The Herd of Pigs
Luke 8:26-39
Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz
Luke 8:26 Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27 And when He stepped out onto the land, a man from the city met Him who was possessed with demons; and he had not put on clothing for a long time and was not living in a house, but among the tombs. 28 And seeing Jesus, he cried out and fell down before Him, and said with a loud voice, “1aWhat business do You have with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me!” 29 For He had already commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For it had seized him many times; and he was bound with chains and shackles and kept under guard, and yet he would break the restraints and be driven by the demon into the desert. 30 And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “aLegion”; because many demons had entered him. 31 And they were begging Him not to command them to go away into the abyss.
Luke 8:32 Now there was a herd of many pigs feeding there on the mountain; and the demons begged Him to permit them to enter the pigs. And He gave them permission. 33 And the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.
Luke 8:34 Now when the herdsmen saw what had happened, they ran away and reported everything in the city, and in the country. 35 And the people came out to see what had happened; and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting down at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind; and they became frightened. 36 Those who had seen everything reported to them how the man who had been demon-possessed had been made well. 37 And all the people of the territory of the Gerasenes and the surrounding region asked Him to leave them, because they were overwhelmed by great fear; and He got into a boat and returned. 38 But the man from whom the demons had gone out was begging Him that he might accompany Him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Return to your home and describe what great things God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city what great things Jesus had done for him.
In chapter 8 of the Gospel of Luke, starting on the 26th verse, we have the story of Jesus curing a man of multiple demons. The demons called themselves Legion, and Jesus commanded them to leave the man. The demons cried out to Jesus and said, send us into this herd of pigs. Jesus commanded it to be done. What’s interesting in the story is that the herd of pigs decided to jump into the sea of Galilee and drown themselves. A twist to the story is that the people in the town were not pleased about what happened and demanded that Jesus leave them.
Let me add a little extra into the story, and that is that Jesus had taken his disciples to the Eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. This area was known as the Decapolis and was a Gentile territory. How do I know that it was a Gentile territory? The answer is because they raised pigs. Pigs were considered unkosher and Jewish people would not eat pigs. When archaeologists dig up sites in the Middle East, if they find pig bones, then they know it was a Gentile site and if they don’t find pig bones then they know it’s a Jewish site.
There are a couple of things that we could discuss, but I’ll need to pick just one. I will inform you that demons in Jesus’ day were considered the fallen angels that occurred back in Genesis chapter 6 verses 1 to 6. The very short summary is that 200 angels called watchers decided to come to earth, and they did some things they shouldn’t have, and God’s punishment was that they would roam the foundation of the earth. During Jesus' days, it was believed that those watchers were the demons that Jesus exorcised and the ones that infected people.
If you are an insane person, which this person who approached Jesus when they got off the boat, regardless of what the cause was, you did not get to live with the people in your town. People with mental illnesses were forced to live in cemeteries because they weren’t allowed to be anywhere else. I know that sounds strange to us today, but that was what they did back in those days.
This is a very wonderful narrative to teach us a point. That point is determined by what the pigs were all about. In other words, what metaphor did the pigs represent? The town people were very upset when the herd of pigs jumped into the Sea of Galilee because for the Gentiles of those days, especially the Roman army, pork was their main dish. That’s how they got their protein. To lose an entire herd of pigs would mean that they were going to be people that will be starving. Therefore, you can see why they wanted Jesus to leave.
The pigs can be considered a metaphor, being that you have should give up anything that would block you from worshiping God through Christ. For the Gentile to give up eating pigs represented his or her conversion to Judaism and following the God of Israel. Even if you were baptized as a child today, the question would be, is there something that you need to give up to come closer to Christ?
Ask yourself the question; What have you given up for Christ? When adults come to believe in Christ, and are baptized as adults, they generally give up something. That something may not be a physical object. It could be anything. For example, I used to go to flea markets on Sunday morning. After coming to know Jesus, I gave up flea marketing to go to church and started tithing. The money spent at the flea markets was now being given to help a local church.
People who grew up in the church give up not sinning, which is not partaking in sinful actions. There is plenty of sin in the world that one can participate in without much effort. Not participating in those events or habits which are anti-biblical is a way of giving something up for one's discipleship to Christ. People who say they are a disciple of Christ but partake in sinful actions are not disciples and will be saddened on judgment day.
A New Testament professor at a seminar I attended said, "There are sins I like that I will not give up." So, is this New Testament professor a true disciple of Jesus, the answer is no. Discipleship is hard.
Unfortunately, we can accumulate sin on a daily basis, and it’s important that we offer prayers to God to help us rid ourselves of these sinful thoughts and actions. Would it be wonderful if we could spend an entire day without sin? That is extremely difficult in today’s world because there are so many influences around us that are pushing us toward sin.
Think about committing yourself to giving up sin. The first step is to recognize what a sin is. The easiest way to determine that is to look at the Gospels and the life of Jesus and see what he did and what he said. Then evaluate whatever action you either want to do or what the society is telling you to do, and determine whether it’s something that Jesus would do. This reminds me of the what would Jesus do movement that was back in the late 1990s and went into the early years of this century. Somehow, that movement died over time. It is quite a shame because that’s a good question, what would Jesus do?
I do have to add that if you want to be able to ask that question, you have to study your Bible and come to understand what God expects of us. The Bible was written 2000 years ago and is a living document. However, the writers could not anticipate what was going to happen 2000 years later. It is interesting in today’s world to look at different church denominations and see what they have determined is sinful and that which is not. If you are attending any kind of church, you need to look at their doctrines and their statements of faith to determine whether you believe they are following the Scripture. Unfortunately, I have to admit, there are churches that do not follow the Bible as it is written. These churches have either interpreted the Bible in a way that fits what they want to do or, in some cases, they don’t follow the Bible at all.
Unfortunately, the understanding of what a church stands for is a determination that we have to make personally. Just because a church has a doctrine of faith does not mean that the people actually follow it. Today, it is the obligation of every follower of Christ to find a worshiping congregation that follows the Scripture in a way that is comfortable for you. There are over a thousand different denominations in Christianity, and if I count the independent churches are probably even more. They all have different ways of doing things. They all have different ways of interpreting the Bible. Furthermore, they all have different ways of implementing God’s word.
I know this sounds crazy, but if you visit several churches that are in different denominations and independent churches you will see it. How can you tell whether the church that you want to attend is following the Bible or not? Go to the Sunday worship and listen to the preacher. Go to the Sunday worship and talk to people that have been there for a while. Read their statements of faith. Read their doctrine statements in their bylaws. Then determine whether you think that worshiping congregation is one that you want to be in. Moreover, offer prayer to Jesus that he will direct you to where he wants you to be.
