Our paragraph topic is: (Expulsion of the devils in Gerasa)Part 3.
St Matthew continues to tell this story about the possessed men. Now there were men tending the swine and they witnessed the entire exorcism of the possessed men. And when their swines were possessed by the demons they were seized with fear. They fled. They went back into the village and reported everything to the people concerning what had transpired with the possessed men and the swine. Matthew tells us that all of a sudden, the whole town came out to meet Jesus. And behold, he says. One can imagine the anger of the crowd and the assumptions that the crowd had made in its anger and frustration. The owners of the swine had just lost their source of income and livelihood. So the crowd came out to meet Jesus.
One can imagine the report that was taken back to the village. In the words of the swineherds, there must have been some interpretation of the incident. They may have said that they saw this man come from the boat with his people. Then the devils from the caves came out to destroy them. And they watched to see what would happen, since they know to keep away from that area. The whole town know not to go to the place of the devil men. But these men they came and the devils rushed out to rip them apart. We wanted to see this because we knew what would happen. We had a good seat to see it all. Well when the devils approached, they stopped before the one man. Instead of attacking them they stopped and talked with the one man. We heard them talking to the one man and they shouted with a loud voice as though they were being tortured. This was amazing since the devils did not attack. The devils kept talking telling him to let them go into the swines. We wondered what that meant. Then the one said go and the next thing we knew the swines started to act crazy. They started to jump and make strange noises. Then all of a sudden they started to run towards the cliff. We tried to stop them but before we could catch up with them they all had jumped off the cliff into the sea. This has never happened before. We graze them near this spot all the time and they have never gone near the cliff. We have not seen anything like this before in our lives for all of the years that we have herded swine. Swines never do anything like this. We think that the one put evil spirits in them that caused them to jump off the cliff. So we came back to tell all about what happened. So go and see for yourself what happened. This may have been the story that was told by the herders that kept the swine. And the whole town came out to meet Jesus.
It must have been an angry mob that came out. It must have been a mob with intent to do harm that came out. It must have been a mob with murder on their minds. It must have been a mob stirred up by the imaginations of the leaders and the mindless frenzy of crowd appeal. But they met Jesus.
And the disciples witnessed this all first hand. What did the disciples think when the crowd approached? What did they imagine when they heard the frenzy of the crowd? What was their emotions when the crowd arrived.? And they met Jesus. Matthew tells us that they asked Christ to leave their village. Matthew does not tell about any violence that took place. Matthew tells us that nothing transpired. Matthew tells us only that the crowd met Jesus and entreated him to depart from their district. What was the lesson to be learned here? The disciples witnessed the transition of the crowd from anger to a simple request. They witnessed the effect that Christ had upon the crowd. They had first hand knowledge of what transpired and how it happened. They knew within themselves the power of Christ, who had calmed the sea and made the wind obey. And all of this under the instructions of having faith. Will our faith give us the power to calm angry crowds? Will our faith give us the power to cast out demons? Will our faith give us the power to calm angry seas? Will our faith give us the power to not fear death even in the face of death itself? Christ asked, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?"
St Matthew continues to tell this story about the possessed men. Now there were men tending the swine and they witnessed the entire exorcism of the possessed men. And when their swines were possessed by the demons they were seized with fear. They fled. They went back into the village and reported everything to the people concerning what had transpired with the possessed men and the swine. Matthew tells us that all of a sudden, the whole town came out to meet Jesus. And behold, he says. One can imagine the anger of the crowd and the assumptions that the crowd had made in its anger and frustration. The owners of the swine had just lost their source of income and livelihood. So the crowd came out to meet Jesus.
One can imagine the report that was taken back to the village. In the words of the swineherds, there must have been some interpretation of the incident. They may have said that they saw this man come from the boat with his people. Then the devils from the caves came out to destroy them. And they watched to see what would happen, since they know to keep away from that area. The whole town know not to go to the place of the devil men. But these men they came and the devils rushed out to rip them apart. We wanted to see this because we knew what would happen. We had a good seat to see it all. Well when the devils approached, they stopped before the one man. Instead of attacking them they stopped and talked with the one man. We heard them talking to the one man and they shouted with a loud voice as though they were being tortured. This was amazing since the devils did not attack. The devils kept talking telling him to let them go into the swines. We wondered what that meant. Then the one said go and the next thing we knew the swines started to act crazy. They started to jump and make strange noises. Then all of a sudden they started to run towards the cliff. We tried to stop them but before we could catch up with them they all had jumped off the cliff into the sea. This has never happened before. We graze them near this spot all the time and they have never gone near the cliff. We have not seen anything like this before in our lives for all of the years that we have herded swine. Swines never do anything like this. We think that the one put evil spirits in them that caused them to jump off the cliff. So we came back to tell all about what happened. So go and see for yourself what happened. This may have been the story that was told by the herders that kept the swine. And the whole town came out to meet Jesus.
It must have been an angry mob that came out. It must have been a mob with intent to do harm that came out. It must have been a mob with murder on their minds. It must have been a mob stirred up by the imaginations of the leaders and the mindless frenzy of crowd appeal. But they met Jesus.
And the disciples witnessed this all first hand. What did the disciples think when the crowd approached? What did they imagine when they heard the frenzy of the crowd? What was their emotions when the crowd arrived.? And they met Jesus. Matthew tells us that they asked Christ to leave their village. Matthew does not tell about any violence that took place. Matthew tells us that nothing transpired. Matthew tells us only that the crowd met Jesus and entreated him to depart from their district. What was the lesson to be learned here? The disciples witnessed the transition of the crowd from anger to a simple request. They witnessed the effect that Christ had upon the crowd. They had first hand knowledge of what transpired and how it happened. They knew within themselves the power of Christ, who had calmed the sea and made the wind obey. And all of this under the instructions of having faith. Will our faith give us the power to calm angry crowds? Will our faith give us the power to cast out demons? Will our faith give us the power to calm angry seas? Will our faith give us the power to not fear death even in the face of death itself? Christ asked, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?"
