The Lord Jesus pointed out that "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." This response is probably an allusion to the rejection that occurred the night before by the Scribes and Pharisees and in preparation by the Gentiles of Gadara on the next day. He did not appear to rush upon the small group of men to attack them (as he would normally have done), but rather to plead with Jesus. Though Legion bowed before Jesus (verse 6), it was no act of worship (as the King James Version would seem to indicate). Ptolemy says Gerasa was a city in Coele-Syria, thirty-five travel m. from Pella. Demonic influence further destroys mans reflection of God as originally designed.128 Demons have great spiritual insight and reluctantly submit to Jesus as Lord of all. Gerasa is identified from various sources as a city in Arabia, Decapolis, Gilead, or Perea. 40, vii. What Jesus wants us to know is that his salvation and his protection extend to those old, horrible haunts. We should be warned that fooling with these Satanic fronts is like experimenting with drugs. It was greatly influenced by Greek culture.126. Used with Permission. They were sacrificed by being thrown off a cliff. John imagines what the back-story of this man might have been and explores themes of redemption and reconciliation. Such was the case with this man (cf. This account is recorded in all three of the synoptic gospel accounts, but with two different renderings of the name of the place where the miracles occurred. Theology of Work Project Online Materials by The High Calling are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Who do you care more about, people or pigs? Further, the conclusion seems warranted that there was confusion in some MSS of Gerasa with the more likely site for the miracle near Gergesa. He seemed to view Jesus approach as the launching of a direct attack on the demonic forces. Sproul says in his commentary on Mark, When the Holy One is manifest in the midst of unholy people, the only appropriate human response is dread.. This episode plays a key role in the literary critic Ren Girard's theory of the Scapegoat. Published In both the accounts of Mark and Luke, the primary motivation is described as that of fear. [5] In this version, Jesus does not ask for the demon's name, which is considered an important element of traditional exorcism practice. 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. The lose of the pigs meant loose of partial income in the area. It's not them. 8:28, Mark 5:1-2, Luke 8:26-27. We come to a riveting, compelling, fascinating, gripping story, an incident in the life of our Lord which introduces us again to His divine power. Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience. Joseph blessed his 12 sons and prophesied over each. Luke 8:26-38 New American Standard Bible - NASB 1995 (). That is why he was living in the solitude of the tombs, away from civilization. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Exorcism_of_the_Gerasene_demoniac&oldid=1143355181, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2019, All articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases, Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from March 2022, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 7 March 2023, at 07:06. The typical explanation for the petition of the residents that Christ leave their country is that they were motivated by materialistic considerations. Other textual variations include "Gadarenes" and "Gergesenes". Ouija boards are found in many American homes. Bibliography W. A. Thomson, The Land and the Book (1882), 333-338, 353, 359; C. H. Kraeling, Gerasa, City of the Decapolis (1938); The Westminster Historical Atlas to the Bible (1946), 64, 117; M. F. Unger, Archaeology and the NT (1962), 139-141; E. Lohmeyer, Das Evangelium des Markus (1963), 93f; C. F. Pfeiffer, The Biblical World (1966), 252-254. The crowd's murmuring crescendoed into anxious pleas: "Please leave! Mark 9:17-29). Romans 6 speaks about our identification with Christ in baptism and being dead to sin and alive in Christ. But I know there are ways I do this all the time. Unbelieving men may not rave and carry on like the Gerasene demoniac, but they are nevertheless under Satans control, doing his bidding. This town is not to be confused with either Gerasa or Gadara. People try to make Jesus king; he walks on sea; heals many. Vote Up verse 5). 7. No men would have written in this manner but those who were acquainted with the facts (1949, p. 91). If you have any issues, please call the office at 385-246-1048 or email us at [emailprotected], by Matt Slick | Apr 13, 2023 | Bible Studies. And, lastly, this would allow sufficient time for those miracles which took place on that second day in Capernaum after His return thither. Jewish theology, at least on this point, seems consistent with biblical revelation. 4, p. 102. No fear. Vote Up 1. By His power, we, too, are able to overcome Satans treacheries. 4. For those who are shaken like leaves in the wind at the mention of demons, let us remember from this story that demons cannot even possess pigs without prior permission from our Lord. Neither is it only a kind of physical disease, although spiritual and physical disease often accompany it (e.g. 22, xvii. Accordingly this was not merely an ordinary form of mental disease as some writers have alleged, but a special phenomenon which was particularly frequent during Jesus earthly sojourn and thus was directly connected with His coming to destroy the power of darkness.
