Crazy question or.? So who was afraid? And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? They had been unable to control these two men [Luke only mentions one man, but Matthew tells us there were two]. His website/blog, Biblical Evidence for Catholicism, has been online since March 1997. Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. When the pigs were sent into the sea, the people of Gadara lost money. How to prove that the supernatural or paranormal doesn't exist? Copyright 2023 EWTN News, Inc. All rights reserved. (it should be added that Plummer himelf does not hold to any of these views.). It is a violent tempest, that is, outside of the natural. The drowning of the swine was an accident, possibly simultaneous with the healing, and report mixed up the two incidents. What did Jesus mean when he said only prayer can cast out this demon? "And all the people of the country of the Gerasenes round about asked him to depart from them, for they were holden with great fear: and he entered into a bo." Unfortunately, Christians [or those using the name] can be harsh, condemning and critical driving people further into sin and away from God. Will they be condemned like unclean animals? The reference could hardly be to the better known Gerasa (Jerash) between thirty and forty miles southeast from the lake. Significantly, the demons are called unclean spirits (verse 2,9). Then people came to see what it was that had happened. in 1971. Gerasenes could have had a sense of reference to the entire region (as well as to a city: just as New Yorker can refer to the state or city), and Gadarenes likely was a reference to the most prominent city of the region at the time. Just imagine, a man in a cinema, having bought popcorn and cola and watching an action movie, with a lot of violence and harsh language in it, and then he sees suddenly that a saintly bishop is sitting just next to his seat, not watching the movie, but reading silently psalms with a countenance radiating a deep contemplation; will not the first man be upset and lose all pleasure of watching the movie? First of all, the EPA would have been investigating the pollution of Lake Galilee with decaying pigs. July 2018 It is not difficult to imagine what was going through the minds of the disciples as their ship landed and as these two demon possessed men rushed to them. No! In the form of tongues as of fire, the Holy Spirit rests on the disciples on the morning of Pentecost and fills them with himself. (CCC 696). Even as the purpose of Roman legions was to enforce the will of the emperor, the goal of the multiple evil spirits was to carry out the devil's will of bringing pain, destruction and chaos to humans! There probably were not many who had been told yet of the Messiah, and so were not yet believers. He did not appear to rush upon the small group of men to attack them (as he would normally have done), but rather to plead with Jesus. How Satan blinds our minds! I think that this story is a little bit of an Easter story. April 2022 March 2018 November 2015 Bob is a pastor/teacher and elder at Community Bible Chapel in Richardson, Texas, and has contributed many of his Bible study series for use by the Foundation. Dr. Thomson discovered on the eastern shore the ruins of a village called Khersa. The choice is to be free by submission to Christ (cf. November 2014. Hence it would be called the land of the Gadarenes.. Also, frequently associated with demon possession was a super-human strength (cf. So they refer to Gerasenes. 16ff., xix. The Gadarenes was the place where Jesus confronted a man whose possession by demons gave him a level of superhuman strength like Samson (Mark 5:3 - 5, Luke 8:27). In other words, even though he set the bar extremely high, he seemed to be a fascinating man. Stack Exchange network consists of 181 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. July 2020 No! When the Gadarenes saw what Christ was capable of, they panicked. And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another . The US Congress is currently debating whether TikTok should be banned for everyone in the US, not just government officials. They were instructed to keep quiet about what Jesus had done for them (cf. Let me say as graciously as I can, Satan does not need to work on us in those areas as we are doing very well without his exploitation. It is ironic that while the demons didnt want to leave the country, the dwellers of that land didnt want the Messiah to stay. Satan loves those Christians. The Politics of Luke 8:26-39. April 2015 The Gadarenes was the place where Jesus confronted a man whose possession by demons gave him a level of superhuman strength like Samson (Mark 5:3 - 5, Luke 8:27). 8ff.). 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.. I felt somewhat guilty, particularly fearing that I may have created an unintentional hardship for some classmate. Hence there was demon-worship, the worship not necessarily of evil spirits; but of the spirits of those who had existed in the Golden Age. G. Campbell Morgan, The Gospel According to Mark (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1927), p. 114. These, however, are not the problem raised by Bible students. When the townspeople arrived on the scene, they saw the formerly demon-possessed men, clothed, in their right mind and sitting at the feet of Jesus. Cookie Notice You can flip a coin hoping for heads, but you know that tails is a very real probability. February 2015 Sign-up for E-NewsletterGet Register Updates sent daily or weeklyto your inbox. The confrontation between the powers of heaven and hell are nowhere seen in better perspective than in Marks account of the encounter of the Gerasene demoniac with our Lord Jesus Christ. In the third chapter of Marks Gospel, our Lords miraculous works were attributed by His opponents to the power of Satan (verse 22). Another indication of demonic control is the fact that this man was continually doing harm to himself by gashing himself with stones (verse 5). February 2016 Those demons were terrified of Him! Instead, they reject Him because all they know is His power and purity. November 2016 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. I have always wondered what my Christian brothers had to say to the police officers by way of explanation. 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). Matthew 8:4; Luke 8:56). So he got into the boat and left., Luke 8:37, NIV, great fear [KJV] thoroughly frightened [Phillips]gripped with great fear [NASB]. The Greeks were believers in the spirit world, but not necessarily convinced that demons were evil.127 As a result, Marks readers needed to be instructed as to the essential nature of demons and demon possession. January 2018 How many demons possessed the man in Mark 5:6? Embedded into both stories are people who were afraid of Jesus. "The name "Gerasenes" is to be associated with the modern city of Jerash, located in Transjordan, 22 miles N of Amman." John McRay, "Gerasenes," ed. With a little knowledge of the geography of the region, this apparent contradiction can be resolved. They look forward to their future with great dread. 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. The district of the Gerasenes probably included that of the Gadarenes; so that the demoniac of Gergesa belonged to the country of the Gadarenes and also to that of the Gerasenes, as the same person may, with equal truth, be said to live in the city or the state, or in the United States. In this context, however, he insists that legion has nothing of its usual Roman military overtones, but is the designation of numerous powers which oppose themselves to Jesus as the embodiment of the power of God. Lane, Mark, fn. Well, it is because atheists, in their zealous rush to make fun of Christians, Christianity, and the Bible, start to lose their logical rigor and rationality, leading them to contend for implausible things: as presently. 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. Paul says of the former life of the Christian, And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience (Ephesians 1:1-2). 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. In Jewish thinking, spirit beings were assigned to certain geographical territories.120. Is there a single-word adjective for "having exceptionally strong moral principles"? Give a Gift SubscriptionBless friends, family or clergy with a gift of the Register. They all say country of (in the sense of region, not nation). Do roots of these polynomials approach the negative of the Euler-Mascheroni constant? Acts 16:16), while others were the virtual pawns of these spirits, losing their own identity and autonomy. December 2014 Known as the Judas Iscariot of Gnosticism for revealing that which is not to be revealed. The expression to be with Jesus is used particularly of His disciples (cf. A word of clarification is in order here for we must recognize that in this account the dark side of Satan is exposed, but this is perhaps the more unusual side of Satan. seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed. Then they sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, across the lake from Galilee. ), you also need to understand the significance of this - to the people in Gerasene. November 2020 and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid. The lose of the pigs meant loose of partial income in the area. (1) Severe personality change. That would be a strong message, by allowing them to be possessed and then drowned. Perhaps they clenched their fists or picked up driftwood with which to defend themselves. November 2021 The pig shepherds had gone and spread the news of what had happened all around. This name (Strong's #G3003) is a reference to a Roman military regiment that varied in soldier strength from 4,000 to 6,000. Bill Maher says he's scared of former President Trump "on a very personal level" and "what he would do" to the comedian if he were to win the 2024 White House race. At first we may deceive ourselves into thinking that we are controlling them, but the ultimate likelihood is that they will master us. The time of this event was before Jesus' crucifixion, and before the gentiles were grafted in to the promise (Acts 10). They would have to trust Jesus. "They sailed to the country of the Gerasenes which is opposite Galilee. (2) Anti-social behavior. The commission of our Lord is considerably different from His instructions to the Israelites whom He had delivered. Jesus asked some pretty crazy questions like What Things Happened? February 2018 The demoniac was uncontrollable by any of the normal means of human confinement. It is noteworthy that it is distinguished (especially in the Gospel of the physician, Luke) from cases of ordinary sickness, insanity (lunacy), leprosy, blindness, lameness, deafness and other natural defects and diseases (cf. Then people came to see what it was that had happened. . But as Gergesa was a small village, and little known, the evangelists, who wrote for more distant readers, spoke of the event as taking place in the country of the Gadarenes, so named from its largest city, Gadara; and this country included the country of the Gergesenes as a state includes a county. In Luke 2:8 it is applied to the city of Bethlehem; in Acts 18:23 to Galatia and Phrygia. 4, p. 102. The Lord granted the only request of these residents, which was for Him to leave. in a crowd in a crowd where many people were bumping into Him? Romans 9:19-23). Understand the meaning of Luke 8:37 using all available Bible versions and commentary. monetization of National Catholic Register RSS feeds is strictly prohibited. On the other hand, the scene gains in grandeurhas, so to speak, a fitting backgroundif we suppose the Saviour and His disciples to have landed on the other side late in the evening, when perhaps the silvery moon was shedding her pale light on the weird scene, and laying her halo around the shadows cast upon the sea by the steep cliff down which the herd of swine hurried and fell. The passage in Daniel especially suggests specific geographical boundaries within which spirit beings must abide. 110 C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1971), p. 3. Acts 19:16). T. H. Huxley, in his Essays upon some Controverted Questions (1892), made merry over the escapade of the Gadarene swine, running the seven miles between Gadar and the lake of Galilee, crossing the deep river Yarmuk en route. What sort of strategies would a medieval military use against a fantasy giant? Why did the demons ask to be cast into the herd of pigs, and why did the pigs then run into the water to be drowned? For more information, please see our December 2015 This was a federation of ten cities (deka = ten, polis = city). Here is one of the few times that a miracle drove people away, rather than to draw them to Jesus. The particular focus of this mans testimony was the Decapolis region. Ouija boards are found in many American homes. F. F. Bruce adds additional helpful insight: According to the best texts, Matthew calls it the country of the Gadarenes (viii. We will examine two incidents -- the stilling of the storm on the sea of Galilee, and that which follows immediately, the healing of the demoniac. But then also Christ will triumph, and finally put an end to the evil one and all his powers of darkness (Rev. . On the other hand, Gadara is only six miles from the southern tip of the lake and could easily have given its name to the district. EWTN News, Inc. is the worlds largest Catholic news organization, comprised of television, radio, My office mate of several years back was interrupted by a young and very zealous new Christian teacher accompanied by a student from whom she wanted my friend to cast out a demon. And, yes, Dana did just read us something about a man possessed by a whole bunch of demons that later go and possess a bunch of hogs. Whereas he had been a slave, he was now delivered from demon possession. The drowning of these pigs has caused a great deal of discussion amongst Bible students, for as a friend of mine once observed, Thats a lot of pork chops! Had our Lord achieved such a miracle today He would have been in deep trouble. For more information about Glenn Davis see our About Glenn page and/or his Author's Page. 7. 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. Another reason could be as Dr. R.C. 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. The exorcism of the Gerasene demoniac (Matthew 8.28-34; Mark 5.1-20; Luke 8.26-39), frequently known as the Miracle of the (Gadarene) Swine and the exorcism of Legion, is one of the miracles performed by Jesus according to the New Testament. Another approach is to note the different intentions of the Gospel writers. Today, it is identified with El-Koursi or Kursi. I am wondering if the demoniac was pagan or an Israelite. Holiness hurts! I used to want the longest life, perfect health and happiness, but really it is that feeling that I am so glad that this isnt all there is and that we have heaven to wait for, and that well be with Jesus, and there will be no more tears Amber VanVickle (1982-2023), The headquarters of the charity, which serves as a consecrated family to 46 disabled children, were badly damaged in major flooding near Rio de Janeiro last year. March 2016 Smiths Bible Dictionary provides what I find to be a quite plausible explanation (not special pleading at all), and analogous to how we still use place names today: These three names are used indiscriminately to designate the place where Jesus healed two demoniacs. In all three instances the word is chra (Strongs word #5561). The people were afraid when they saw the possessed man healed. 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. Spam. 116 As Lane observes this title Son of the Most High God, is not a messianic designation but a divine one. Lane, Mark, p. 133, cf. In Mark 1:5 it is used of the land of Judaea (KJV) and in Acts 10:39, to land of the Jews (KJV). Jesus had just performed an incredible miracleand one they desperately needed, at that! He brought up the story of Jesus casting out demons and sending them into pigs, which promptly ran over a cliff into the sea. and thank you for your contribution. verse 5). 68f. Note that the texts dont say Gerasa or Gadara, so they arent necessarily referring just to one of the cities. Jesus has lead me away from my old life. What they were not willing to accept was the frightening power that could cure him. People who have no appr This suggests that whoever was the customer for the swineherder in the "region of the Gerasenes", it was not the Roman army to any significant extent. Demons are highly organized (cf. The people were more terrified of Jesus and His authority than they were of this crazed and demonized man living among the tombs. Now appreciate the reaction - another God was messing with their god - and demonstrating authority! Such was the case with this man (cf. The New Testament speaks of those who had a spirit, or a demon, or demons, or an unclean spirit, or the spirit of an unclean demon, but chiefly of persons who were demonised. Edersheim, Life and Times, I, p. 479. Jesus asked a sick man if he wanted to get well. It is noteworthy that Jesus nowhere speaks of forgiveness of sins or of purification-sacrifices, that have to be brought after His curing of such cases (as He did in some cases of physical illness). (2) Pork was a food forbidden to Jews, and as such, those who raised these pigs may have done so knowingly in violation of divine injunction. 112 Skeptics and liberals have made much of the differences between the Gospel writers as to the place Jesus landed with His disciples. Why were the Romans afraid of the Christians? May 2016 recognizes the military background of the term, pointing out that in the imperial period a legion consisted of 6000 foot soldiers, 120 horsemen and technical personnel. 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. Commentator R. C. H. Lenski states: The distance of these cities from the lake is immaterial for the narrative since this deals with the region that is near the lake and not with the vicinity of either of the cities to the lake.. Why as the question? Jesus had been performing miracles in Gods nation - Israel. . Dave Armstrong Dave Armstrong is a full-time Catholic author and apologist, who has been actively proclaiming and defending Christianity since 1981. Gadara is about six miles from the sea. October 2022 Thus an economic lose of revenue was involved. Although Gadarenes and Gergesenes are derived from a different Greek word, they are essentially referring to the same area. Pig carcasses were washing ashore and drifting out to sea. More from Medium Jameson Steward in. February 2021 Though Legion bowed before Jesus (verse 6), it was no act of worship (as the King James Version would seem to indicate). Vote Up Did Jesus command the demon before he fell on his knees in Mark 5:6? For the reason why this is so we refer the reader to the introduction preceding the exposition of verses 33-7. Thats just westernised interpretation which simply doesnt work when interpretating a Jewish book. The sons of god ended up becoming the gods of these nations. Jesus Heals a Centurion's Servant. Sign up for 6 Free IssuesTry us out with a free trial subscription. They were not looked upon as necessarily evil in all cases. e.g., Matt. Jesus had actually helped them. xvii. No matter where you are on life's journey you are welcome here! 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! As I have been studying this account through the week, it has seemed to me a rather bizarre and remote situation, the liberation of this Gerasene demoniac. "I am afraid of Trump on a very personal level because I don't think he likes me. This reveals to us that demons have an intuitive knowledge of their impending doom.117. He shivered at the disturbing memory. For the Christian, there are two extremes which must be avoided with reference to Satanic activity. . He was also humorous in his answers. 2. August 2020 What about us, as Christians, are we afraid of Jesus? (3) Spiritual insight. They are happy in their sin and the consequences seem far away. October 2018 113 According to the Talmud there were four characteristics of madness: walking abroad at night; spending the night on a grave; tearing ones clothes and destroying what one was given. Instantly he recognized the Lord Jesus to be the Son of God (verse 7).116 There was a source of spiritual insight beyond human capabilities here. 34When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Satans most effective tool is not the demoniac wandering about the desolate places. September 2016 In Galilee and Judea there were Messianic hopes which would have been quickly fanned into flames if the miracles of Jesus were too widely publicized. I would like to invite you to return to where we left off a few weeks ago in our studies in the gospel of Mark. Sermon for July 26, 2020: Why Were They So Afraid: Mark 5:1-20. Jesus asked Mary why she was crying at the grave site. The pig tenders reported it far and wide, in city and country (verse 14). The city of Gadara and its surrounding area are referred to as the Gadarenes. Others are absolutely controlled (hooked) by the drug and totally dependent upon it. Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers. Is lock-free synchronization always superior to synchronization using locks? Our children would probably understand best if I said that his appearance must have been somewhat like that of the television creation, The Incredible Hulk. June 2016 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. French Monastery Survives War and Famine After 885 Years, the Basilica of St. Ambrose in Milan, and More Great Links! 18). June 2015 The conduct of this pathetic individual was obviously anti-social.
