why were the gerasenes afraid
Now appreciate the reaction - another God was messing with their god - and demonstrating authority! The Politics of Luke 8:26-39. The man looked out on the Tiberius. vi. Thus an economic lose of revenue was involved. Horoscopes and astrological predictions are found in most major newspapers. Holy Communion From the Chalice Reintroduced in the UK: What About the US? His teachings have inspired great moral reformations such as abolition of slavery and the Civil Rights movement. Romans 9:19-23). The best known Gerasa was a Greek city nearly forty miles southeast of the lake (modern village of Khersa, on the east shore of the lake. In the form of tongues as of fire, the Holy Spirit rests on the disciples on the morning of Pentecost and fills them with himself. (CCC 696). The word translated windstorm here, and storm in the KJ, is the word lailaps, which is more than just a storm. They were sacrificed by being thrown off a cliff. Why would God tell King David to take a census of the people in verses one through nine, and then cast judgment on him because he did what he told him to do? This was a federation of ten cities (deka = ten, polis = city). Rev. Hence it would be called the land of the Gadarenes.. And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another . especially fn. There is, as we know, the world, the flesh, and the Devil. Why were the Romans afraid of the Christians? As we pass from this section to the next, let us not end on the note of the death of the pigs, but on the deliverance of the demoniac. September 2018 22, xvii. While he was once wild and uncontrollable, he was sitting quietly at the feet of Jesus. They would have to trust Jesus. He could just as easily commanded them to return to the deepest, darkest pit of Hell. This city was better known than Gadara or Gergesa; indeed in the Roman age no city of Palestine was better known.. (Matthew 8:28; Mark 5:1; Luke 8:26) In Gerasenes in place of Gadarenes. April 2015 We owe it to Josephus, from whom it has passed into ecclesiastical language. He was received into the Catholic Church in 1991. Unbelieving men may not rave and carry on like the Gerasene demoniac, but they are nevertheless under Satans control, doing his bidding. 2 And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. Known as the Judas Iscariot of Gnosticism for revealing that which is not to be revealed. Why did Jesus have the authority to forgive sins, why did the scribes take it as a blasphemy, and was this authority also given to men in general? When our Lord confronted the demons, they had to submit to His power and authority. So they refer to Gerasenes. June 2016 This was a region east of the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River. (3) Spiritual insight. In Acts 8:1 we have the regions of Judaea and Samaria (KJV), and in Acts 16:6, Galatia alone. Gergesenes means "those who come from pilgrimage or fight.". 115 While Mark and Luke describe only one demoniac, Matthew informs us that there were two. 2ff., xvv. Sign-up for E-NewsletterGet Register Updates sent daily or weeklyto your inbox. Does a barbarian benefit from the fast movement ability while wearing medium armor? 05 /5 Another theory. As an alternative to confinement, the demons posed the option of being permitted to enter the pigs, some 2,000 in number, feeding nearby. Flavius Josephus and Steve Mason, Flavius Josephus: Life of Josephus (Boston; Leiden: Brill, 2003), 47. No! Jesus had just performed an incredible miracleand one they desperately needed, at that! and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid. When Jesus asked his name the man answered, Legion, for we are many (Mark 5:9). The Lord, in an act of great mercy, freed the Gadarenes' man by casting the demons out of him and allowing them to enter a nearby herd of pigs. xvii. 35Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. It was opposite Galilee. As C. S. Lewis aptly put it: There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. - And they came to the other side of the sea.The other side of the sea would be the south-east side of the sea. Series NotesScripture references are based on the King James translation. In other words, Jesus had caused a loss to them of 2,000 swine already; what else would His presence cost? Thanks for contributing an answer to Biblical Hermeneutics Stack Exchange! As has been said before, look for Satans man behind the pulpit. When once he was an instrument of Satanic opposition against the Messiah, now he is a witness to His power. So much pain, so much sin. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. We see the first reaction to this in the storm MARK 4:7 And a great windstorm arose [snip]. Gadara, though not directly named in Scripture, was part of the Decapolis. They ask Him if they can enter some nearby pigs, and He lets them. Wikipedia states about it: In the second half of the 1st century AD, the city of Jerash achieved great prosperity.. He brought up the story of Jesus casting out demons and sending them into pigs, which promptly ran over a cliff into the sea. The demoniacs were mere maniacs, whom Jesus cured by humouring their fancies; and His giving leave to imaginary demons to enter into the swine, produced the story of the disaster to the herd.All these explanations assume that the Gospel narratives are wholly or in part unhistorical. Plummer, Luke, p. 228. It might be better to hide behind masks than risk being hurt again After all, if God rejects youwhere else can you go? Life with him would be heaven on earth. January 2021 Preisker, TWNT IV (1942), pp. His website/blog, Biblical Evidence for Catholicism, has been online since March 1997. How do I connect these two faces together? At their request, He left. They were not looked upon as necessarily evil in all cases. Some of the proposed answers to this question are totally unacceptable to an orthodox, evangelical Christian.123 By way of explanation, there are several factors which should be given serious consideration. That the unclean spirits were personal beings is evident from what is related about their leaving a possessed person, talking or crying out, possessing knowledge concerning Jesus, as well as other supernatural knowledgeshowing fear, and the like. But the distance is so short that, even making allowance for the delay by the tempest, the passage could scarcely have occupied the whole night. December 2021 Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. The second question is an ethical one: What right had the Lord to inflict this loss on the owners of the swine?121 Put even more crassly, Huxley censored this act with these words: the wanton destruction of other peoples property is a misdemeanour of evil example.122. Demons are highly organized (cf. They have three sons and a daughter (all homeschooled) and reside in southeast Michigan. Wasn't the answer obvious? Give a Gift SubscriptionBless friends, family or clergy with a gift of the Register. Whenever a man, woman, or child surrenders control of himself either to fleshly desires (anger, lust, passion, etc.) Others are absolutely controlled (hooked) by the drug and totally dependent upon it. There was no such danger in Perea, and thus the mercy of the Lord was to be heralded. Demonized individuals are not to be viewed so much as a pigeon hole category, as they are a continuem. No matter where you are on life's journey. People who have no appr Fallen people reject God not because they do not know His power. The lose of the pigs meant loose of partial income in the area. November 2017 Others cited unfaithfulness, lack of seriousness, and the lack of confidence to sustain a relationship. The sons of god ended up becoming the gods of these nations. 111 Edersheim maintains that it must have been late the same night of the storm: Most writers have, indeed, suggested, that the healing of the demonized on the other side took place at early dawn of the day following the storm on the lake. Matthew 12:43-45). Even in our sophisticated times, there is an intense interest in the supernatural and the occult. Renew or manage your subscription here. March 2015 If he was a pagan, why did Jesus cast out his demons? Mark 5:1And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. Jesus had been performing miracles in Gods nation - Israel. Well, it is because atheists, in their zealous rush to make fun of Christians, Christianity, and the Bible, start to lose their logical rigor and rationality, leading them to contend for implausible things: as presently. November 2022 . You can like Jesus for two different reasons. January 2023 How ironic, as others have noted, that the tormentor pleads not to be tormented. Is there a single-word adjective for "having exceptionally strong moral principles"? There probably were not many who had been told yet of the Messiah, and so were not yet believers. On the other hand, Gadara is only six miles from the southern tip of the lake and could easily have given its name to the district. October 2015 August 2021 Ouija boards are found in many American homes. For those near by the local name would be used; but in writing to a distant people, as the Greeks and Romans, the more comprehensive and general name would be given.. Exercising authority in the land allocated to Abraham, for Israel, the land set aside for God and his people. Robert L. (Bob)Deffinbaugh graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary with his Th.M. And the people there were scared, they recognised this, but more, they realised the significance of this. Other demoniacs described in Scripture were bent on self-destruction as well (cf. The subject of demons and demon possession has always seemed somewhat remote and academic to sophisticated 20th century Americans. Then they began to beg Jesus to leave their neighbourhood. They were instructed to keep quiet about what Jesus had done for them (cf. The whole story is a myth. to sign up for our free Water Of The Word newsletter at the top of any page! Demon possession, such as that of the Gerasene demoniac is the crudest and cruelest form of Satanic control, but by and large also one of the less common manifestations of Satans work in the world today. A land that was essentially under another god (lower case g). This would also give time afterwards for the dispersion, not only into the city, but into the country of them who had fed the swine. All of us may be so concerned with our own livelihoods that we fail to serve other people and help those in desperat 7 After he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, b he entered Capernaum. I would like to invite you to return to where we left off a few weeks ago in our studies in the gospel of Mark. Sometime after the Lord Jesus miraculously calmed the storm, the ship landed, perhaps late in the evening,111 on the other side of the lake in the country of the Gerasenes.112 If, indeed, it was late at night, the scene must have been an eerie one, with the nerves of the disciples already worn thin by the terrifying experience of the storm. Many New Testament manuscripts refer to the "Country of the Gadarenes" or "Gerasenes" rather than the Gergesenes. 61-62. Once naked, he is now clothed. Why are trials on "Law & Order" in the New York Supreme Court? Finally, there is in demon possession a counterpart to the filling (or control) of the Holy Spirit. In this context, however, he insists that legion has nothing of its usual Roman military overtones, but is the designation of numerous powers which oppose themselves to Jesus as the embodiment of the power of God. Lane, Mark, fn. When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met Him a man from the city who had demons. That would be a strong message, by allowing them to be possessed and then drowned. to men facing fear and death. He was also humorous in his answers. The story shows Jesus exorcising a demon or demons out of a man and into a herd of swine, causing the swine to run down a hill into a lake and drown . The first two are in the Authorized Version. The region is located east of the Jordan River and southeast of the Sea of Galilee. 10). August 2016 xii. If an Israelite, why was he in Gerasene in the first place and why was he living so near a large herd of swine? When you get a chance, please take the, We've added a "Necessary cookies only" option to the cookie consent popup. Your comment will be posted after it is approved. The district of the Gerasenes probably included that of the Gadarenes; so that the demoniac of Gergesa belonged to the country of the Gadarenes and also to that of the Gerasenes, as the same person may, with equal truth, be said to live in the city or the state, or in the United States. March 2016 No! The nearby townspeople, upon hearing of the great miracle (and not wanting to suffer further economic loss), begged Christ to leave the Gadarenes and never come back! The fear of the unknown, the uncontrollableof change. If it is a feminine spirit, the voice will be a feminine one, if masculine then very manly. Bulk update symbol size units from mm to map units in rule-based symbology. February 2015 Top Ten Reasons Why There Were Pigs In Gerasenes Remember the story of Jesus casting demons out of the crazy man in Luke 8? In the wake of new restrictions on the traditional Latin Mass, two American bishops spoke with EWTNs Raymond Arroyo Thursday about how their dioceses have responded. The demonically possessed man who came to Jesus cried out his name was Legion. March 2022 Hence there was demon-worship, the worship not necessarily of evil spirits; but of the spirits of those who had existed in the Golden Age. G. Campbell Morgan, The Gospel According to Mark (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1927), p. 114. Luke seems to base this fear solely upon what happened to the demoniac, not on the loss of their pigs. This city was better known than Gadara or Gergesa; indeed in the Roman age no city of Palestine was better known. Gergesa, also Gergasa ( in Byzantine greek) or the Country of the Gergesenes, is a place on the eastern ( Golan Heights) side of the Sea of Galilee located at some distance to the ancient Decapolis cities of Gadara and Gerasa. These people from the region of the Gerasenes had undoubtedly felt the anger or disgust of Jews for making a career out of such unclean animals, but Jesus had not criticized them for their profession. I have always wondered what my Christian brothers had to say to the police officers by way of explanation. Both Gerasa and Gadara were cities to the east of the Sea of Galilee and the River Jordan. SubscribeStart your Register subscription today. The choice is to be free by submission to Christ (cf. Jesus was saying, (demonstrating) that He had all authority, in any land. Nor was it the Jewish population of Galilee.
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