Fr Joe has written this short reflection on today’s Gospel passage.
In today’s Gospel Jesus encounters two men who are either possessed by unclean spirits (fallen angels, demons) or oppressed by them. These unclean spirits recognise factually, that Jesus is the Son of God. They do not recognise Jesus as Son of God in faith, trust and surrender.
In delivering these men from the power of satan, the demons plead that Jesus sends them into the herd of pigs. This tells us that the city of Gadara, one of the Decapolis cities is predominantly gentile, pagan. The Jewish people were forbidden to raise pigs as they were considered unclean by Mosaic Law (Leviticus 11: 7-8)
The seas in the Old Testament were considered as hostile forces (Psalm 69:1-4) and also the sea was at times personified as beasts that roamed and rose from inside them (Daniel 7:3-8). The Book of Revelation 13:1-2 also speaks of beasts arising from out of the sea. By Jesus sending these demons back into the sea, symbolically Jesus is showing us his triumph over satan, that Jesus is the one with the greater strength and authority and that Jesus is Lord of all creation, which includes the territories of the demons.
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