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Saturday, 22 January 2011

Matthew 8:28-34 - Beware of the pigs

Mark and Luke refer only to one demon possessed man in their accounts, though they do not say there was only one. So maybe there were two men, but one was much more violent than the other. 
The demons had caused the men to be excessively violent. They recognised Jesus as the Son of God. How was this? It is because the demons inside the men that were speaking. We have one great advantage in confronting demons than we have in confronting men. Men may genuinely not know who Jesus is, may genuinely not believer or understand. Demons, on the other hand, know exactly who Jesus is and His authority, so we can use the name of Jesus with absolute confidence. The demons also knew that there was an appointed time of judgement.
There were many Gentiles who lived in the region of Galilee, hence the presence of herds of pigs. For some reason the demons wanted to be allowed to go into the pigs, considering this a better fate than anything else. Jesus granted their wish (why?), but it did them no good, and the pigs consequently threw themselves into the lake and died. 
The people were not too pleased about this, and they begged Jesus to go. Mark focuses much more on the man himself, and the effect of the release on him. The towns people seemed more concerned about their financial well being than the presence of the kingdom of God.

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