1. Mark 5:20 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

What is the significance of this healed demoniac's testimony in the Decapolis region?

Mark 5:20 (ESV)

20 And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.

While Jesus leaves the region to return to Galilee, he now has a witness to represent him in the region east of the Lake of Galilee. The personal testimony of the healed demoniac will stand in the Decapolis region as a rock-solid case for God’s undeserved mercy and grace in Jesus, the Saviour of the World. In the Gospel of Mark, the healed demoniac becomes the first missionary-preacher sent out by Jesus. Remarkably, he is a Gentile sent to Gentiles.1 Jesus will return to this region and perform another miracle (Mark 7:31–37), perhaps to confirm the message of his new-found disciple.