And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him, they begged Him to depart from their region

 

 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, after performing many healings, when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave a command to depart to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.  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 the 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 comments that the demons recognize Jesus as the Son of God, and they are surprised that their power is being terminated before the time of the last judgment.  Although there is great malice in the demons, it says, they can do nothing against the will of God, and therefore can only enter the swine at the command of Christ.  The immediate destruction of the herd shows that the men had been protected by God's care; otherwise they would have perished under the demonic influence.  Moreover, this story reminds us that swineherding was not lawful for the Jews, showing the incomparable value of human beings, whose salvation is worth every sacrifice.  

This story appears elsewhere in the Gospels (in Mark 5:1-20, Luke 8:26-39).  There are a few differences, but they don't change the substance of the story.  They also flesh out the understanding that those herding swine are likely to be apostate Jews catering to a Gentile market.  Their fear and rejection of Christ (as they begged Him to depart from their region) give an emphasis to the idea that they prefer an environment in which the demons could act freely:  they reject Christ and His incredible healing work.  It's not the healed men that matter to them -- but rather the loss of their swine.  So the story says several things to us.  It asks us to make choices about what's important.  Is it the quality of human life in terms of spiritual health?  Do we care about the torment of the demons and the self-destructive behavior that results?  Their evil is the imposition of strife, of pain, of malice.  Or is what matters a lucrative trade, regardless of what our faith would ask of us?  The townspeople, in effect, make a clear choice for their preferences, and while we may live in what seem like dramatically different times and places, we really do make choices like this all the time.  We look around ourselves and can see these choices offered to people all the time.  How often do we tolerate cruelty or turn a blind eye to suffering or torment because it's inconvenient, or it gets in the way of something in our lives we've chosen?  We might be surprised to truly observe closely.  One thing that is very characteristic of demonic activity, or evil, is simply suffering or cruelty.  The root of the word for evil in Greek means "pain," and we can see that in all the stories of demonic affliction in the Gospels.  While every evil thing we observe cannot be claimed to reveal the presence of demons, we can say that evil is distinguished by the characteristics that are revealed through these stories:  malice, cruelty, unnecessary suffering, and great destruction of human life, hopelessness.  We can observe such things all around us in a modern world, in all kinds of ways:  addiction and its varied characteristics of affliction, mental illness in which people are tormented by their own thoughts and patterns of thinking, petty cruelties and bullying, harassment, neglect, and deliberate abuse of many kinds.  This would also include toilsome work, hardship, oppression.  The "fierce" behavior of the demoniacs as described in the various Gospels we might today characterize as highly disordered.  Again, while we might not necessarily attribute these things to a direct presence of demons, it is useful to observe them as characteristics of demonic activity in the Gospels, for they point to us what is evil and harmful to human beings.  They make us more aware of choices and what we're serving in accepting these choices.  They should open our eyes to looking for a better way, to prayer, to seek Christ's word and teachings and God's presence.  They should get us thinking about what choices and exchanges and preferences are being made -- and remind us that we're told these stories in the Gospels for a reason.  We are meant to look around and identify what is "like" these stories in the Gospels and wake up to the realities still present and with us, and the choices we're making for what might seem convenient, or what we'd prefer to be blind to, rather than waking up to the values we're supposed to embrace.  These stories are in the Gospels for our awareness, and we can see quite clearly that these people prefer their swine to the health of the demon-possessed men and to the presence of Christ whom they reject and beg to leave their region.  The story is a declaration that whole communities can reject what is a higher good, and prefer instead a kind of darkness.  This can be illustrated in well-known patterns of family and community, in what would be called toxic relationships, and enabling of destructive behaviors and outcomes.  There are times when whole countries can evince pathologies based on lies, manipulation, corruption, and evil practices such as genocide or terror.  While the solution to every problem or affliction may not be obvious, we can simply pray for Christ's presence in the midst of them.  We might not be able to fix what is around us, but we are called to make a choice for ourselves and the power we do have in our lives.  We can seek His will for us in how we're taught to live and choose; we can ask for guidance in the practice of compassion.  But most of all, it seems to be our work as faithful to bear His presence into the world, even when we see others reject Him.  For Christ yet carries a holy power, a light unseen by the darkness but there nevertheless, and this is what we're meant to do and be as faithful -- to bear His light and presence into the world, even where only two or three are gathered.  Sometimes the best we can do is prayer, but that alone is far more powerful than we might think or see, than those who can't see would have us believe.