They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. 2 And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. 3 He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, 4 for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. 6 And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. 7 And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” 8 For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”
Jesus and His disciples stepped out of the boat after the storm and into a cemetery, where they were greeted by a human roadblock. Mark only talks about one of the two men, who probably served as the spokesmen. Mark's extensive details show us how much this memory stood out in the mind of Peter. He had known a lot of rough seamen in his life, but nothing like this. He was strong, wild, loud, dirty, violent, and emotionally, mentally, socially and spiritually unstable. They watch this man come running toward Jesus and fall down in front of Him. It all happened so fast none of them had time to think to run to Jesus' defense in case he was coming after Him. Or maybe, they were all just too scared - even more than they were by the storm on the Sea, or by Jesus' ability to calm it. What we find out at the end of the paragraph is that Jesus actually spoke first. Jesus was already commanding this unclean spirit to come out of the man. In other words, Jesus was not just reacting; He was on the offensive. He knew that their landing at the cemetery was no mistake. He was there to confront evil and Satan's forces head on. The demons were reacting to Him, begging Him for mercy they knew they did not deserve. As James tells us, even demons believe in God and tremble. That's what they do in Jesus' presence here. Peter was so glad they were with Jesus. He takes control in even the scariest of situations, even when the evil is so blatantly obvious.
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