Then Jesus asked him, what is your name? My name is Legion, he replied, for we are many — the name-question is part of the ancient exorcism pattern: knowing the name of a spiritual being was believed to give power over it. The answer is devastating in its scale: Legion is a Roman military unit of six thousand soldiers. The grammatical shift from singular (my name) to plural (we are many) reflects the reality of multiple demonic possession — the man speaks in the plural because the possession is collective. The name Legion also carries an involuntary political overtone: the most powerful military force of the occupied territory (Roman legions) is named as the enemy within this man.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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