Traditions: Mark; Luke Motif: A man among tombs is restored Connection verdict: Related narrative with local variations Article status: Expanded Date: 2026-10-30
Summary
Both Gospels describe a man living among tombs, the name Legion, a herd of pigs, and the restored man’s witness.
Read the two scenes
Both Gospels describe a man living among tombs, the name Legion, a herd of pigs, and the restored man’s witness. Mark stresses the man’s strength and many failed restraints; Luke says he had long worn no clothes and reports the aftermath differently. Place-name manuscripts and geographical labels differ in this tradition; a comparison should not force a precise modern map from the scene alone. Both texts emphasize return to social life.
What connects—and what does not
Mark stresses the man’s strength and many failed restraints; Luke says he had long worn no clothes and reports the aftermath differently.
Place-name manuscripts and geographical labels differ in this tradition; a comparison should not force a precise modern map from the scene alone. Both texts emphasize return to social life.
Why read them side by side?
The account is as much about a person restored to community as about the dramatic loss of the herd.
Sources and reading notes
- Mark 5:1-20 — Read the named verses in their literary context and compare translation choices.
- Luke 8:26-39 — Read the named verses in their literary context and compare translation choices.
Research limit
A named parallel can establish literary reuse or related tradition; a general resemblance alone cannot prove borrowing. Linked editions and translations vary. Where a source is identified as secondary orientation, the comparison does not claim direct close reading of that tradition’s primary text.