Not long after that, while I was still a student in seminary, there was a car parked by the seminary in a somewhat suspicious manner and I called the police to check it out. There was no such danger in Perea, and thus the mercy of the Lord was to be heralded. 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. The fear of the unknown, the uncontrollableof change. This makes sense, I couldn't believe they asked Jesus to leave. He was received into the Catholic Church in 1991. SubscribeStart your Register subscription today. First of all, the EPA would have been investigating the pollution of Lake Galilee with decaying pigs. If it is a feminine spirit, the voice will be a feminine one, if masculine then very manly. xx. March 2017 Those demons were terrified of Him! Satans most useful instrument is the outstanding, outwardly moral and upright religious man, whose good deeds are done independently of God. The exercising of authority over demons, in the land under another god, was a message. Jesus was saying, (demonstrating) that He had all authority, in any land. 4. 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). These men were a danger to themselves and others. 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. The account occurs in all three Synoptic gospels; in Mark (the shortest gospel) the story is in the longest and most detailed version; Matthew 8.28-34 is the shortest, 3. Matthew is habitually more oriented to a Jewish readership, and so he refers to Gadarenes because Gadara was the most important Jewish city in the area. Acts 16:16), while others were the virtual pawns of these spirits, losing their own identity and autonomy. But here we speak not about a bishop, but about Christ who made His Godhead revealed through devils beseeching Him not to cast them to hell but enter the swine. 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. Once naked, he is now clothed. Thats just westernised interpretation which simply doesnt work when interpretating a Jewish book. Those who had seen what had happened to the demoniac and to the swine reported it. . 05 /5 Another theory. 120 The request is in both cases the same; for, according to Jewish notions, certain countries being assigned to evil as well as to good spirits, whose limits they were unable to overpass, to be sent out of their own country, no other being open to them, implied being sent into the abyss, or bottomless pit, since that remains for them alone. Trench, Miracles , p. 101. 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. For more information, please see our Hence it would be called the land of the Gadarenes.. The before and after descriptions of the demoniac reveal that he was a totally different person under demonic influence. This incident in the Gerasenes requires some entry understanding. You can like Jesus for two different reasons. 36Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. e.g., Matt. This is when the storm arose which threatened to destroy the ship (Mark 4:35-41). 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. 125 This is the position of Lane, Mark, p. 187. There is the so-called demon of doubt, of anger, of overindulgence, of drunkenness, laziness and so on. Then people came to see what it was that had happened. As Jesus began to get back into the boat, the delivered demoniac pleaded with Him that he might accompany Him. He was also humorous in his answers. The story shows Jesus exorcising a demon or demons out of a man and into a herd of swine, causing the swine to run down a hill into a lake and drown . Jesus asked some pretty crazy questions like What Things Happened? Wasn't the answer obvious? July 2016 May 2017 They were not looked upon as necessarily evil in all cases. Then they began to beg Jesus to leave their neighborhood. 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. What they were not willing to accept was the frightening power that could cure him. May 2022 13; Luke iv. (it should be added that Plummer himelf does not hold to any of these views.). And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another . The nearby townspeople, upon hearing of the great miracle (and not wanting to suffer further economic loss), begged Christ to leave the Gadarenes and never come back! 122 Quoted by Alfred Plummer, The Gospel According to Saint Luke, (Edinburg: T. and T. Clark, 5th ed., 1969): p. 228. We read at Mk 5:14-17 (NRSVCE), the immediate after-effects of the driving out of evil spirits by Jesus at Gerasene by allowing them to enter pigs: The swineherds ran off and told it in the city and in the country. This was a power far beyond anything they had seen or even imagined. December 2016 Why as the question? The difference between the phonemes /p/ and /b/ in Japanese, Is there a solutiuon to add special characters from software and how to do it. Into the country of the Gadarenes, or rather, Gera-senes, which is now generally admitted to be the true reading, from Gerasa, Gersa, or Kersa.There was another Gerasa, situated at some distance from the sea, on the borders of Arabia Petraea. No one was strong enough to subdue him (verses 3,4). If anything, that would have made them angry. Holiness hurts! Rather, they attributed the power of Jesus to Satan (Mark 3:22). When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met Him a man from the city who had demons. Mark 5:1And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. He obviously attracted crowds. Acts 5:1-6). 8; Mark vi. First of all, I believe Mark was attempting to warn his Gentile readers of the great danger of demonic influence and activity. No matter where you are on life's journey you are welcome here! 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. Like children convinced there are monsters under our beds, the unknown scares us. August 2020 Another approach is to note the different intentions of the Gospel writers. August 2021 December 2022 And the people there were scared, they recognised this, but more, they realised the significance of this. For the reason why this is so we refer the reader to the introduction preceding the exposition of verses 33-7. September 2022 August 2015 They were sacrificed by being thrown off a cliff. The religious rulers hated Jesus for exposing their hypocrisy and feared the consequences His actions might have with Rome, but they were not afraid of Jesus as a Person. Ridiculous? May 2021 iv. 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. Why was Jesus going to walk past the disciples as they were rowing on the Sea of Galilee? Though Legion bowed before Jesus (verse 6), it was no act of worship (as the King James Version would seem to indicate). 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. Create your own unique website with customizable templates. It was scary. March 2020 Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. I think all these attempts to harmonize what may at first seem like a contradiction are plausible, respectable, and adequate. As always, we must begin with the principle: Interpretation is one, application is many. He said he had come to the house of Israel, not to the gentiles. Here is one of the few times that a miracle drove people away, rather than to draw them to Jesus. No matter who you are. Jesus did say to count the cost [Luke 14:28-33]. Thayers Greek Lexicon defines it as the space lying between two places or limits region or country. The Sea of Galilee was clearly one of the limits. Early Christians like St. Polycarp clearly held the Catholic view on salvation. Satans most effective tool is not the demoniac wandering about the desolate places. They valued their pigs more than they valued salvation. July 2015 For some people, the cost is too high. December 2017 That is why the inhabitants of the area are referred to variously in different Bible manuscripts as Gergasenes, Gadarenes, or Gerasenes. Luke 8:26-39 Mark 5:1-20 ESV - 1 They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. 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. September 2015 What scared them was a power so fierce it could free a man. 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. Others are absolutely controlled (hooked) by the drug and totally dependent upon it. March 2018 He was Someone Who could control the spirit realm. Is there a single-word adjective for "having exceptionally strong moral principles"? The demoniac further evidenced demon activity by the depth of his spiritual insight. 110 C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1971), p. 3. What did Jesus do? Having been properly warned of the demonic underworld, let us not fall into the opposite error of absolute paranoia. Catholic Church. Thus, all the circumstances lead us to regard the healing of the demonized at Gerasa as a night scene, immediately on Christs arrival from Capernaum, and after the calming of the storm at sea. Alford Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965), I, pp. Although the Gospels give us little information as to how individuals become targets of Satanic control, I would suggest for your consideration that they sometimes do so by leaving themselves open to Satanic influence. Luke 8:26And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee. It is something like the behavior and personality change in a man who is totally intoxicated. Mark 9:17-29). He said unexpected things and lived by a high ethical standard. But the city of Gadara owned some territory round about Khersa, so that the district and the pigs could properly also be called Gadarene. F. F. Bruce, Are the New Testament Documents Reliable? He seemed to view Jesus approach as the launching of a direct attack on the demonic forces. 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. However, the point was clearly made; Jesus, the Son of God, has power over all things, including the powers of darkness. Jesus asked some crazy questions like "Why are you afraid?" Bible scholar Gleason Archer (Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties) argues similarly, It is entirely possible that the political control of this region was centered in Gadara as the capital city. 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. Why did Jesus allow the demons to enter the herd of pigs? Why did Jesus allow the legion of demons to stay in the area when they begged him? A Jewish exorcist with such authority in the region, risked to damage the beliefs and reputation of the local pagan inhabitants. 4, p. 102. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. Its ruins include two amphitheaters, a basilica, temple, a hippodrome, aqueducts and colonnades, showing its importance and stature. Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers. How Can a Person Get Rid of Evil Spirits. man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 'Return home and tell how much God has done for you.' So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus (Luke 8:26-39, NIV) In Mark 1:5 it is used of the land of Judaea (KJV) and in Acts 10:39, to land of the Jews (KJV). For the Christian, there are two extremes which must be avoided with reference to Satanic activity. DEUT 32:8 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples, according to the number of the sons of God. From this point on, Jesus began to speak to the crowds in parables in order to veil or conceal the gospel from those who had blasphemed the Holy Spirit (Mark 4:lff). Subscriber Service CenterAlready a subscriber? It should also be observed that nowhere in the Old Testament (except in I Sam. The region was not poor or economically depressed. "The trains were . They liked Him and wanted to be with Him. We see the first reaction to this in the storm MARK 4:7 And a great windstorm arose [snip]. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, Not the answer you're looking for? 3); they are reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day (Jude 6); and what the unclean spirits deprecate here, is the bringing in, by anticipation, of that final doom. R. C. Trench, Notes on the Miracles of Our Lord (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1949), p. 100. It hit them hard in the pocketbook. 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 thank you for your contribution. Jesus deserves the benefit of the doubt even when we don't have all the facts. Similar to the storm we see in the book of Job that killed Jobs sons - and Satan was the instigator of that as well. September 2016 This story is a little bit of an Easter story. The expression to be with Jesus is used particularly of His disciples (cf. Lane believes the modern Kersa is the most likely place: The point of arrival is indicated in a general way as the district of the Gerasenes, most probably in reference to a town whose name is preserved in the modern Kersa or Koursi. Jude 6), no longer to afflict men or resist God. When the pigs were sent into the sea, the people of Gadara lost money. This request was granted and the entire herd rushed headlong to their own destruction. It is Geldenhuys who gives us the most concise description of demon-possession: in the New Testament demon-possession means that a person is dominated by the spirit of a demon and tormented by him. Verse 1. How to prove that the supernatural or paranormal doesn't exist? 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. 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. These people did not want to change. 22ff. 21,22). And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts. So who was afraid? But then also Christ will triumph, and finally put an end to the evil one and all his powers of darkness (Rev. It only takes a minute to sign up. Anonymous, October 25 2014 A land that was essentially under another god (lower case g). Once a menace to society, now a messenger with words of deliverance and healing. xii. 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. Preisker, TWNT IV (1942), pp. 61-62. 28); Mark the country of the Gerasenes (v. 1), and Luke, probably, the country of the Gergesenes (viii. 68f. His greatest impact would be on those who knew his former state. Instead, they reject Him because all they know is His power and purity. Fallen people reject God not because they do not know His power. "I am afraid of Trump on a very personal level because I don't think he likes me. It is even possible that his request was to become one of our Lords disciples.125. to sign up for our free Water Of The Word newsletter at the top of any page! Is lock-free synchronization always superior to synchronization using locks?