Demons lived in a world buzzing with activity just beyond the recognition of this world. We will never understand the story in our text for today unless we realize that demons were, first of all, intensely real to the people of Jesus day and to this poor deranged man. The Gospel of Mark is especially filled with the theme of Jesus and the disciples confronting and casting out demons. The air was so full of these spirits that it was not even possible to insert into it the point of a needle without coming against one. We cannot help but deal with this question when we confront this passage and many others like it in the Gospels.
Some folks believe in demons at face value in exactly the same way the Bible speaks of demons.
Many people today claim to have experienced demons firsthand and some claim to have exorcised them. Perhaps some of you have had an experience with demons, and you are absolutely convinced of their reality. You have, no doubt, heard many pastors and theologians explain the ins and outs of demonology. Many religious people take their demons ever so seriously. But, when I come to passages like this in the Bible, I find myself struggling because I have never had an experience of demons just like that described in the Bible.