05 What is Your Name? (Mark 5:1-20)

When Jesus steps onto the shore in Mark 5:1–20, he walks into a nightmare landscape—tombs, darkness, screaming, self-destruction—and asks one piercing question: “What is your name?” In this episode, we explore how that question exposes the real enemy within us, how Jesus confronts evil that no one else can tame, and how his authority not only sets a man free but gives him a new identity. In this week’s episode, we explore:Why the Bible insists that demons and spiritual evil are real, even in a skeptical, “naturalistic” ageHow the Gerasene demoniac’s life among the tombs paints a vivid picture of isolation, shame, and self-destruction we often recognize in ourselvesThe military language of “legion” and what it reveals about the scale and structure of the enemy Jesus confrontsWhat Jesus is really asking when he says, “What is your name?”—a question about identity, allegiance, and what dark realities remain hidden insideHow sins and struggles we try to manage—lust, addiction, jealousy, bitterness—operate like a legion within, and why no “chain” we forge can finally hold themWhy Jesus allows the demons to enter the herd of pigs, and how their plunge into the sea becomes a public, visible sign that evil has truly been driven outHow this story reframes the “real enemy,” not as Rome, politics, or our circumstances, but the deeper rebellion against God in the human heartThe townspeople’s fearful request for Jesus to leave—and his quiet response of leaving them a restored witness instead of forcing himself on themThe hope that in Christ, our true name is not “unclean,” “out of control,” or “too far gone,” but “redeemed, called by name, and mine”After listening, you’ll be invited to face Jesus’ question for yourself: Who are you, really—and who has the right to name you? You’ll see more clearly how the gospel addresses not just the storms around you but the storms within, and how Christ’s authority reaches to the very places you feel most ashamed, afraid, or out of control. And you’ll be encouraged to trust that there is no enemy—internal or external—beyond his power to defeat, and no life so shattered he cannot clothe, restore, and send as a living testimony to his mercy. Series: Questions Jesus AskedMost people fail at Bible study because no one ever taught them how. Bible Study Boot Camp fixes that: one short email a day for a week, plus a worksheet you can use on any passage for the rest of your life.Sign up for Bible Study Boot Camp