When Pigs Fly

Jesus gets creative in dispatching some demons.

Poor pigs. What did they even do?

To be clear, there are cultural things at play here that are very difficult for us to understand today. Pigs generally had no religious or dietary value to 1st-century Jews— they were considered unclean. So, seeing a whole herd of them dispatched into the sea would not only be of no loss to them, but might even be seen as a welcome act of cleansing or judgment.

If we can set aside the death of so many animals for a moment (and that may be hard for some of us), we Jesus in a creative display of power. Those demons that would otherwise seek to control and wreak havoc on the lives of these two men deserve nothing more than to inhabit unclean animals and - as Jesus will soon say later in Matthew - go jump in a lake.

Matthew 8:28-34

When Jesus arrived on the other side of the lake in the country of the Gadarenes, two men who were demon-possessed came from among the tombs to meet him. They were so violent that nobody could travel on that road. They cried out, “What are you going to do with us, Son of God? Have you come to torture us before the time of judgment?” Far off in the distance a large herd of pigs was feeding. The demons pleaded with him, “If you throw us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”

Then he said to the demons, “Go away,” and they came out and went into the pigs. The whole herd rushed down the cliff into the lake and drowned. Those who tended the pigs ran into the city and told everything that had happened to the demon-possessed men. Then the whole city came out and met Jesus. When they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.

Prayer

God,

If only there were a herd of pigs into which we could today stuff all the madness. It seems like the easier - albeit quite unproductive - choice today is to say how terrible the mad men around us are (and their actions are, indeed!). But what does demon-casting-into-pigs look like now? How do we do such a thing?

Day after day, help us to be knowers and practitioners of your justice. Help our tongues and key-stroking fingers recognize when to make noise and when to be silent. We pray for those who put themselves in harm's way and those who are put there by others. For those with power, we pray for better wisdom and discernment.

By your spirit and in Christ,
Amen.