Look Past the Pigs

A UCC Daily Devotional by Rev.Talitha Arnold

Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. As [Jesus] stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time, he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. - Luke 8:26-27 (NRSV)

 

Jesus healing the man possessed by demons—a first-century description of persons afflicted with mental health or neurological issues—makes for good theater. Perhaps that’s why the “Miracle of the Swine,” as it’s sometimes called, is found in all three Synoptic gospels. Act 1 starts with a howling, naked person running toward Jesus. Act 2 concludes with 2,000 pigs running off a cliff.  

 

Unfortunately, most movies and sermons (my own included) fail to put the story in its geographic and cultural setting—the Roman-occupied region of modern-day northeastern Jordan—although Luke’s account hints at that context, identifying the man living in the tombs as a “man of the city.”  

 

Quite possibly that city was ancient Gadara, known for its wealth and political status. Several years ago, I visited its ruins near the Jordanian town of Umm Qais. As I walked through what’s left of its colonnaded streets, theaters, hippodromes, temples, and baths, I realized what I’d always missed in this story: 

 

Why was this poor, afflicted man living in the tombs outside the city? Couldn’t wealthy, marbled Gadara provide safe and supportive housing for him?  

 

We could ask that question of our wealthy, modern nation. Why are such persons often consigned to live on the streets or pushed outside city limits? 

 

The “Miracle of the Swine” makes for good theater. But “Why the Tombs?” makes for a better, more honest sermon.  

 

Prayer

Help us, Lord, to look past the pigs and preach your Word. Amen.