Luke 8:37

‘And all the people of the country of the Gerasenes round about asked him to depart from them, for they were gripped with great fear, and he entered into a boat, and returned.'

The inhabitants of the country of the Gerasenes, who were largely Gentiles, were unanimous in pleading with the Jewish prophet to leave their country, for they were awestricken and fearful. This was not something that they either understood or were used to. He was a Jewish prophet. He had no message for them. And they feared what He might do next. Furthermore they probably blamed Jesus for what had happened to the pigs. They would know that to a Jewish prophet pigs would be unclean. Possibly they were afraid that He was about to carry out a campaign against their other pigs in an attempt to cleanse the whole area.

We have become used to the crowds welcoming Jesus but this is a warning that it will not always be so if He goes against their self-interests. We can compare how all His home town rejected Him and cast Him out (Luke 4:28), and how in Luke 9:53 the Samaritans would not receive Him because He was fixedly going to Jerusalem. Here then is rejection by Jews, Gentiles and Samaritans when they did not like the way that He chose.