When Pigs Fly. Matthew 8:28-34 NLT

Why did Jesus allow the demons to enter the pigs? Because the disciples wanted deviled ham for lunch! 

Okay, that one is bad. All kidding aside, here's some interesting facts about Matthew 8:28-34

David Guzik gives us some very good reasons the demon possessed men hung out at the cemetery:

1) Because graveyards and the dead were terribly unclean and offensive to the Jewish people.

2) Because demons love death.

3) Because it was no proper place for men to live.

4) Because it made the men more frightening to others.

And

5) Because it encouraged superstition in others, fearing that the men were actually possessed with the spirits of the dead in the graveyard.

Why the poor pigs? I think, even though my deviled ham joke wasnt that good, God has a sense of humor. I've always found the vision of pigs running off a cliff to their death in the sea below a funny sight. Ironically, pigs are unclean to Jewish people. Demons are considered unclean too. So is sin. 

Now, you would think the town folk would be ecstatic the demons were gone and the men infested were free of the demons, but no, they "begged Him to go away and leave them alone." That seems strange, why would they send Jesus away? Maybe they were comfortable in the pig pen.Maybe they were comfortable with the demons. Maybe they we comfortable with their sin. 

Maybe they were comfortable in the darkness and unwilling to turn to the Truth. The truth of Jesus. What about you?

Matthew 8:28-34 NLT

Jesus Heals Two Demon-Possessed Men

28 When Jesus arrived on the other side of the lake, in the region of the Gadarenes,  two men who were possessed by demons met Him. They lived in a cemetery and were so violent that no one could go through that area.

29 They began screaming at Him, “Why are you interfering with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torture us before God’s appointed time?”

30 There happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding in the distance.31 So the demons begged, “If you cast us out, send us into that herd of pigs.”

32 "All right, go!” Jesus commanded them. So the demons came out of the men and entered the pigs, and the whole herd plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned in the water.

33 The herdsmen fled to the nearby town, telling everyone what happened to the demon-possessed men. 34 Then the entire town came out to meet Jesus, but they begged Him to go away and leave them alone.

Blessings, Cecilia