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The demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.” He gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned…
Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.
- Mark 5:12-13, 17
The story of demoniac is one of the more iconic and fascinating to be found in the gospels. There is so much to be asked, so much to be said, of the story. It’s the kind that should one spend his life plumbing the depths of its import and meaning I doubt he would strike the bottom of that well. One obvious question, it seems to me, is “why does Jesus acquiesce to the demons’ request at all?’ Why not just drive them out of the region altogether? Why allow them to take up residence in the herd of pigs? In any case, while I can sympathize with the herdsmen's frustration at the loss of their pigs, their attitude and reaction is telling, and as we examine their hearts let us turn the searchlight back onto our own. I find it is generally a good and safe practice in the reading of any biblical story to identify with the villain, to see Nathan’s finger in one’s own face and hear his voice bellowing in one’s own ears, “you are that man!”
What do you suppose a man is worth? How many pigs? A man’s life, how many pigs is it worth? This time last year we had some pig farmers staying with us. They run a farm in Minnesota. Each year roughly 70,000 pigs reside there… briefly. And I wonder how many pigs would they sacrifice for the exorcism of their son or daughter, to have them restored? 70,000, I imagine, at least. And what if it weren’t a son or daughter but a perfectly random stranger? Irenaeus, perhaps the first great and proper theologian once said, “the Glory of God is man fully alive!” So if in this stranger that Glory were darkened how many pigs would they pay to see God’s Glory brightened again? And what about you? How many cows would you put on the altar? How many trees would you ax? How many fields would you leave fallow? What would you sacrifice if only to see the Glory of God.
For the herdsman in Mark’s tale, evidently the Glory of God wasn’t worth 2,000 pigs (beasts supremely unclean). And so when Christ expels the demons from the region they in turn expel Christ from the region. Because, they’d rather live in economic boom with demons than in poverty with Christ. Because, more tolerable to them is a legion of demons in a man than a legion of swine in the sea. Because, they’ll chain a man down in a tomb if it means their hogs may run wild. They’ll see the Glory of God made midnight before they let his light shine forth to disperse their demons.
But you are not those herdsmen are you? What do you think? A man’s life, the Glory of God, how many pigs is it worth?
~ Michael Kornelis