Thoughts about the Gerasene Demonaic (Mt. 5:1-20)

- When Jesus got out of his boat the demon-man came to meet Jesus. Sort of a fatal curiosity or demons and Jesus couldn’t be in the same town at the same time. The demon should have run away but didn’t. - The demon-man could not be restrained with chains. Demon strength allowed him to be able tear the iron chains apart. You see claims of demon possession today but you don’t see anyone tearing iron chains apart. - He screamed night and day and mutilated himself. I’ll bet the wives got sick and tired of all that screaming and sent their husbands to chain him and shut him up. - The demon-man knew Jesus and tried to negotiate with Jesus so that Jesus would not “torture” the demon. “Torture” to a demon was wandering around without someone to inhabit. - The demon apparently could not just inhabit just any random human being in the area. - The demon did not want to come out of the man but did not want to leave the region either. - The demon had a name and Jesus wanted to know what it was. - After continually begging, the demon suggested that they be cast into a herd of 2000 pigs. - The demons needed Jesus’ permission even to indwell within pigs. - The pigs rushed down into the lake and drowned. Either Jesus drowned the pigs, the demons drowned the pigs or the pigs committed suicide rather than have demons live inside them. - Do demons possess animals today? - The demon-man’s neighbors could not control him with chains much less cure him. Jesus didn’t need chains he could fix the problem.