It was the terror of the damned. GERASA, GERASENES ( , ). PRAYER: Dear Lord, first of all, I want to thank you for your healing, restoring power. The typical explanation for the petition of the residents that Christ leave their country is that they were motivated by materialistic considerations. 122 Quoted by Alfred Plummer, The Gospel According to Saint Luke, (Edinburg: T. and T. Clark, 5th ed., 1969): p. 228. This and hundreds of other resources are available free on our site due to the Lord's provision of generous financial supporters. Although the manifestations of demonization vary widely, this man115 evidenced several of the classic symptoms. That is not the choice at all. 18). They were not looked upon as necessarily evil in all cases. iv. The demons beg Jesus not to send them away, but instead to send them into the pigs on a nearby hillside, which he does. This request was granted and the entire herd rushed headlong to their own destruction. Then the Livestock Association and consumer groups would have been greatly distressed over the sudden decrease in the pig population and the resulting impact on pork prices. Matt 10:5-6; 15:24). Then they began to beg Jesus to leave their neighbourhood. 6:1-13. Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers. The triumphal arch to the South of the city is almost entire. But Jesus motioned to Peter to ready the boat. Instantly he recognized the Lord Jesus to be the Son of God (verse 7).116 There was a source of spiritual insight beyond human capabilities here. How Satan blinds our minds! We do not know why they chose to mention only one. The entrance of the term into colloquial speech indicates that the Roman occupation was a heavy burden. However, the point was clearly made; Jesus, the Son of God, has power over all things, including the powers of darkness. They are unclean spirits, (vss. A city in Transjordania, situated about thirty-five m. SE of the S end of the Sea of Galilee, one of the cities of the Decapolis; the inhabitants of the city. The word translated windstorm here, and storm in the KJ, is the word lailaps, which is more than just a storm. His greatest impact would be on those who knew his former state. Jon Bloom serves as teacher and cofounder of Desiring God. 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. 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. Are there things that perplex you? It would be hard to imagine a more horrible state] c and for a long time he had worn no clothes, It was, in fact, his demons that had recognized Jesus. This episode plays a key role in the literary critic Ren Girard's theory of the Scapegoat. That would be a strong message, by allowing them to be possessed and then drowned. ii. As Jesus began to get back into the boat, the delivered demoniac pleaded with Him that he might accompany Him. 8; Mark vi. That is why he was living in the solitude of the tombs, away from civilization. This was a region east of the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River. Demon-possession is, therefore, not merely a mental state in which someone suffers from a delusion or is subjected to some subjective disturbance of the world of ideas. Jesus' visits to the Decapolis can help us understand some aspects of his ministry that would not be as clear if they had occurred in Jerusalem, Capernaum, or some other "orthodox" Jewish site. [10], It has been widely accepted by scholars that several motifs throughout the account refer to the Roman legion. (Cf. Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience. As you heal me, as you empower me, as you use me for your purposes, my life will never be the same. GERASA, GERASENES (, ).
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