Daily Gospel for Friday 23 January 2026

Faith

As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed begged to go with him. But Jesus said, “No, go home to your family, and tell them everything the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been.”

Mark 5:18-19

This healing took place on the east side of the Sea of Galilee. It was a very different area from the other side of the lake, where Jesus spent most of his time living and ministering. Most of the people on the east side were Gentiles. Jesus was confronted with a man who lived in the burial caves and who couldn’t be restrained. He was known as Legion because there were so many evil spirits in him. No doubt the local population lived in great fear of him. Whenever he was put in chains and shackles, he just snapped the chains with his wrists and smashed the shackles. Jesus healed the man and ordered the evil spirits to enter a local herd of pigs. Two thousand of them hurtled down the hillside and drowned in the lake. Inevitably, the owners of the pigs were outraged by this, and the local population begged Jesus to leave the area.

It was clear that Jesus’ ministry in this area had come to an end, so although he was keen to stay with Jesus, Legion had a job to do. The people’s hostility meant Jesus couldn’t remain there, so Legion needed to be the messenger. Jesus ordered him to go to his family and tell them what had happened, and he was clearly very effective in this. We learn that he travelled throughout the region telling people the amazing things that Jesus had done.

There are many occasions when, like Legion, we might choose to keep things the way they are, but God wants us to move on. He wants us to go for the harder option of speaking to other people about him and helping them to understand how great he is.

QUESTION Are there times in your life when you should have been going out and speaking about your faith, but you chose the easier option of meeting up with other Christians?

PRAYER Loving Father, thank you for the amazing things that you have done in my life. Help me to always be ready to share them with others. Amen