It would seem that these people had no Messianic expectations, and therefore wanted nothing to do with One Who had such awesome power, a power over which they had no control. The subject of demons and demon possession has always seemed somewhat remote and academic to sophisticated 20th century Americans. He brought up the story of Jesus casting out demons and sending them into pigs, which promptly ran over a cliff into the sea. 8; Mark vi. This supposition would be further confirmed, if the evening when Jesus embarked was what the Jews were wont to call the first evening, that is, the time when the sun was declining in the heaven, but before it had actually set, the latter time being the second evening. For it seems most unlikely that multitudes would have resorted to Jesus at Capernaum after the second evening, or that either the disciples or other boats would have put to sea after nightfall. Swine were unclean animals according to the Torah. The whole story is a myth. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. Nevertheless, for consideration. and our For the Christian, there are two extremes which must be avoided with reference to Satanic activity. And, Gerasene was one. Create your own unique website with customizable templates. This would also give time afterwards for the dispersion, not only into the city, but into the country of them who had fed the swine. Why is this even an issue, I wonder? The miracle referred to took place, without doubt, near the town of Gergesa, the modern Kersa, close by the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, and hence in the country of Gergesenes. If they dare to open up their lives to Jesus what will happen? Cookie Notice June 2016 October 2017 In the King James Version it is called the country of the Gadarenes in Mark and Luke, and of the Gergesenes in Matthew. Jesus was saying, (demonstrating) that He had all authority, in any land. Why did Jesus allow the legion of demons to stay in the area when they begged him? In this story, we have a demon-possessed Gadarene who saw Jesus from a distance, and immediately he appeared to have felt a strong compulsion to run up to Jesus and bow down before him. . Jesus showed to the local population the inferiority of pagan life. ESV - March 2017 December 2015 Although his symptoms would have appeared to be those of an insane man,113 the Gospel writers inform us that he was demon-possessed.114. Why is this sentence from The Great Gatsby grammatical? ii. Just as demons desire to possess persons through whom they can exhibit their personalities, so the Spirit of God indwells man, imparting new life, and progressively gaining control so that the character of God is exhibited, but not in such a way as to hinder our individuality and identity. Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience. Bible-believing Christians have always accepted the fact of demons and their activity in New Testament times, but most of us are inclined to relegate demonic activity in these days to pagan lands and missionary experiences. Jesus had just performed an incredible miracleand one they desperately needed, at that! Mark 3:14). The typical explanation for the petition of the residents that Christ leave their country is that they were motivated by materialistic considerations. Events that are important to our Church Community, Mark 5:1-20 Jesus Heals the Gerasene Demoniac. 606-607. Jesus asked some pretty crazy questions like What Things Happened? Like the Samaritans who followed the woman at the well to see this One who had told her all she had done, so these residents came to see for themselves what had happened. The demoniac was uncontrollable by any of the normal means of human confinement. The center of personality, the volitional and active ego, is impaired by alien powers which seek to ruin the man and sometimes drive him to self-destruction (Mk. As these people began to piece together the previous events, not only of the destruction of the pigs, but also the deliverance of Legion, they began to sense that there was One far more awesome, much more to be feared, than Legion. Like it or not, demons and demonic activity are likely to become much more of a concern to you in days to come. Some today have given demons far more than their due by blaming demons for every malady of mankind. Lets face it, we all like to be in control. That is why he was living in the solitude of the tombs, away from civilization. Here is where Satan can use a man to influence scores of people, blinding minds and hearts to the truths of the Word of God (2 Corinthians 4:4). Copyright 2023 EWTN News, Inc. All rights reserved. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. The healing of the demoniacs and the repulse of the Healer by the inhabitants are historical, but the incident of the swine is a later figment. Small sins lead to big sins, and big sins bring about a terrible spiritual darkness. Sign-up for E-NewsletterGet Register Updates sent daily or weeklyto your inbox. Now they were delivered and ready to be productive members of society. So he got into a boat and returned. Now they would deal with this One greater than he by doing likewise. The particular focus of this mans testimony was the Decapolis region. August 2021 Holy Communion From the Chalice Reintroduced in the UK: What About the US? The spectrum ranges from those who seem to control the demonic powers to those who are utterly controlled by them. Pigs were specifically set aside as the animal used in sacrifices to their god. Another reason they may have been afraid of Jesus was the realization that if they accepted Him, it would mean a radical change of lifestyle. How many demons possessed the man in Mark 5:6? Vote Up Five squad cars converged on it. Dr. Thomson discovered on the eastern shore the ruins of a village called Khersa. EWTN News, Inc. is the worlds largest Catholic news organization, comprised of television, radio, For the reason why this is so we refer the reader to the introduction preceding the exposition of verses 33-7. Oh Hye-son recently published a Korean-language memoir on how she and her husband Thae Yong-ho, then deputy ambassador at North Korea's London embassy, defected in 2016. . In the wake of new restrictions on the traditional Latin Mass, two American bishops spoke with EWTNs Raymond Arroyo Thursday about how their dioceses have responded. Lukes reading Gergesenes may represent even more accurately the ancient name of this place, as Origen knew of a Gergesa on the lake of Galilee. The pleas of Legion were in response to the command of Jesus for the demons to come out of him (verse 8). This reveals to us that demons have an intuitive knowledge of their impending doom.117. It is in no way certain, however, that the pig raisers were Jews. When the Gadarenes saw what Christ was capable of, they panicked. (3) Spiritual insight. Matthew 12:43-45). 16, x. No matter who you are. They are happy in their sin and the consequences seem far away. While he was once wild and uncontrollable, he was sitting quietly at the feet of Jesus. 13; Luke iv. 22ff. April 2017 They were afraid and astonished, saying to one another, "Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and the sea, and they obey Him?" . The people of Gerasenes were willing to live with the devils they knew - quite literally. It is amazing to think that people could be fearful of Jesus. 36 Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. where something similar occurs) is a demon-possession mentioned, and that outside the Gospels it is referred to only twice in the New Testament (Acts xvi. March 2016 Men in their unbelief suppose that the choice is either to be free (independent of God) or to be the slaves of Christ. They all say country of (in the sense of region, not nation). The most likely answer is to the country of the Gerasenes: i.e., Gerasa, a Greek town thought to be the same as the similarly-named Kersa on the east shore of Lake Tiberias. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). They valued their pigs more than they valued salvation. xx. Satans most effective tool is not the demoniac wandering about the desolate places. Acts 16:16), while others were the virtual pawns of these spirits, losing their own identity and autonomy. Embedded into both stories are people who were afraid of Jesus. For those near by the local name would be used; but in writing to a distant people, as the Greeks and Romans, the more comprehensive and general name would be given.. Anonymous, October 25 2014 The region was known also as the Decopolis because ten Greek cities were located in the region. No! December 2020 Here is one of the few times that a miracle drove people away, rather than to draw them to Jesus. Also, the wholesale slaughter of these pigs dramatically illustrated the destructive purposes of the demons. It was not the loss of their property or investment that caused them to be afraid of Jesus. When the pigs were sent into the sea, the people of Gadara lost money. Then people came to see what it was that had happened. How to show that an expression of a finite type must be one of the finitely many possible values? This is when the storm arose which threatened to destroy the ship (Mark 4:35-41). And the people there were scared, they recognised this, but more, they realised the significance of this. How Satan blinds our minds! Read the Scripture: Mark 4:35 - 5:20. December 2017 Hence it would be called the land of the Gadarenes.. It only takes a minute to sign up. Thats just westernised interpretation which simply doesnt work when interpretating a Jewish book. I was in a dialogue with an atheist regarding what he believes is one of many so-called biblical contradictions. Odd guy that I am, I actually find this sort of thing fun. Wikipedia states about it: In the second half of the 1st century AD, the city of Jerash achieved great prosperity.. SubscribeStart your Register subscription today. And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? He could just as easily commanded them to return to the deepest, darkest pit of Hell. Since the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave in their fear, it seems that Jesus' ability to exorcise Legion was disturbing to the people. Yet, conversely, the known can be just as scaryif not more. They found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus' feet, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. Only 30 of 175 dioceses ordained an average number of priests at or above replacement level over the five years from 2016 to 2021, according to the report. Note: 'had the legion', i.e., the many unclean spirits inhabiting him. 37 Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear (Luke 8:35-37). Like children convinced there are monsters under our beds, the unknown scares us. The pig tenders reported it far and wide, in city and country (verse 14). Others are absolutely controlled (hooked) by the drug and totally dependent upon it. Where it falls apart for me is why the Bellonas, knowing that only one person is allowed to survive each duel, take the defeat so personally. The lectionary reading for Trinity 1, Year C, is Luke's version of Jesus meeting and healing the demon-possessed man in the 'region of the Gerasenes' (Luke 8.26-39). Was it fear that a secret sin might be exposed? They were willing to post guards and chain and shackle their neighbor to keep him from hurting someone. Then they began to beg Jesus to leave their neighborhood. Satan loves those Christians. As we pass from this section to the next, let us not end on the note of the death of the pigs, but on the deliverance of the demoniac. It is now called Jerash and is a deserted ruin. Mark 5:1And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. A land that was essentially under another god (lower case g). . Order Bulk SubscriptionsGet a discount on 6 or more copies sent to your parish, organization Pastor Chrissy is a native of East Tennessee. But notice, even though Jesus permitted them to enter the swine, they were unable to overcome their evil impulses and drove the swine over the cliff to their death. Why is that. They had been unable to control these two men [Luke only mentions one man, but Matthew tells us there were two]. Why were the Romans afraid of the Christians? They came to Jesus and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the legion; and they were afraid. 14ff. Where did the demons go after they went into the pigs and caused them to jump to their death. Jesus deserves the benefit of the doubt even when we don't have all the facts. It is very appropriate that these two incidents . First let us see what the Sacred Texts says: The swineherds ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Jesus never interacted with people as they were, but as He knew they were created to be. This man demonstrated all four characteristics. Lane, Mark, p. 182, fn. Why were the people of Gerasene afraid of the presence of Jesus among them? And Jesus, being a Gentleman, was not about to force Himself on them. Sometime after the Lord Jesus miraculously calmed the storm, the ship landed, perhaps late in the evening,111 on the other side of the lake in the country of the Gerasenes.112 If, indeed, it was late at night, the scene must have been an eerie one, with the nerves of the disciples already worn thin by the terrifying experience of the storm. In that case, of course, it would be in the early morning that the Gerasenes afterwards resorted to Jesus and that He again returned to Capernaum. Luke 8:37Then the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes round about besought him to depart from them: for they were taken with great fear: and he went up into the ship, and returned back again. No one was strong enough to subdue him (verses 3,4). But let us return to the gist of the matter: if Christ showed them His Divinity through the reason given above, is it easy to be in the presence of God? Here in Mark, he purposely set out to travel into another land. The US Congress is currently debating whether TikTok should be banned for everyone in the US, not just government officials. March 2021 The Gospels use different names for the place where this occurred: This is supposedly a contradiction. Gerasa is (as we know) some 30-35 miles southeast of the Sea of Galilee, but may have also been the name of the larger region. 15; Mark ix. If Jesus had that kind of power, then He could not be controlled. Why would the Gerasene people beg Jesus to leave their region after He cast the demons into the pigs? So they refer to Gerasenes. Finally, there is in demon possession a counterpart to the filling (or control) of the Holy Spirit. It might be better to hide behind masks than risk being hurt again After all, if God rejects youwhere else can you go? They came to Jesus and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the legion; and they were afraid. June 2020 Therefore, Jesus Christ for demons is God and thus even demons inadvertently reveal themselves as being better theologians than Arians and their modern day heirs - Jehovawitnesians and all different breeds of Unitarians - their name being legion! I think the coup de grce is to look up the Greek word for country in these passages, to see what latitude of meaning it has.