestly pleading. “My name is Legion; for we are many! Son of God, do not send us from the country! Do not force us out, Highest One! O Mighty Son of God, do not drive us from this land!”
Jesus lifted his eyes in an unspoken prayer, then looked to Father and me. “There is a herd of swine on this mountain, is there not?”
I opened my mouth to answer Him when all of a sudden one of the other men said, “Listen! I hear some pigs now!”
Father and I turned as one to look in the direction the man pointed. A herd of swine trotted into view, thousands and thousands of them. Their backs were streaked with mud mixed from rain and dirt, and the ground trembled beneath their innumerable feet. As they came nearer, we edged back but Jesus faced Legion with serene assurance. The Legion raised clawed and grasping hands in distress. “Lord, let me stay in this country!”
“Yes. You will stay in this land, demons.” Jesus’ voice was tinged with a strange irony.
Legion gave a horrendous, hollowly triumphant laugh that echoed off the rocks. “Send us into the swine so that we may enter into them.”
Father gave a strangled cry of dread and my heart sank sickly in my chest. A strange and evil look gleamed in the Legion’s wild yellow eyes—heaving himself on all fours, he raised his twitching head in triumph, face contorting into his hideous, grinning leer. His screeching laugh strangled to a hoarse and wheezing gasp of infinite terror. Jesus raised His strong brown hands to heaven. To His Father.
“Leave this man all you many legions of evil spirits!”
Instantly the swine began squealing terribly, painfully, and running in the direction of the sea. Their sickening squeals and gurgling snorts deafened even my thoughts. Hundreds upon hundreds careened past us, running into the sea and drowning in the deep blue waves. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the ghastly, horrific sight of the demon-pigs diving madly to death, their corpses filling the waves. Then Father covered my eyes and forced my face against his chest. My stomach churned and I swallowed the sour taste in my mouth, struggling to breathe beneath the deluge of horrific images and sounds. As the awful screams of the hogs finally died away, I carefully opened my eyes. My entire body was sick, trembling, cold.
There was sudden silence for the second time this morning. As my mind cleared, I saw Jesus bending toward Legion, who lay on the ground as if dead with shallow breaths barely lifting his chest. For the first time since I had seen him, Legion’s muscles were relaxed and still beneath his bleeding and bruised skin. Tears filled his dark-ringed, exhausted eyes. His gaze was fixed on Jesus with adoration and gratitude so intense, I could hardly stand to look. With careful and infinitely tender hands, Jesus helped him sit. Giving a soft, sane sigh, Legion bowed his head into Jesus shoulder and wept.
“Lord Jesus, Son of God—“ He spoke in one voice now, broken and joyous and gentle. “Bless You, Mighty One!”
Jesus smiled a loving smile that radiated something far beyond words. Legion put a trembling hand to Jesus’ face and traced a tear that trailed down the Messiah’s cheeks. As a seabird’s piercing wail echoed from above the water, high in the gold sunlight, a desperate longing filled my heart. This man who was more than a man—Messiah, conqueror of demons, gentle lover, Son of God—fulfilled that yearning and drew me inexorably to Himself.
Jesus helped Legion stand, then walked with his hand on Legion’s shoulder, leading him down the steep hill toward the sea. I followed behind, wanting only to be near my Jesus and marveling still at what He had done. The rising sun had no glory compared to Him but as it rose it traced His outline and Legion’s with light, and they appeared to walk into its brilliance and disappear.