Matthew 8:28-34
The sequences indicates that this episode in Jesus' life took place right after he had calmed the storm on the lake. While Matthew indicated that Jesus had freed people from demonization in a previous paragraph, this is a very specific story. I speculate that this was a pretty famous incident in Jesus' ministry and Matthew is reminding his Jewish readers about it and using it to further prove that Jesus truly was the Messiah - he had authourity over the spiritual realm as well as the physical (as seen by his commanding the wind and waves).
I'm sure there is significance in the demons being allowed to go into the herd of pigs. Some have speculated that it has something to do with Jesus making a statement about Jews profiting from the raising of unclean animals. However, that seems unlikely to me since Jesus didn't seem overly concerned with the ceremonial requirements of the Law and in a relatively short time was going to command Peter in a vision to eat so called unclean animals. I wonder if Jesus was making a point that the pig farmer and the people from the village were more concerned with the welfare of livestock than they were with the welfare of these two outcasts. Matthew doesn't say specifically why the townspeople asked Jesus to leave the region but it could very well be that they were worried he would destroy more of their economy.
So, the lesson is this: Jesus is more concerned about humans than he is about pigs. Am I?
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1 comment:
Good insights Jer. I like the contarst between humans and pigs. I think it is important to care about our environment and animals on this earth that God created, but not more so than humans. I just think we need to take care of God's creation, we are called to do that. However our biggest calling is to love God and love others, which often like you say, I think we overlook the loving others part, especially if it is not convenient.
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