"When they saw Him, they begged Him to depart from their coast.” (v.34)
By way of recap, after Jesus was baptized He heard that John was in prison, so He departed for Galilee. He stayed in Capernaum, in the regions of Zebulum and Naphtali, and began to preach on the kingdom of heaven. Great multitudes followed Him from Galilee to beyond the Jordan. Seeing the multitudes, He went up to a mountain above the crowds and began to speak to them. When He had ended His teaching the people were astonished, for He taught them as one having great authority.
Chapter 8 now picks up His story after He came down from the mountain. Having just proclaimed the kingdom of God was at hand to many through the sermon on the mount, He begins to show what it will be like during the kingdom age through a series of miracles. Jesus, through the power of His spoken word cleanses a man of leprosy (vv.1-4), healed a paralyzed servant of a centurion (vv. 5-13), healed Peter’s mother of a feverish sickness (vv.14-15), healed many who were demon possessed (vv. 16-17), and calmed the wind and the waves by His command, while He and His disciples were in a boat during a great tempest at sea (vv. 23-26).
Now once they had safely crossed the sea of Galilee, they landed at the Country of the Gergesenes, a place on the eastern side of the Sea. There, two men (probably greeks) came out of the tombs who were demon possessed, and came face to face with Jesus. The men were so exceedingly fierce, that no one from the local area dared pass by those tombs. Then suddenly they cried out, “What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before “the time” (vv.28-29)?
Wow! The multitudes did not recognize who He was, those He helped saw Him as a healer or a teacher. His own disciples wondered what manner of man He was that the wind and the waves obeyed His voice. But the demons who possessed the two men (greeks) from Gergesenes, knew exactly who He was, and feared what He might do to them before "their time.” So wrather than being unembodied spirits, the demons begged Jesus saying, “If you cast us out, permit us to go into the heard of swine" (near by). And He said to them, “Go” (vv. 28-32). Then suddenly, "the whole heard of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the water" (v.32).
Scripture does not record the two liberated men’s reaction to this event. But, it does record what those who were tending the swine did. They went into the city and told everything they saw, including what happened to the two demon possessed men. Then the whole city came out to meet Jesus, and "when they saw Him, they begged Him to depart from their coast” (v. 34). I guess they cared more about their business of pig farming (most likely illegal in that area of the world), than what Jesus had done for their countrymen.
So sad when people, companies, bureaucracies, and even churches, care more about their bottom line than one of their own. However, just as the liberation of two lives from demon possession is a far greater to God than a heard of swine, so too is the liberation of your soul greater to God than anything else to Him, and gives cause for much celebration in heaven.
The Truth: "I say unto you, that joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repents, more than over ninety-nine just persons, which need no repentance."
