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\(^{18}\)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.

It occurs to me that the man who had been possessed by demons may have felt like having a fresh start in life. He’d made trouble in the area he’d lived. It’s also possible he may have been motivated purely by a desire to be with Jesus. Whichever way, Jesus forbids him from coming with him, telling the man to go home and them how much the Lord has done for him. This must have been the harder thing for the man to do. But he obeyed, and it seems that God blessed his obedience.

Jesus himself got a poor reception in his home town. It’s often hard to go back somewhere you’ve left for a reason, or to go back somewhere where people knew you before some large change in your life. However, sometimes it’s good. People who really know you, or knew you might benefit from seeing you changed life, as they did when the man called legion came back, praising God for what he’d done for him.