What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God?

 When He had come to the other side, to the country of the Gergesenes, there met Him two demon-possessed men, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass that way.  And suddenly they cried out, saying, "What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God?  Have You come here to torment us before the time?"  Now a good way off from them there was a herd of many swine feeding.  So the demons begged Him, saying, "If You cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of swine."  And He said to them, "Go."  So when they had come out, they went into the herd of swine.  And suddenly the whole herd of swine ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and perished in the water.  Then those who kept them fled; and they went away into the city and told everything, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men.  And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus.  And when they saw Him, they begged Him to depart from their region. 

- Matthew 8:28-34

On Saturday we read that when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave a command to depart to the other side.  Then a certain scribe came and said to Him, "Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go."  And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."  Then another of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father."  But Jesus said to him, "Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead."  Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him.  And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with waves.  But He was asleep.  Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Lord, save us!  We are perishing!"  But He said to them, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?"  Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.  So the men marveled, saying, "Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?"

 When He had come to the other side, to the country of the Gergesenes, there met Him two demon-possessed men, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass that way.  And suddenly they cried out, saying, "What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God?  Have You come here to torment us before the time?"  Now a good way off from them there was a herd of many swine feeding.  So the demons begged Him, saying, "If You cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of swine."  And He said to them, "Go."  So when they had come out, they went into the herd of swine.  And suddenly the whole herd of swine ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and perished in the water.  Then those who kept them fled; and they went away into the city and told everything, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men.  And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus.  And when they saw Him, they begged Him to depart from their region.   My study bible says that the demons, recognizing Jesus as the Son of God, are surprised that their power is being terminated before the time of the last judgment.  Although the malice of the demons is great, they can do nothing against the will of God, and thus can only enter the swine at Christ's command.   The immediate destruction of the herd shows the men were protected by God's care -- otherwise they would have been destroyed by the demonic influence.   This story reinforces that swineherding wasn't lawful for the Jews, and shows the incomparable value of human beings, whose salvation, my study bible tells us, is worth every sacrifice.  This story appears also in Luke and in Mark, but in Matthew's version there are two possessed men.

One way we could read the stories of these demon-possessed men is to say that they are among Gentiles raising swine, but indications are (as in this story in other Gospels) that the swineherders are apostate Jews -- those raising swine are influenced by Gentiles and doing so for profit, and against Jewish law.  We can see the preferences of the people in their fear of Jesus.  Regardless of the miraculous healing of these men and the exorcism of the demons, they care more about the lost swine and beg Jesus to leave their region.  Jesus has told His disciples to set sail from the "home country" they've so far been in through Jesus' ministry, to this faraway place on the other side of the Sea of Galilee.  They pass through a storm that frightens even the seasoned fishermen aboard, and land in this strange place where the demon-possessed men live in the tombs and among the swine.  Why has Jesus come here, away from the multitudes who seek Him in Capernaum?  One might say that He has deliberately sought out these afflicted men.  It gives us a sense of His parable of the shepherd, who would leave 99 sheep in order to seek out the one who is lost (Matthew 18:12-14).  While this isn't necessarily what a real shepherd of Palestine would do (leaving the flock alone), it's repeatedly shone in Christ's behavior.  He will go the ends of the world for His sheep; in the other versions of this story, the healed man becomes a kind of early witness for Christ in the Decapolis (this region of mixed Gentiles and Jews).  The story is also a portrayal of Christ as fulfillment of the Law, as the healing He does creates a separation among these people:  they must choose between the righteousness of Christ (and the healing of human beings) and the money they lose when the swine are killed.  As the people from the city choose the latter and beg Christ to leave, it tells us even about the place of believers in isolation:  Christ is still there for them, regardless of the surroundings or afflictions that plague them.  This is His level of compassion, His love, His reaching for those who need and want Him, who recognize that love and deeply desire it.   One facet of meaning from today's passage is the character of Christ who has condescended to become one of us in order to heal us, and out of love for us.  Like the shepherd who leaves the 99 sheep, He comes to us no matter what the obstacles, no matter how obscure, unimportant, or "out of the way" we might be.  How do we reconcile that love with our standards of what love is and can do?  He teaches His followers to go and do likewise, as all the disciples have been brought with Him to this strange and far-away place.  Seemingly "God-forsaken," Jesus proves that no place and no one in the world is truly so.  He creates "life in the tombs" in another parallel to what we know of His life and resurrecting power.  Let us note the personal nature of the stories of the Gospels; somehow Christ has come to this place and particularly to these men.   His is not an impersonal faceless charity.  Our own lives may provide us with opportunities to practice love as we encounter others in the most personal sense.    But we need to cultivate the heart and discernment of Christ, perhaps, to truly see them and practice what His life teaches.