Mathew 8: Demons, Pigs, A Steep Cliff

 

The Counterintuitive Nature of the Gospel: Mathew 8, Casting Out Demons

Why did Jesus tell the demons they could enter the pigs? That’s always made me think. The demons, speaking through the two men, recognized the Son of God coming toward them and pleaded with Him. I get that demons need a host, but why does he grant the request and kill the pigs? Nothing about the life of Jesus is an accident. With another person I might think they acted rashly, but with Jesus there is always another reason. Jews are forbidden from eating pigs because pigs don’t chew their cud (Deuteronomy 14:10). Swine aren’t a source for food so they’re probably kept to clean up food scraps and till up soil. 

A lot of this probably comes down to culture. I find that often with the scripture. An incomplete picture of an event is due to differences in culture. So many of the parables are inversions of time tested stories the Hebrews would have been familiar with. The famous prodigal son parable was an inversion of a moral fable told by rabbis to keep kids in line. In their version, the father comes to meet his prodigal son along the road and harangues him about poor choices. I think he even slaps him. I might be getting parts of it wrong, but the point is that the son is rejected for his reckless lifestyle and familial disrespect. The version we know from the gospels shows the father full of grace. We associate with either the prodigal or the older brother.

Both are representations of human behavior. In either case, the central problem is pride. The prodigal’s pride is in thinking this carnal life is fulfilling. He lives hard and comes crawling back, a regretful and humbled man. The older brother’s pride is in himself and his deeds. He believes he is better because he never left the house and dishonored his father. In the end though it’s the younger brother that’s in a better place. His lack of pretense saved his soul. The father always welcomes us back with open arms. For most of us, older or younger, we fail to recognize that our position has nothing to do with our efforts. It’s truly by grace that we find salvation.

Is there a similar comparison here to the demon and pig story? It’s not a parable but I do wonder if there is some glaring omission in my mind. I’m only writing like this because I don’t currently have internet access. I would normally just google a bit and find it out. But I like this too. It’s almost a throwback to a time when we didn’t have instant access. It’s an unadulterated snapshot of what’s going on in my mind at the moment. I’ll look it up eventually but for now, my ignorance stands.

There is a similar account from Luke where one man is demon possessed instead of two. The man’s name is Legion. At least that’s what the demons inside him replied when Jesus asked his name. They also begged not to be sent into the abyss. But this story is very familiar to the one in Matthew. About the only difference is that there’s one possessed man described in Luke, and two possessed men described in Matthew. Otherwise, it’s in the same region of Israel and the death of the pigs is described the same way. Is this a different story? In both cases the people from the area asked Jesus to leave because of their fear.

That strikes me as odd. They were OK with demon the demon possessed naked man running around breaking chains and threatening people, but deliverance from said torture is just too much? I wonder if this is one of those things where they were somehow benefiting from the freak show near the tombs. Like the men making money (in Ephesus I think) from the fortune telling girl who Paul delivered. Could this have been part of their commerce or attraction for the city?

Possibly they feared the religious elders (Pharisees, Sadducees) who harassed Jesus at every turn. I imagine them sending spies to the region to inquire about the dead pigs. Maybe it’s just the simplest explanation of all, that they were afraid of this power they’d never encountered before. In a matter of minutes, the Messiah freed a long time oppressed man and killed a swath of pigs. That discomfort with the unknown can make people queasy. It’s almost like the Western’s I watched as a kid. A stranger comes into town and runs out the local goons. In the process he upsets the establishment and ignores etiquette. Come to think of it, that’s a fantastic summary of the life of Christ. He’s not a gunslinger but a righteous judge on a ‘mission from God’. For all the counterintuitive logic in the gospel, if the goodness of his ministry wasn’t self-evident it proves that a lot of people are truly lost.  

That’s what’s on my mind today.