HOW MANY PIGS IS A HUMAN WORTH?

THE GADARENE PIGS

PART ONE


“The demons begged him, ‘If you cast us out, send us into the herd of swine’” 
                                                                    Matthew 8:31

            The story of Jesus confronting a demoniac (or demoniacs, depending on which gospel you are reading) and “sending”[1] the demons into a nearby herd of swine, who then rush into the sea and drown, is told in all three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke).  It is a troubling story for those of us who care about animals and what scripture has to say about our relationships to animals, and it has been used over the years to justify much animal cruelty.  It is, therefore, an important story to consider carefully, and for that reason I propose to do so in two parts.  In this part, I want to look carefully at the various elements of the story as it is told in all three gospels, with particular emphasis on the Gospel of Matthew.  Next week, I will consider various interpretations of the story and offer my own. 

Miracle of Gadarene Swine

In the Gospel of Matthew, the story is told in verse 8:28-9:1.  The story opens with Jesus arriving in a boat on the shores of “the country of the Gadarenes” [2] (8:28), and closes with him leaving to “cross the sea,” obviously also in a boat, to go to “his own town” (9:1).  This frames the actions on shore and focuses our attention.  Our attention has also been heightened by the way Matthew has built his portrait of Jesus thus far.  After the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus came down from the mountain and began enacting the kingdom about which he had been teaching.  He performed three healings, including healings both within and outside of the Jewish community and healings through touch and at a distance.  All of this, Matthew explains, is to fulfill the prophet Isaiah.  Jesus is the one who has been foretold.  Next Jesus taught again, this time about the costs and urgency of discipleship.  The message is that what is happening in Jesus is something more important than anything that has gone before - more important even than Jewish law, since disciples are to “leave the dead to bury their own dead” (8:21).  Then Jesus commanded even the wind and the sea and the disciples are left flabbergasted and awestruck, wondering, “what sort of man is this?” (8:27).

            Against this backdrop, Jesus arrives in the country of the Gadarenes.[3]  Our attention is immediately called to the end times:  we are near the tombs of the city, whence the dead will rise at judgment.  For now, however, Jesus is met by two demoniacs, “and they were so fierce that no one could pass that way.” [4] (8:28)  The NIV says the demons were “so violent,” the NASB makes it even stronger, using “so extremely violent,” the God’s Word translation says “so dangerous,” and the King James says, “exceeding fierce.”[5]  Mark and Luke underscore the point by telling us that even chains and shackles cannot hold the possessed person.  (Mk. 5: 3-4; Lk. 8:29)  This is a dangerous encounter with powerful and frightening forces. 

            But this time, instead of terrorizing the passers-by, the demons themselves are terrified.[6]  Immediately recognizing the “Son of God,” they shout in fear.  The New Living Translation and the International Standard version say that they “screamed,” while the English Standard Version and the King James read, “and behold they cried out.”  Again, Mark and Luke underscore the point by saying that the demoniac “ran and bowed down before” Jesus (Mk. 5:6) and “fell down before him.” (Lk. 8:28)  Both also say that the demoniac “shouted at the top of his voice.” (Mk. 5:7, Lk. 8:28)  Mark and Luke also tell us that this is not just one demon (or one demon per man[7]), but “Legion, for we are many” (Mk. 5:9, see also Lk. 8:30).  The demons recognize Jesus as the Son of God, the one who will ultimately judge them, and they fear their judgment has come early.  In Matthew, even before Jesus has spoken a single word, the demons plead with him for mercy:  “The demons begged him, ‘If you cast us out, send us into the herd of swine’” (8:31), referring to the “large herd” of swine feeding some distance away (8:30).[8]   Now, for the first and only time in Matthew’s telling of this story, Jesus speaks.  It is one word.  He grants the demons’ wish by saying, “Go!” thereby sealing the fate of the pigs, who “suddenly” rush into the water and drown (8:32).  Less dramatically, but importantly for our analysis, Mark and Luke say that Jesus “gave them permission” to enter the pigs (Mk. 5:13, Lk. 8:32).  Underscoring this understanding, the New Living Translation of Matthew has Jesus saying, “All right, go!”  But in the NRSV’s translation of Matthew, with one word, Jesus has conquered demons so fierce and powerful that previously “no one could pass that way.”  In this scene, Jesus has taken his claim of authority even further than before.  He has met the powers of darkness, and in a foreshadowing of the final judgment, has felled them with “one little word,” to use Martin Luther’s phrase. 

            After this astonishing turn of events, the swineherds also rush away.  They run into the city and tell “the story about what happened to the demoniacs” (8:33).  Other translations indicate that the swineherds tell the town everything that happened, including what happened to the demoniacs.[9]  Then “the whole city” comes to Jesus in fear, begging him to leave their city.  This is power even more awesome than the power of the demoniacs and it is too much for the townspeople (8:34).  Jesus grants their wish and sets off in his boat.

            There are several characters in this narrative.  First, of course, is Jesus.  There are also the demoniacs, who are separate characters from the demons themselves.  There are also the swine, the swineherds, and the townspeople.  The story, however, is about the confrontation between Jesus and the demons.  The point of the story is Jesus’ easy and decisive victory.  The rest of the characters are essentially props.  The story tells us nothing of the demoniacs as people - they serve only as vehicles for the demons.  Only the demons speak (albeit through the demoniacs); the demoniacs themselves do not even ask Jesus to help them - only the demons plead for mercy. This suggests the men themselves are thoroughly lost to the demons, who are the key actors here.  In Mark and Luke we learn that the demoniac had been tied with chains to no avail and that after they were exorcised, he sat with Jesus and wanted to follow him, but these facts emphasize the strength of the demons and the completeness of Jesus’ victory, they do not otherwise advance or change the focus of the story. 

            Likewise, we are told nothing of the swineherds.  We may reasonably surmise that the owners of the swine suffered a significant economic loss, but we don’t know whether these swineherds were the owners or employees of the owners.  Nor do we know what other economic resources the owners or the swineherds might have had.  We are told only that the swineherds were so affected by the action that they ran off to tell the town what had happened, with the focus being not what happened to their herd, but what happened to the demoniacs.  This advances the story by bringing the townspeople to Jesus.  We know nothing about the townspeople, except that they, like the swineherds, are probably not Jewish and they want Jesus to leave; we do not even know why.[10]  We are not told anything about the town itself or its inhabitants.  Nor do we know anything about the pigs, other than that they are, of course, unclean under Jewish law and that they were grazing nearby, that the demons requested to be sent into them, and when that request was granted, the pigs ran into the sea and died.  Nothing detracts from Matthew’s focus on Jesus’ victory over the demons.  Thus, whatever lessons we are to glean about characters other than Jesus and the demons must be taken in the context of their purpose in this victory.

            Commentaries addressing this story, of course, do not focus on the pigs, but have considered a variety of interpretations of their meaning and role.  The pigs have been regarded as ironic, comic, symbolic, evidentiary, disposable, and fictional.  Rarely have they been addressed as living creatures worthy of God’s - and our - consideration.  Next week, I will consider several interpretations of the story and offer my own and explain why, whatever we make of this story, there is simply no support for the suggestion that this story tells us that one – or two – humans are worth an entire “large herd” of swine or that Jesus is unconcerned with animals. 

Photo credit: Pigs: Three little Tamworth pigs on Flat holm Island By Sam Sam [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

           

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[1] The story is usually described as Jesus sending the demons into the swine.  As we shall see, however, the gospels report only that Jesus allowed the demons to go where they asked to go. 

[2] Unless otherwise noted, quotations are from the NRSV.

[3] Mark and Luke put this story in “the country of the Gerasenes.”  Mk. 5:1, Lk. 8:26.  Much ink has been spilled attempting to locate exactly where this event occurred.  Resolution of that conflict, however, does not affect this analysis.   In any case, it is a non-Jewish area on the outskirts of town and near a steep bank leading to the sea. 

[4] Mark and Luke have only one demoniac, another distinction not critical to this analysis.

[5] Parallel translations are from Biblos Online Parallel Bible.  http://bible.cc/ 

[6] As John Nolland points out in The Gospel of Matthew: A Commentary on the Greek Text, the words spoken indicate that it is the demons who are speaking, not the possessed men ( p. 374).

[7] While Matthew, at least in English, is gender neutral, Mark and Luke identify the demoniac as male.

[8] Mark puts the herd at 2000 pigs.  Mk. 5:13.

[9] The New Living Translation is similar to NRSV, but the New International Version and the New American Standard Version read, “reported all this, including what had happened to the demoniacs,” while the English Standard Version says, “told everything, especially what had happened to the demon-possessed men,” and the King James Version says, “told everything, and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils.”

[10] See, e.g., Carter, Warren. Matthew and the Margins: A Sociopolitical and Religious Reading. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2005, pp. 213-214, discussing several levels of conflict between Jesus and the townspeople; and Nolland, John. The Gospel of Matthew: A Commentary on the Greek Text. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2005, pp. 377-78, discussing the townspeople’s preference of the swine over the demoniacs and comparing the townspeople to the demons.  In my reading, the townspeople do not understand and are frightened by Jesus’ power.