Matthew 8, 28-34[1]

Let us first look at the details of the story:

  • Jesus came to the territory of the Gadarenes.
    • It is no longer known where the city of Gadara was. It is now believed to be in the vicinity of Umm Qais[2], now in Jordan. The city belonged to the Decapolis, the ten cities founded by two of the four generals who divided up Alexander the Great's kingdom when he died in 323 B.C. Cities founded by the two generals, Ptolemy and Seleucus, shared a border with the kingdom of Judah.[3]
    • Many of these ten cities: Scythopolis, Hippos, Pella, Gadara, Dion, Gerasa, Canatha, Raphana, Damascus, and Philadelphia (now the city of Amman, Syria) show up in the Books of Maccabees and the New Testament. Greek settlers and soldiers lived in these cities. These cities had their own court systems, currency, temples, theaters, and armies.
    • An uneasy relationship existed between the settlers and the Greeks. Decapolis settlers despised the Jews for being barbaric because the latter had practices like circumcision. The Greeks also found the monotheism of the Jews absurd. The Jews found Greek worship, which included sacrificing pigs, revolting. They were equally disgusted by Greek unbiblical sexual practices.  
  • The demoniacs were coming from the tombs.
    • Cities buried their dead at their outskirts. In this area, the tombs were generally shallow caves.
  • The demons were clearly afraid of Jesus.

Putting all these together, we find out that this will be a lopsided battle right from the beginning.

The demons are sure to lose, so they attempt to negotiate. They have become so weakened that they cannot even leave on their own. They asked to be allowed to transfer to a herd of swine.

We need to understand that the swine referred to are not the full-figured hogs, the pork machines, that many of us eat today as bacon, ham, lechon, liempo, or adobo.  

Swine are an anomaly in the Jewish classification of animals. Swine had cloven or split hooves like sheep, goats, and cattle, but they were not ruminants. Pigs don't chew cud.  Jews were not allowed to eat pork; it was not kosher. Only ritually clean animals could be consumed; swine were considered unclean. To be ritually clean, an animal had to have cloven or split hooves and chew cud. Pigs did not chew cud.

Swine were also considered wasteful for their greater water requirement. Swine were also scavengers. They were also more likely to eat their excrement, compared to cattle, sheep, and goats that only did so, in cases of drought.

Hence for the demons, it made sense for them to be sent to the pigs. The demons pleaded to be free of the torture they were anticipating. They were afraid of the same treatment they had inflicted on the persons they possessed. The pigs, they thought, could be more congenial hosts.

Our Lord granted them their wish with a curt Ὑπάγετε  (Hypagete) 'Depart'. The Greek means depart under authority slowly. The demons must have had time to plot against Jesus. But the demons failed because they, in their savagery, rushed to the sea. The sea was also a symbol of chaos. The pigs drowned despite the fact that they can swim. (In fact, swimming pigs are an attraction in the Bahamas.)

What is even more surprising is that the townspeople asked Jesus to leave. Instead of rejoicing that the demoniacs had regained their freedom,

  • were they lamenting the loss of their pigs?
  • Had they become comfortable with the demoniacs out of their sight and out of their mind?
  • Were they afraid that Jesus would enter their town and confront them face to face with their demons?
  • Where will Jesus send their demons? To their remaining herds of swine? Or to their goats, sheep, or cattle?
  • Had they become comfortable with their demons?

What about us?

  • Are we at ease with the demons which permit us to tolerate extrajudicial killings?
  • Are we at ease with the reality that while we don't create fake news, we forward postings without so much as a glance through a fact-checker?
  • Have we become inured to the evil inflicted on others because 'it has nothing to do with me, it does not affect me?'
  • Are we willing to ask our Lord to expel our demons?

[1] https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/8?28

[2]https://www.google.com/maps/place/Umm+Qais,+Jordan/@32.7260462,35.5516237,12z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x151c6d07287b7199:0x96d0d420e01bf0b1!8m2!3d32.6543534!4d35.6880516, https://bible/org/seriespage/11-demons-and-pigs-matthew-828-34

[3] http://www.land-of-the-bible.com/The_Decapolis

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