torture us before the time?” At some distance away there was a large herd of pigs feeding. So the demons
begged him, “If you drive us out, send us into that herd of pigs.” Jesus ordered them, “Go.” So they left and
went into the pigs. The whole herd rushed down the cliff into the lake and drowned. The men in charge of
them ran off to the town, where they told the whole story, also what had happened to the men possessed
with the demons. Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus; and when they saw him, they begged him
to leave their region.
Reflection:
This gospel passage from Matthew 8:28-34 parallels that of Mark 5:1-20
and Luke 8:26-39. There are some variations to the story, for example in this passage,
the place is Gadara while in Mark and Luke, it is in Gerasa. Secondly, in this passage Jesus
is met by two demoniacs while in Mark and Luke, it is only one possessed person. The
geographical place can be reconciled easily since Gadara and Gerasa are near each other
and they may have overlapping boundaries. As to the number of demoniacs, scholars have
varying opinions regarding this. Whatever explanations there may be, we see that the sacred
writers have particular slants in their gospel. Understanding these slants means that
we cannot rely on our selfinterpretation of the bible only. Let alone someone who
does that a couple of centuries after the life of Jesus and the early followers. The traditions
lived by the Church testifies to a lot of things missing in the Bible because they were not
written but lived and practiced, and handed over from one generation to the next.
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