Single lesson
Jesus Frees the Men among the Tombs
Matthew 8:28–34; Mark 5:1–20; Luke 8:26–39
These passages describe severe oppression, fear, and a dramatic change after Jesus arrives. Students will examine what each Gospel says, notice both shared events and different details, and consider how people respond to Jesus.
Before you teach
Matthew says Jesus was met by two demon-possessed people coming from the tombs, while Mark and Luke focus on one man and describe his condition in more detail. All three passages show Jesus confronting unclean spirits, the pigs rushing into the water, local people reacting in fear, and a healed man being told to speak about what God had done.
Students will be able to trace the main events in Mark 5:1-20, compare key details with Matthew 8:28-34 and Luke 8:26-39, and identify at least three requests and outcomes in the passages.
Welcome: Read carefully and notice the differences
6 minExplain that this lesson handles difficult material soberly. Invite students to observe before interpreting. Point out one important comparison at the start: Matthew mentions two demon-possessed people, while Mark and Luke each describe one man in focus. Ask students to listen for requests made to Jesus and for the outcomes that follow.
Matthew 8:28, Mark 5:2, Luke 8:27
Read and explain: The condition described in Mark and Luke
10 minRead Mark 5:1-13, then compare selected verses in Luke and Matthew. Mark and Luke describe a man living among the tombs, beyond human restraint, and driven by an unclean spirit. Mark says he was cutting himself with stones, and Luke says he wore no clothes and had long been seized. Jesus commands the unclean spirit to come out. When asked its name, the reply is, “Legion, for we are many.”
Mark 5:2, Mark 5:3, Mark 5:4, Mark 5:5, Mark 5:8, Mark 5:9, Luke 8:27, Luke 8:29, Luke 8:30, Matthew 8:28
Discuss: Requests, fear, and visible change
8 minStudents list each request in the passages and what follows. The demons beg to enter the pigs, and Jesus permits this. Those caring for the pigs report what happened. In Mark and Luke, the restored man is later seen sitting, clothed, and in his right mind. The local people become afraid and ask Jesus to leave their region.
Matthew 8:31, Matthew 8:32, Matthew 8:33, Matthew 8:34, Mark 5:12, Mark 5:13, Mark 5:15, Mark 5:17, Luke 8:32, Luke 8:33, Luke 8:35, Luke 8:37
Respond with evidence: Compare the witnesses table
10 minStudents work in pairs to make a three-column table headed Matthew, Mark, and Luke. They record shared events and distinct details under exact verses. Encourage careful wording: Matthew says two people met Jesus, while Mark and Luke trace one healed man’s restored condition and later commission. Finish by circling the responses of demons, townspeople, and the healed man.
Matthew 8:28, Matthew 8:34, Mark 5:15, Mark 5:18, Mark 5:19, Luke 8:35, Luke 8:38, Luke 8:39
Closing: What was the healed man told to do?
6 minBring the group back together and read the sending words in Mark and Luke. Students summarise, in one or two sentences, what the healed man was told and what he actually did. Conclude by noting that the text presents mercy from the Lord and a public testimony about what God, and in Luke also Jesus, had done.
Mark 5:19, Mark 5:20, Luke 8:36, Luke 8:39
Questions to explore
What differences do you notice between Matthew’s opening description and the openings in Mark and Luke?
Start with who meets Jesus and how each passage introduces them, without forcing the accounts into one wording.
Matthew 8:28, Mark 5:2, Luke 8:27
Which details in Mark and Luke show the severity of the man’s condition before Jesus acted?
Look for where he lived, how others tried to restrain him, and the signs of long-term distress named in the text.
Mark 5:3, Mark 5:4, Mark 5:5, Luke 8:27, Luke 8:29
Who asks for something in these passages, and what outcome follows each request?
Trace the requests of the demons, the townspeople, and the healed man, then match each request with Jesus’ response or the result that followed.
Matthew 8:31, Matthew 8:34, Mark 5:18, Mark 5:19, Luke 8:31, Luke 8:37, Luke 8:38, Luke 8:39
Make, think or respond
Compare the Witnesses Table
What you’ll need
- Paper
- Pens or pencils
- Bibles
- Ruler or straight edge
Try it together
- Draw a three-column table labelled Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
- Read Matthew 8:28-34, Mark 5:1-20, and Luke 8:26-39, and note shared events in all three columns.
- Add distinct details under the Gospel where they appear, such as Matthew’s two people or Mark and Luke’s fuller description of the healed man.
- Underline every request made to Jesus or about Jesus, and write the outcome beside it.
- Use the completed table to give a short evidence-based summary of what each Gospel says.
This activity helps students compare the passages carefully, notice shared events and distinct details, and track the choices and outcomes named in the text.
Adapt for your group
- For students who need more structure, provide the table headings and a starter list of exact verses to sort under shared events, requests, and outcomes.
- For students ready for extension, ask them to write a brief comparison of Mark 5:19-20 and Luke 8:39, noting exactly what the man is told to declare and what he then proclaims.
An optional closing prayer
You may pray: "Lord Jesus, help us read this passage truthfully and carefully. Teach us from your word about your authority, your mercy, and the different ways people respond to you."
Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic
Matthew 8
28 When he came to the other side, into the country of the Gergesenes, two people possessed by demons met him there, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that nobody could pass that way.
29 Behold, they cried out, saying, “What do we have to do with you, Jesus, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?”
30 Now there was a herd of many pigs feeding far away from them.
31 The demons begged him, saying, “If you cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of pigs.”
32 He said to them, “Go!” They came out and went into the herd of pigs; and behold, the whole herd of pigs rushed down the cliff into the sea and died in the water.
33 Those who fed them fled and went away into the city and told everything, including what happened to those who were possessed with demons.
34 Behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus. When they saw him, they begged that he would depart from their borders.
Mark 5
1 They came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.
2 When he had come out of the boat, immediately a man with an unclean spirit met him out of the tombs.
3 He lived in the tombs. Nobody could bind him any more, not even with chains,
4 because he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him, and the fetters broken in pieces. Nobody had the strength to tame him.
5 Always, night and day, in the tombs and in the mountains, he was crying out, and cutting himself with stones.
6 When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and bowed down to him,
7 and crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have I to do with you, Jesus, you Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, don’t torment me.”
8 For he said to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”
9 He asked him, “What is your name?” He said to him, “My name is Legion, for we are many.”
10 He begged him much that he would not send them away out of the country.
11 Now on the mountainside there was a great herd of pigs feeding.
12 All the demons begged him, saying, “Send us into the pigs, that we may enter into them.”
13 At once Jesus gave them permission. The unclean spirits came out and entered into the pigs. The herd of about two thousand rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and they were drowned in the sea.
14 Those who fed the pigs fled, and told it in the city and in the country. The people came to see what it was that had happened.
15 They came to Jesus, and saw him who had been possessed by demons sitting, clothed, and in his right mind, even him who had the legion; and they were afraid.
16 Those who saw it declared to them what happened to him who was possessed by demons, and about the pigs.
17 They began to beg him to depart from their region.
18 As he was entering into the boat, he who had been possessed by demons begged him that he might be with him.
19 He didn’t allow him, but said to him, “Go to your house, to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you and how he had mercy on you.”
20 He went his way, and began to proclaim in Decapolis how Jesus had done great things for him, and everyone marveled.
Luke 8
26 Then they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is opposite Galilee.
27 When Jesus stepped ashore, a certain man out of the city who had demons for a long time met him. He wore no clothes, and didn’t live in a house, but in the tombs.
28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, “What do I have to do with you, Jesus, you Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torment me!”
29 For Jesus was commanding the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For the unclean spirit had often seized the man. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and fetters. Breaking the bonds apart, he was driven by the demon into the desert.
30 Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He said, “Legion,” for many demons had entered into him.
31 They begged him that he would not command them to go into the abyss.
32 Now there was there a herd of many pigs feeding on the mountain, and they begged him that he would allow them to enter into those. Then he allowed them.
33 The demons came out of the man and entered into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.
34 When those who fed them saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country.
35 People went out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.
36 Those who saw it told them how he who had been possessed by demons was healed.
37 All the people of the surrounding country of the Gadarenes asked him to depart from them, for they were very much afraid. Then he entered into the boat and returned.
38 But the man from whom the demons had gone out begged him that he might go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying,
39 “Return to your house, and declare what great things God has done for you.” He went his way, proclaiming throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.
World English Bible Classic. Public domain.
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