Mark 5:18-20 - Exposition

And as he was entering into the boat, he that had been possessed with devils besought him that he might he with him . It was natural that he should desire this. It would be grateful and soothing to him to be near to Christ, from whom he had received so great a benefit and yet hoped for more. And he suffered him not, but saith unto him; Go to thy house unto thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee. Our Lord here takes a different course from what lie so often took. He saw, no doubt, that this restored demoniac was fitted for missionary work; and there was no reason to apprehend any inconvenience to himself in consequence from a people who wished to get rid of him. And he went his way, and began to publish in Decapolis —in Decapolis, i.e. through the whole district of the ten cities— how great things Jesus had done for him . This would bring him into contact alike with Gentiles and with Jews; and so this dispossessed demoniac became a missionary to both Jew and Gentile. Here he planted the standard of the cross.