Pigs Preferred

“We prefer pigs!” That was the content of the prayer of the Gadarenes when they encountered Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. In this passage we will examine three prayers offered to Jesus—one by demons, one by the Gadarenes, and one by a person who was saved by grace.

This account is found in three places in the gospels. The fullest account is in Mark 5:1–20; this passage in Matthew 8:28–34 is the shortest treatment of it. It is also found in Luke 8:26–39. One should read all these passages to have a fuller picture of this miracle performed by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Context

This miracle occurred after Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7). The Bible says that Jesus taught with authority—not with the authority of a scribe, but with divine authority. Those who listened recognized that Jesus was the one who could either admit or deny admission to people into the kingdom of God.

After descending from the mountainside, Jesus performed several miracles. In Matthew 8 we read that he cleansed a leper and healed a centurion’s dying, paralyzed servant, Peter’s mother-in-law, and many other people. Then Jesus told his disciples to cross the Sea of Galilee so that he could bring the kingdom of God to people on the other side. While they were crossing the lake, a great storm arose. The disciples panicked and cried out, “Jesus, don’t you care that we perish?” By one word Jesus calmed the furious storm and raging sea, prompting his disciples to ask, “What sort of a man is this, who is able to calm the storm and the sea, to whom absolute obedience is rendered by nature?” As they pondered this question, the boat arrived on the southeastern side of the Sea of Galilee, which was known as the region of the Gadarenes or Gerasenes.

Originally this area was occupied by the tribes of Gad, Manasseh, and Reuben. These people wanted to settle on the east side of the Jordan River rather than on the west side because they had large herds of cattle, and the land was suitable for cattle. Their primary purpose was not to be close to the place where God would put his name; rather, they were interested in taking care of their cattle, so they preferred the east side.

In the third century BC that area came under Greek influence. There were ten free Greek cities, dominated by Gentiles and their culture, which formed a league called the Decapolis. Part of the Gentile culture included raising pigs. I suspect that this was the region to which the prodigal son went so that he could really throw off the restrictions of God’s word and live a sinful life. Only one of the cities, Scythopolis, also called Beth Shan, was on the west side of the Jordan. The other cities were Hippos, Raphana (Abila), Gadara, Dion, Canatha, Pella, Gerasa, Philadelphia, and Damascus.

Jesus crossed over to this region on the southeast side of the Sea of Galilee. He went because God loves not only Jews but Gentiles also. God loves the world. From all eternity God has chosen people from every nation to be saved. By going to this region, Jesus was accomplishing God’s plan as revealed in Isaiah 9:1–2: “Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan—The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”

So, according to divine direction, Jesus told his disciples to cross the lake to the other side so that he could bring the light of the gospel to the Gentiles there. Jesus came to the land of the Gadarenes to seek and to save that which is lost. The second person of the Trinity, the eternal Son of God, became incarnate, not to be ministered unto but to minister and to give his life as a ransom for the elect of God. And even today we can see the ruins of a town called Khersa (Kursi) where Jesus probably landed.

Jesus Meets a Demoniac

As Jesus and his disciples got off the boat, a naked man ran to him. Matthew’s account speaks about two demoniacs, while Mark and Luke mention only one, so this man was probably the dominant of the two. We are told that he had not worn clothes for a long time. He had a family and had lived in the nearby city, but he became demon-possessed and dangerous. People tried to control him by chaining him and putting fetters on his feet. But with supernatural power he broke all his chains and fetters. Though he was bound again and again, because he was filled with so many demons, he broke off all restraints. Finally, no one could subdue or control him. He left his home and city and went to this solitary place by the Sea of Galilee. He lived among the tombs, which were caves where people buried their dead. This naked, restless, foul-mouthed, fierce-looking, filthy man screamed day and night and sometimes took stones to gash himself. He was so dangerous that no one even dared to take the road through the area where he roamed.

Why was he like this? He was not possessed of just one demon, as others we read about (Matt. 7, 8; 12:43–45; Luke 8:2), but with a legion of demons (maybe about six thousand, based on the Roman army unit). All these demons took control of him and twisted his personality. His mind, his will, and his emotions were controlled by this multitude of demons.

Demons are unholy angelic beings who rebelled against God. Many of these unclean spirits are imprisoned in the Abyss, as we read in Jude 6. In due time they will be taken from the Abyss and thrown into the lake of fire (Rev. 20). But there are other fallen, unclean angels, haters of God, still roaming around in this world. As agents of Satan, they stir up hatred against Christ and devour those who hate God. These unholy spirits possess and control both humans and animals. The chief of these demons is called Beelzebub, a name unbelievers wrongly called Jesus when they saw the powerful miracles he was performing (Matt. 10:25; 12:24,27; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15, 18–19).

Even today there are many demon-possessed people. Some live in psychiatric wards, but others are nice, demon-controlled people—philosophers, theologians, scientists, and so on. Why do we say they are demon-controlled? Because they hate God. They have only one purpose: to stir up hatred against Christianity and Jesus Christ. Their purpose is to destroy, especially humans, by turning them away from Christ.

Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” He comes to send people to hell. But then he said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). Life here means eternal life. He also declared, “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:3) Christ came to give us life. The devil and demons are interested only in stealing, killing, destroying, and twisting the image of God that is in all humans.

Demon-Possessed/Totally Depraved

Jesus and his disciples were confronted with two demon-possessed men, one probably more outspoken than the other. These men demonstrate the doctrine of total depravity. What is total depravity? Paul speaks about it: “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath” (Eph. 2:1–3).

By nature, we are all twisted and controlled by evil spirits. Even nice, normal, sober people who do not believe in Christ are controlled by evil spirits. Such people may be politicians, theologians, philosophers, or scientists. They may be rich or poor. It doesn’t matter: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom. 3:23)

No man is neutral. The modern idea of self-esteem, that everyone is doing fine, is pure nonsense, when we look at it from God’s perspective. By nature, man is an enemy of God, hating God and his law. He is born a sinner and lives his life at enmity with God. That is the doctrine of total depravity. And we can do nothing to change ourselves unless God in Christ comes to seek and save that which is lost. So all people by nature are in the company with the devil and his demons. Yet God loves sinners and saves some.

Jesus Drives out the Demons

The disciples were still wondering about Jesus calming the storm when this gruesome, dangerous, demonized, filthy, twisted, fierce, unsocial, pathetic person approached them. What did Jesus, the Lord of all the universe, do? He commanded, “Demons, come out of him!” And the amazing thing is, the demons did come out, every one of them.

When the demons left, the man sat down at Jesus’ feet. He used to be restless, miserable, and wretched. He could not sit still for a moment. He roamed the hills and tombs, scaring people. Now, for the first time in many years, he was able to sit down.

The writer says he also had clothes. You see, the demon demoralizes us, brings down our humanity, and takes away our dignity. Look at X-rated movies. Whenever you see people stripping themselves, you see demon activity. They love it! So here we see an immediate transformation of this man. He asked for clothes, which Jesus himself probably gave him. So he was clothed and sitting at the feet of Jesus.

Then we read that he was “in his right mind.” The devil had fragmented this man into a thousand pieces, creating a twisted personality that no one could put together. But when Christ, the giver of life, saved him, he unified, integrated, and restored his personality. He filled him with the Holy Spirit so that now he had a sound mind, a new mind, better than what he had before the demons came in. He was physically and spiritually healed by the Lord, who is “our righteousness, holiness and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30).

The mind of an unbeliever is twisted, but a right mind trusts in Jesus Christ. A right mind looks to Christ and thinks God’s thoughts after him. That is what a healthy mind is. It is not the mind of one who gets a Nobel Prize or a PhD. A healthy mind is one that is submitted to Jesus Christ.

So the demoniac was transformed and filled with God’s Holy Spirit. He sat at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. He was born again. That is salvation, and Jesus saves the elect of God.

The Prayer of the Demons

There are three prayers in this account. First is the prayer of demons (Luke 8:31, Matthew 8:29, Mark 5:7). They asked Jesus, “What do you with us, Son of God?” or “Jesus, Son of the Most High God.” These demons were saying they had no relationship with Christ. They were at enmity with God. They hated him.

But every demon and devil is under God’s sovereign control. No demon can move unless God Almighty permits him to do so. The demons acknowledged this, saying, “You are the Son of God.” Demons know who Jesus is. They are orthodox in their doctrines (Jas. 2:19). In Mark 1:24 we see a demon saying that Jesus of Nazareth was the Holy One of God. Demons have spiritual knowledge. They are not omniscient, but they know more than we do. They are not like liberals or rationalists who study the Bible but don’t believe that Jesus is God. The demons do believe it.

Demons also believe that Christ is the Judge. These demons asked, “Are you coming to torture us before our time?” They know a day has been fixed by God in which demons, the devil, and every unbeliever will be tortured (Rev. 9:5, 14:10–11; 18:7, 10, 15; 20:7–15). There will be real torment by Christ. On that day, he will judge not only the devil and the demons, but all who refuse to put their trust in Christ.

There is no salvation plan for fallen angels. Some angels did not fall; they are in the presence of God. Other angels fell, but there is no plan of God for their salvation. The demons recognized that Jesus had come to cast them out of the demon-possessed man. But saying that the time had not come to throw them into the Abyss, they begged him to send them into the pigs. The Greek says they begged him again and again, and God permitted them to go into the pigs.

There is no ethical problem here. “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.” (Ps. 24:1) Jesus wanted to give a message to the residents of this district. “You are pig worshipers (materialists) and I am going to touch your pigs.” Jesus has the authority to do that. So the prayer of the demons was, in essence, “What have we to do with you? We hate you and you hate us. But please, do not send us to torture right now. You have the power to do it, but let us roam around a few more years. There are more pig worshipers in this town. We want to distort, confuse, twist, and demonize them.” That was their prayer, and God granted it.

The Prayer of the Gadarenes

The second prayer was that of the materialists, the citizens of the region. After seeing these things, the herdsmen probably went and told the owners of the pigs, “Sirs, there is a man who just came over in a boat, and the demonized man went out to him. All of a sudden this man spoke a word, and the demoniac was transformed. He is even now sitting down, clothed, and in his right mind. But something else happened: when the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and all two thousand of them ran into the lake and were destroyed. That means we just lost maybe two hundred thousands pounds of meat. We have to get rid of this man!”

I am sure the whole town began talking. Then they came up with a prayer. They went to Jesus and declared, “We prefer pigs! Jesus, we love pigs, and we understand that you destroy pigs, so we want you to go away and leave us alone. Jesus, we love our life of ease, pleasure and luxury. We don’t care about our souls. We don’t believe in hell. In fact, we don’t believe in anything. We don’t believe in the plan of salvation. Jesus, we are happy. We have no need. We are rich! And we have even more pigs, which you may destroy if you stay. So please, Jesus, leave!” They were like the members of the Laodicean church who said, “[We] are rich; [we] have acquired wealth and do not need a thing” (Rev. 3:17).

Have you ever prayed such a prayer? Many Christians come to Christ and say, “Please increase my pigs.” In other words, “Give me more money. I worship mammon and the pleasure that comes from mammon. Mammon means money, so, O God, give me more money!” Let me assure you, money will not save you. Go ahead and make it; then come and tell me after fifteen years whether that money saved you. It will not. I think the Gadarenes were like we are today—steeped in materialism. We love pleasure, entertainment, and luxury. We are always seeking something better. (PGM) In spiritual matters we are passive and almost dead, but we are active in reference to pigs, praying, “Give me more pigs.”

These people were like those Jesus spoke about in Luke 17: “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all” (vv. 26–27). This is describing a life completely preoccupied with the things of this temporal life, and with absolutely no interest in salvation, the kingdom of God, or the coming of Christ. Jesus continued, “It was the same way in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all” (vv. 28–29). Then he warned, “Remember Lot’s wife!” (v. 32).

We need to get rid of this idea that somehow money will save us. It will not! May God give us less money, if that will help us turn to Christ and plead, “O God, do not leave me alone! Save me!” These people said, “Well, we don’t worry about hell, and we don’t care much for heaven either.” And the amazing thing is that Jesus complied with their request. The request of the demons was granted, and the request of the materialists was also granted. Jesus, the Savior of the world, left their region.

The Prayer of the Demoniac

Finally, we want to examine prayer of the sinner who was saved by grace. First, we must realize that this man had not been seeking Jesus to save him. No one does, on his own initiative. Salvation is by grace through faith, and unless the Holy Spirit through the miracle of regeneration makes us alive, we cannot pray. But Jesus saved and transformed this man. He filled him with the Holy Spirit and peace. So he also prayed, asking if he could be with Jesus (Gk. text, Mark 5:18).

This man was not thinking about his family in the city or anything else. He wanted to be with Jesus. Why? So that he could learn from him, express his gratitude to him, and serve and worship him all of life. He understood that Jesus was not just a man, but God and Lord. And he realized that Jesus came all the way from heaven and through the storm to seek him—a distorted, twisted, undignified, fierce-looking, crazy madman. He knew that Jesus came to love him and save him, and he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Jesus.

This ought to be our prayer also: “Lord, I am not interested in pigs or anything else. I am interested in you. I love you and want to be with you.” When we say that, we are really stating, “I want eternal life.” Eternal life is eternal relationship with God. Unsaved people run away from God; those who are saved will run toward him, looking forward to the time when they will see him face to face.

We are created so that we can think about God. For the first time in his life this man had mental health and he could think correctly about God. As a result, he prayed, “Jesus, I want to be with you.” That is a good prayer.

But what was Jesus’ response? “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you” (Mark 5:19). Jesus was sending him back into the miserable, wretched, materialistic city of Gadara because there were still some sinners there who must be saved. So Jesus told the man to go back to his family and friends to tell them what God had done for him.

If you are a Christian, you will have a message, telling others what Jesus Christ has done for you. This man certainly had a good story. Our story may not be so dramatic, but it is still real. We were enemies of God—violent, unholy, and rebellious. But God in his grace came and saved us. That is the story we must tell.

Jesus put his Holy Spirit in the man and told him to go away, and he went. I am sure he went first to speak to his wife, who would be glad to see him. This unsocial person who had hated his wife and children and who had probably abused all his family and friends, was suddenly healed and restored. Can you imagine the reception he received from his family? He may have said, “Wait a minute! Don’t get too excited yet; let me tell you my story. I was naked and violent, and all of a sudden I saw a boat coming. I ran to the boat and there came a man, who cast out the demons from me. That man is Jesus Christ. Jesus saved me!”

I am sure that because of this man’s testimony, some trusted in Jesus Christ. We are told that he went to the Decapolis, meaning all ten of the Greek-dominated cities. God has a plan for the salvation of Gentiles. As this man told of his deliverance, some may have said, “We cannot explain this in any other way. Tell us, who is this Jesus, that we might know him?” Acts 9:31 speaks about churches in Galilee at that time. I suspect that some of the believers in these churches were won by the healed demoniac. He may have even become the pastor of a church.

What Is Your Prayer?

What type of prayers do we pray to the sovereign, uncreated, self-existing, eternal, almighty God? Do we pray as the demons did: “Jesus, we want nothing to do with you, and you want nothing to do with us”? Or do we pray the prayer of the materialists: “I prefer pigs. Jesus, you are dangerous. You have come to upset my life, and I want you to leave before you do that”? Jesus comes always to disturb our lives. We may be enjoying a life of ease, temporal peace, and affluence. Jesus disturbs such lives. He touches our pigs, and all of a sudden the pigs are gone. He does this so that we might think about our souls and cry out to God, “O God, have mercy upon us!”

What is your prayer? Will you pray, “Jesus, I understand that you are God and Lord, and that you are great and have all power and authority. But leave me alone in my nice life. Don’t disturb me now.” Or will you pray the third prayer, the prayer of the demoniac: “Lord, I am so glad you came! You see, I ran away from my home and all society. But you came seeking me all the way to these tombs. You delivered me from the control of these demons. Thank you for saving me! I have one request: I want to be with you for the rest of my life.”

Jesus did go away. He ascended into the heavens and is seated on the right hand of God the Father. But he sent the Holy Spirit, who comes into us so that we can be with God. And Jesus instructed, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matt. 28:19-20).

The Lord Jesus, by his Spirit, is with all who believe in him. He told this man that he wanted him to go and tell his story. Although the Gadarenes and the people of the Decapolis turned their backs on Christ and preferred pigs, materialism and temporal affluence, God still loved them. He left this man in their midst as a witness to Jesus .

Poet John Oxenham (W.A. Dunkerley) said about the Gadarenes’ prayer:

Rabbi, begone! Thy powers

Bring loss to us and ours.

Our ways are not as Thine.

Thou lovest men; we—swine.

O, get you hence, Omnipotence,

And take this fool of Thine!

His soul? What care we for his soul?

What good to us that Thou hast made him whole,

Since we have lost our swine?

Are you a pig worshiper? May God have mercy on you! Are you worshiping this temporal world? May God have mercy upon you! You will soon die. May God give you an understanding of your soul and eternity. And may you pray, “Jesus, I know I am a sinner. There is no question about it. But I thank you for becoming incarnate and dying on the cross for me. I trust in you, Lord Jesus. Save me!”

And may those who are already saved, pray to be with Jesus. When we do, Jesus will say, “I will be with you, but go and tell your story.” If you are not born again, you will not have a story. If you have a story, you will tell it with conviction and passion.

May God have mercy on us and remove from us our love for pigs and the things of this world. May God help us to think about spiritual things, about eternal life and our souls. May God help us to call upon his name for salvation. “Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” Then may we be diligent to study God’s word, worship him, and tell what he has done for us.