The Gerasen Demoniac

St Matthew Chapter VIII : Verses 28-34

Contents

• Matt. viii. 28-34 Douay-Rheims text & Latin text (Vulgate).
• Notes on the text
• Additional Notes: The location; diabolical possession and obsession.

Matt. viii. 28-34

The Gerasen Demoniac and the herd of swine.
J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

28 And when he was come on the other side of the water, into the country of the Gerasens, there met him two that were possessed with devils, coming out of the sepulchres, exceeding fierce, so that none could pass by that way.

Et cum venisset trans fretum in regionem Gerasenorum, occurrerunt ei duo habentes dæmonia, de monumentis exeuntes, saevi nimis, ita ut nemo posset transire per viam illam.

29 And behold they cried out, saying: What have we to do with thee, Jesus Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?

Et ecce clamaverunt, dicentes : Quid nobis et tibi, Jesu fili Dei? Venisti huc ante tempus torquere nos?

30 And there was, not far from them, an herd of many swine feeding.

Erat autem non longe ab illis grex multorum porcorum pascens.

31 And the devils besought him, saying: If thou cast us out hence, send us into the herd of swine.

Dæmones autem rogabant eum, dicentes : Si ejicis nos hinc, mitte nos in gregem porcorum.

32 And he said to them: Go. But they going out went into the swine, and behold the whole herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea: and they perished in the waters.

Et ait illis : Ite. At illi exeuntes abierunt in porcos, et ecce impetu abiit totus grex per præceps in mare : et mortui sunt in aquis.

33 And they that kept them fled: and coming into the city, told every thing, and concerning them that had been possessed by the devils.

Pastores autem fugerunt : et venientes in civitatem, nuntiaverunt omnia, et de eis qui dæmonia habuerant.

34 And behold the whole city went out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart from their coasts.

Et ecce tota civitas exiit obviam Jesu : et viso eo, rogabant ut transiret a finibus eorum.

Notes

    28. the country of the Gerasens. A district south-east of the lake, and opposite Capharnaum. They would probably have arrived early in the morning, as the distance across the lake was but a short journey ; but there had been a tempest, which would have delayed them.

    there met him. They came immediately as our Lord set foot on land. Probably the demoniac had seen the boat coming in, and felt drawn to meet our Lord, since St Mark relates that the poor man saw Jesus afar off.

    two. Both St Luke and St Mark only mention one demoniac. One does not exclude a second ; probably the more violent of the two is mentioned as being more dangerous.

    possessed with devils. Cf . there met him out of the monuments a man with an unclean spirit (St Mark).

    out of the sepulchres. He had his dwelling in the tombs. The Jews made no provision for the mentally afflicted. They bound them when they became violent ; otherwise the poor creatures roamed at will through the land. Maniacs, demoniacs, and lepers were alike treated as outcasts.

    Throughout Syria there are many natural caves, and it was also customary to hew tombs out of the solid rocks.

    “An immense mountain rises directly above Chersha in which are ancient tombs’ (Thomson). Many of the tombs belong to very remote periods, even before the time of our Lord. These sepulchres were considered “unclean ” on account of the dead having been buried there, hence no Jew would enter them, and demoniacs and other outcasts would hold undisturbed possession of these caves. The Jews believed that sepulchres were inhabited by evil spirits, i.e. the disembodied souls of wicked men (daimonia), and that it sufficed to pass a single night in a cemetery in order to be possessed by one.

    exceeding fierce. St Mark gives more details, and explains why none could pass by that way. No man now could bind him, not even with chains. For having been often bound with fetters and chains, he had burst the chains and broken the fetters in pieces, and no one could tame him. And he was always day and night in the monuments and in the mountains, crying and cutting himself with stones (v. 3-5).

    29. they cried out. Cf. with a loud voice. All the Synoptists note this loud cry. What have I to do with thee ? (St Mark). These words may mean, “ What is there in common between us ? ” or “ Why do you trouble us thus ? ” Also the demoniacs ran and adored him (St Mark), and fell down before him (St Luke).

    The devils feared Christ, hence their acknowledgment of His divinity. On the other hand, the poor demoniac may have felt something drawing him to the feet of Jesus ; and while the adoration was a forced one on the part of the devil, it may have been a willing homage on the part of the poor demoniac. The two personalities are strongly marked in this man who approaches and adores Christ, while the devils fear Him. The duality of the man’s consciousness prevents him from distinguishing between his own action and that of the devil.

    Jesus, Son of God. St Mark gives the demoniac’s petition more fully. What have I to do with thee, Jesus the Son of the most high God ? I adjure thee by God that thou torment me not (v. 7). Perhaps the confession was forced from them by the sense of power which they felt our Lord exercised over them. Certainly they had no good motive in confessing His divinity ; and probably when the confession was publicly made, the devils may have hoped to throw discredit on our Lord, and by admitting that they knew Him, have led the bystanders to conclude that He worked in collusion with them.

    to torment us. The devils do not wish to be sent back to hell. They prefer to roam at will and torment men. Though they carry their torments with them wherever they go, yet from these words we may infer that they suffered more intensely when confined to their own place.

    These words were uttered by the devil when Christ said : Go out of the man, thou unclean spirit (St Murk v. 8). Whenever a demoniac comes in presence of our Saviour, we notice a strange mingling of supplication and arrogance. They evidently feared, and yet would fain defy Him.

    30. many swine feeding. The swine were feeding near the mountain.

    Jews were forbidden to keep swine or to eat swine’s flesh. These swine may have belonged to some irreligious Jew or to Gentiles. Probably the herd was the property of more than one man. The greater number of the inhabitants of this region were certainly Gentiles, but there were also Hellenistic, i.e. Greek-speaking, Jews living there. There are in the environs of Chersha large plateaus of fertile soil, where abundant pasture and bulbous roots suitable for swine’s food are still to be seen.

    31. the devils besought, etc. This was in answer to our Lord’s question. And he asked him : What is thy name And he saith to him: My name is Legion, for we are many (St Mark). Perhaps the devils wished to strike terror into the souls of the listeners, and to give a great idea of their strength and power.

    A Roman legion varied from 3000 to 6000 men, and was a terror to the Jews. The number is not here to be taken literally. It simply implies they were many. St Mark gives the number as about two thousand.

    send us into the herd of swine. Some MSS. read (as in St Luke viii. 32) “command us to enter” (ἐπίτρεψον ἡμῖν ἀπελθεῖν), instead of “send us” (ἀπόστειλον ἡμᾶς). If the devils could enter into a man’s body, still more would they be able to take possession of animals, but they needed our Lord’s permission to do this. The devils doubtless wished to go into the swine —

    (1) That they might, by destroying the swine, free themselves.

    (2) In order to stir up the owners of the herd against our Lord.

    Notice the four requests : —

    (а) Not to torment them by driving them out.

    (b) Not to drive them away out of the country (St Mark v. 10).

    (c) Not to command them to go into the abyss (i.e. hell) (St Luke viii. 31).

    (d) That they might go into the swine.

    32. the whole herd ran violently down. Near Chersha, a little to the south, a steep mountain rises almost perpendicularly from the sea. The swine, rushing down the sides of this mountain with great violence, could not have checked their course on arriving at the edge of the abrupt descent, but must inevitably have fallen into the sea.

    perished in the waters. Jesus, as God, has a right to give or take worldly possessions as He wills. If the owners of the swine were Jews, they were breaking the law and deserved to lose their herds. If they were Gentiles, they had probably induced the Jews, in view of profit, to trade in swine, and thus gave scandal. In any case, God can always, without injustice, take back what comes from Him, and we know that famine and pestilence have been frequently sent as chastisements. This miracle and that of “the cursing of the barren fig-tree” are the only two miracles of destruction which our Lord wrought.

    33. they that kept them fled. They ran away in fear and told all whom they met. The owners of the herds would have dwelt in the city ; hence they went out into the plains to see what was done (St Mark).

    told everything. Those who had seen the miracle were eager to give all details to the citizens and owners of the swine ; also they wished to exonerate themselves from all blame for the loss of the herd.

    34. the whole city went out, etc. There they found Jesus, whom they sought, and also the man out of whom the devils were departed (St Luke).

    Mark the contrast : —

    (a) The demoniac, now well in his wits.

    (b) Sitting at his feet. No longer roaming about, crying out, or cutting himself with stones.

    (c) Clothed, instead of naked.

    they besought him that, etc. St Luke gives one of their motives : — they were taken with great fear. Also they regretted the destruction of the swine, and feared to incur other losses. St Peter, in his humility, once said, “ Depart from me, 0 Lord,” but the Gerasens did not ask our Lord to depart on account of their unworthiness, but simply from interested, worldly motives, and in their selfishness, did not consider the blessings which the poor demoniacs had received, nor the benefit to themselves in being delivered from the violence of the two demoniacs.

    Note. — The other Synoptists give the closing scene of this touching incident. Our Lord granted their request. He does not force His graces on the unwilling. Consequently, going up into the ship, He was about to depart, when, moved by gratitude, or by fear lest the demons should again enter into him, he that had been troubled with the devil began to beseech that he might be with him. But Jesus refused, saying. Go into thy house to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had mercy on thee. And he went his way, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him, and all men wondered (St Mark v. 19, 20). Christ visited that same district about a year later, when doubtless some were prepared to receive Him, through the testimony of the men whom He had healed on this occasion.

Additional Notes

Location of the miracle. We are told that this miracle took place “on the other side of the sea,” and in the country of the Gerasens. This latter statement has given rise to much discussion, because the best Greek MSS. name three different places as the scene of the miracle. In the Kevised Version of 1881, we find, accordingly, that St Matthew localises the place as Gadarens, while St Mark reads Gerasens, and St Luke has Gergesens. Of these three places, for geographical reasons, the ancient Gergesa, now Chersha or Khersa, seems to have been the correct one, for it has all the geographical features mentioned by the Evangelists. Gerasa, on the other hand, is situated about 30 miles south-east of Galilee, while Gadara was a large city in Perea, about 8 miles from the lake. There is, however, no real discrepancy, as these towns being on the same side of the lake and in the same region, the land between might be named after any one of them.

On Demoniacal possession.

    (1) Possession of the devil. The devils are sometimes permitted by God to harass men externally, as in the case of holy Job, whom they afflicted bodily and deprived of his worldly possessions. They are also occasionally permitted to enter into a man’s body and to dwell there, using his limbs and senses, and depriving him of the use of them. Thus the possessed often do extraordinary things, such as flying in the air, speaking unknown tongues, etc. (See Acts xvi. 16, xix. 16.) The devil cannot inhabit the soul, nor is he able to force man’s free will and compel him to sin, but he can cruelly torture the body, and cause illusions by deceiving the senses. Even good people have been for a time possessed by the devil, as we read in the lives of the saints, but such examples are rare. The third of the minor orders of the Church is that of the exorcist, whose special office is to perform exorcisms, i.e. to drive out devils. Possessions of the devil were much more frequent before the time of our Lord.

    (2) Obsession of the devil. This occurs when the devil attacks a man persistently from without, and presents phantoms to the senses. Many saints have experienced this trial. Exorcisms are —

(a) Ordinary : as in baptism, blessing of holy water.

(b) Extraordinary : in the case of bodily possessions.

    Our Lord frequently exorcised during His Public Life, and so did the apostles, both when sent on their first apostolic mission (St Luke ix. 1), and later (Acts xvi. 18, xix. 12).

Objections against Demoniacal possession refuted.

    It has been objected by non-believers that there is no such thing as “possession by the devil,” but that what is and has been so called is merely a form of disease, such as insanity, epilepsy, or some nervous complaint. They base their assertion on the fact that many of the symptoms are similar, since maniacs and persons afflicted with fits gnash their teeth, foam at the mouth, and strive to injure or destroy themselves. To this objection we can give the following answers : —

    I. The Jews (who had the true faith) believed in possession by the devil, since they attributed certain diseases to the power of the devil.

(a) “ And when they were gone out, behold they brought him a dumb man possessed with a devil” (St Matt. ix. 32). “Then was offered to him one possessed with a devil, blind and dumb : and he healed him, so that he spoke and saw” (St Matt. xii. 22). “ Master, I have brought my son to thee having a dumb spirit” (St Mark ix. 16).

(b) They distinguished between persons afflicted with disease and those possessed by devils. “ And when it was evening after sunset, they brought to him all that were ill, and that were possessed with devils ” (St Mark i. 32). “ Who were come to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases, and they that were troubled with unclean spirits were cured” (St Luke vi. 18).

(c) They accused our Lord of being thus possessed. “ Why seek you to kill me ? The multitude answered and said : Thou hast a devil, who seeketh to kill thee?” (St John vii. 20). “And the scribes who were come down from Jerusalem said : He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of devils he casteth out devils” (St Mark iii. 22).

    II. A spirit or personality only, could reveal the Divinity of our Lord, could fear being cast into the abyss, or desire to remain in a given locality. Such manifestations are not within the compass of a mere disease. 
    III. Our Lord distinctly teaches that there is such a thing as possession by devils, since —

(a) He gave His apostles power to cast out devils, and they used this power : “Lord, the devils also are subject to us in thy name.” “ I saw Satan like lightning falling from heaven.” “ But yet rejoice not in this that spirits are subject unto you ” (St Luke x. 17, 18, 20).

(b) He warned them that certain devils are difficult to expel (St Mark ix. 28).

    IV. The Church, following the teaching of Christ, has always believed in demoniacal possession, therefore she has —

(a) instituted, under the guidance of the Holy Ghost, special ministers and rites in order to expel evil spirits.

(b) established and preserved the custom of blessing people and things, which has, among other objects, that of preventing them from being possessed by the devil.

On the method of exorcism employed by the Jews.

    Josephus speaks of a herb which if it be only brought to sick persons, it quickly drives away those demons which .... enter into men .... and kill them (B.J., vii. 6. 3). He also explains how a certain Eleazar exorcised in presence of Vespasian and his army. “ The manner of the cure was this : he put a ring that had a root of one of those herbs mentioned by Solomon to the nostrils of the demoniac, after which he drew out the demon through his nostrils : and when the man fell down immediately, he adjured him to return into him no more, making still mention of Solomon, and reciting the incantations which he composed. And when Eleazar would persuade and demonstrate to the spectators that he had such a power, he set a little way off a cup or basin full of water, and commanded the demon, as he went out of the man, to overturn it, and thereby to let the spectators know that he had left the man” (Antiq., viii. 2. 5).
    29. Son of God. This title occurs rarely in the Old Testament, but is very frequently employed in the New. We note that it is given by —

(a) God.                 “ Thou art my beloved Son” (infra, iii. 32).

(b) Christ.              “ Do you say .... Thou blasphemest, because I said, I  am the Son of God ? ” (St John x. 36).
(c) Men.                 St Peter. “ Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God” (St Matt. xvi. 16).
                               The Centurion. “ Indeed this man was the Son of God ” (St Mark xv. 3).

                                Daniel. “The fourth is like the Son of God” (Dan. iii. 25).

(d) Devils.               “ If thou be the Son of God ” (St Luke iv. 3, 9).

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.