The Bible Book

224

MY NAME IS

LEGION, FOR

WE ARE MANY

MARK 5:9, DEMONS AND THE HERD OF PIGS

O

ften referred to as the

Miracle of the Gadarene

Swine, the miracle of the

demons and the herd of pigs

demonstrates the total authority

of Jesus over the spiritual realm.

The story is recounted in three

of the Gospels—Mark 5:1–20, Luke

8:26–39, and Matthew 8:28–34—

but the fullest account is in Mark.

Jesus crosses the Sea of Galilee

with His followers and arrives in the

land of the Gerasenes. As He gets

out of His boat, a man possessed by

a demon, a demoniac, comes down

from some tombs to meet Him. The

man is so strong that he cannot be

bound, breaking his chains and

cutting himself with stones, while

crying out at the top of his voice.

Jesus heals the demoniac in this

6th-century mosaic from the Basilica

of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna,

Italy. The drowning pigs are depicted

next to the possessed man.

IN BRIEF

PA S SAGE

Mark 5:1–20

Luke 8:26–39

Matthew 8:28–34

THEME

Jesus’s authority over

the spiritual realm

SETTING

c. 27–29 ce Gerasene shores

of the Sea of Galilee.

KEY FIGURES

Jesus The Messiah and Son

of God at the height of His

ministry in Galilee.

The demoniac An immensely

strong demon-possessed man

who lives in tombs near the

shores of the Sea of Galilee.

Pig-keepers The unfortunate

herdsmen who see their pigs

drown and inform the local

people of Jesus’s miracle.

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225

See also: The Raising of Lazarus 226–27 ■ Feeding the 5,000 228–31 ■ Healing of the Beggar 284–87 ■

The Final Judgment 316–21

THE GOSPELS

Jesus approaches the man and

calls for the demon to come out of

Him. The demon replies: “What do

you want with me, Jesus, Son of

the Most High God? In God’s name,

don’t torture me!” (Mark 5:7) Jesus

asks for the name of the demon,

who tells Him it is “Legion, for

we are many.”

Unclean and unwanted

The demons plead with Jesus not

to send them away, but rather to

send them into the bodies of a large

herd of pigs grazing nearby. When

Jesus grants the demons their

wish, the pigs hurtle down the

steep hillside into the lake and are

drowned, demonstrating Jesus’s

dominion over spiritual creatures.

The pig-keepers are angry at the

loss of their property and when the

local people hear about the carnage,

they remonstrate with Jesus and

ask Him to leave. As He climbs

back into His boat, however, Jesus

is hailed by the cured demoniac.

The man begs Jesus to let him

travel with Him, but Jesus refuses,

telling the man to go home to his

own people and tell them how

much the Lord has done for him.

The traditional interpretation of

this story is that, in casting out the

demons and condemning the pigs,

Jesus prioritized the soul of the

man. Medieval scholar St. Thomas

Aquinas argued that Jesus acted

to save the demoniac’s soul rather

than his body or the property of the

pig-keepers. Thus, the miracle is

a judgment on the townsmen’s

concern for their pigs over the

possessed man. The tale may

also have symbolic meaning.

Judaism regards pigs as unclean,

and therefore the herd might be a

good place to bury impure spirits. ■

Demonic Possession

According to French Benedictine

monk Antoine Augustin Calmet,

writing in the 18th century, in

the Bible there are two forms of

demonic attack—“possession”

and “obsession.” The former

usually involves the internal

“ownership” of the individual

by an evil spirit. This manifests

in the form of physical agitation,

a furious temper, speaking in

tongues, and uttering blasphemy.

“Obsession” occurs when the

demon acts externally against

its victim. This can involve

unexplained lesions, epileptic

seizures, and facial deformation.

In the Old Testament, evil

spirits are mentioned in 1

Samuel, 1 Kings, and Job. There

is a greater number of demonic

attacks in the New Testament.

However, Calmet notes that

what seemed to be demons may

have often represented little

more than simple maladies

that could not be explained

by contemporary physicians.

A boy.

Mark 9:17–29

A Canaanite

woman’s daughter.

Matthew 15:21–28

A blind and mute man.

Matthew 12:22–32

A man in the synagogue

at Capernaum.

Luke 4:35

A mute man.

Matthew 9:32–34

Subjects of

exorcism

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