Into the Sea

(Image from gluthermonson)

Today's Gospel from the Lectionary:

Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

“Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him. And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.

A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he gave them permission. When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. --- Luke 8:30-33

Comments:
1) Jews do not eat pork, so why was there a "herd of pigs...on the hillside"? Answer: non-Jews (Gentiles) lived in the region of Gerasenes, where the "Miracle of the Swine" occurred.

2) If I were one of the swineherds, I would have been angry at Jesus because my livelihood had been wiped out. But fear was the stronger emotion: "all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear."

3) The demons recognized Jesus, who had power over them. Then, as now, humans are blind to the forces that affect the world.