JESUS THE MESSIAH WON’T YOU PLEASE JUST GO!

 

Gospel of Matthew 8: 28-34 > Gospel of Mark 5: 1-20 | Gospel of Luke 8: 26-38 > Gospel of John

WARNING: Demonic possession, livestock abuse

CONTEXT: ~ 30 CE  The New Testament doesn’t provide a clear timeline, but these events would have preceded the Crucifixion by a few years.

Like the Dr. Seuss character Marvin K. Mooney, the rural folk of Gergesa¹ (in modern Jordan) want him just to go, Messiah or not. This is on account of the fact that Jesus and his pals mess up the local swine industry by drowning a major herd of pigs:² 2000 of them in fact. 

Jesus and his posse have been wandering around in the gentile-centric Decapolis region performing miracles. A tense situation develops when they encounter a demon-possessed individual³ who is so violent that he blocks the road. He lives in the tombs and is filled with demonic strength.⁴ The man can’t be restrained, even with chains. Luckily when Jesus shows up, the demons recognize the Savior as the Son of God and know the jig is up.

Jesus tells the demons to leave the man’s body. The demons ask to be driven into the herd of pigs as a favor of sorts. Jesus accommodates them and transfers the demons directly into the pigs, which apparently lose their porcine minds, run into the sea and drown. We don’t know if the demons drown along with the pigs. It seems like something we’d love to know if only in terms of how deal with our own demons.

This event is presented as a miracle, and no one can contest that things work out great for the man or men who had been possessed. However, the swineherds are not quite as enthusiastic, seeing has how they are now dispossessed of a major financial asset. There is no record of Jesus saying “Sorry about the pigs, Man.”

They ask him to leave. It doesn’t say what kind of tone they used. We do know that on the gentile side of the Sea of Galilee, a herd of two thousand pigs would have amounted to a signification commercial operation.

There is a strange interior reasoning that goes on with these stories that causes some people to accept this event as a wonder from god, without question. There are serious discussions among apologists that argue a case for Jesus’s compassion: he saves the possessed man in spite of the cost. But a reasonable person might argue that he isn’t paying the cost: The people of the small town are. 

In the starkest of terms, there are no Christians at this point in history, so all these villagers see is a Jewish guy from across the sea come to kill their swine. Not kosher, Jesus, not kosher.

There are other questions. Can demons drown?  We aren’t sure, because demons are imaginary. But far more compelling questions for a modern reader (Christian or not Christain) are these:

“Are demons officially a component of a Christian belief system?” (Ask your pastor or even rabbi – yes or now answers only)

“If we believe in demons, do we also believe in Niphilim, sea serpents, giants, unicorns and angels?”

“And if we don’t believe in these fantasy creatures, why are we basing our religious beliefs on a book that promotes their existence as real?”

And why do we teach our kids this stuff before they are old enough to filter information?

The down to earth peasants who owned the pigs in rural Jordan – gentiles though they might be – are also likely to consider questions such as: “If you’re the Son of God, why did you have to kill all my pigs to get rid of a few demons?”

There is no biblical record of Jesus apologizing. But shouldn’t he?

 

“And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea.

– Mark 5:13 [KJV]

 

NOTES:

1. The region is also known as the Decapolis, which is roughly synonymous with Gilead.
2. In the Roman world, a single pig could be worth up to 100 denarii. A denarius was the typical wage for one day’s labor. A herd of 2,000 would potentially be worth 200,000 denarii. In 21s century terms, the herd could easily be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. In rural Palestine of the First Century, the loss of the herd would have been devastating. 
3. Or a couple of men depending on which gospel you are reading. Versions of this story occur in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke with some variations. In the process of creating what is now called the “New Testament.” the authors of Matthew and Luke borrowed freely from the “Mark” source. Only Mark includes the very high number of pigs (presumably based on on-the-scene reporting), the two later writers have removed it. This very large number of dead animals floating in the sea is somewhat more alarming than just “a herd of pigs.” Was this intentional editing? 
4. It isn’t unreasonable to suspect that his incredible strength is the result of hosting multiple demons. In the Mark and Luke versions of the story, the demon/demons introduce themselves as “Legion,” a name both singular and plural. This is the only New Testament case of demon wrangling in which the spirit or spirit ensemble is given a name.
5.  
6.  

.