GIVEN AT LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR 2-3-2025
This is one of
those stories that always aggravated me growing up! It comes up every year
about this time. It might be a minor point in the story, but for me the part
about pigs rushing over a cliff to their deaths always reminded me of growing
up as a boy down in Meade County. Every
time I heard this story, I identified with certain characters in particular.
No, it wasn’t the main character, the possessed man in the cemetery, but the men
who were tending the pigs that plunged over a cliff to their deaths.
I used to take
care of pigs on one of my father’s farms and I can only imagine what hell would
break lose if I came home one day and told my Dad that the pigs I was caring
for had all just stampeded over a cliff and died because a crazy man had come
out of the cemetery next to our pig pen and was screaming at the top of his
lungs! I am pretty sure my Dad would
have never believed my attempt for an excuse!
However, let’s not
let my issue cloud the main character and the point of the story. First, Mark
paints a very scary story here. We know from the chapters before that Jesus and
his disciples had set sail “late in the evening” so it was dark on the lake. On
the way across the lake, they experienced a storm and had just landed in an
area with many caves in the limestone rocks along the shore. Many of these
caves were used to bury the dead. At the best of times, this place would have
been an eerie place especially in the dark. They landed at a perilous place, at
a perilous hour and then they were met by a dangerous man, a “possessed” man
who could not be restrained even with a chain. Growing up, the man would have believed
what all Jews at that time believed – that no man would survive if he realized
the number of demons with which he was surrounded. Probably mentally ill, he
had convinced his wandering mind that a mass of those demons had taken up
residence inside him. He was so convinced that Jesus had to make more than one
attempt to heal him. (1) First, Jesus used
his usual method – an authoritative order to the demon to come out. (2) When that didn’t work, Jesus demanded to
know what the demon’s name was. It was believed that if a demon could be named,
that would give the healer a certain power over the demon. (3) When that didn’t
work, Jesus understood that the only way to cure this man was to give him a
dramatic demonstration that his demons had indeed gone from him.
It doesn’t matter
whether we believe in demon possession, the poor man believed in it. This
is where the pigs come in! The poor man had been screaming and shrieking so
much that he caused a herd of local pigs to stampede over a sea-side cliff and
drown in the sea. It was the proof that the poor man needed that they had gone
out of him and into the pigs. Later, those tending the pigs came to Jesus and
saw the poor mad man, that they feared so much, fully clothed and in his
senses. They were so freaked about the whole event that they asked Jesus to
leave their area!
There is a part of
all of us that is haunted by our own “demons” - our negative assumptions, our
irrational fears and our bad memories. Many of us need external signs to be
able to let go of them. There is also a part of us, like the swine herders, that
even when good things happen to others, we cannot celebrate because we do not
want our status quo upset. We would rather things will be left the way they were!
We all need
deliverance, whether it be from literal demon possession or an all-powerful
delusion. Whatever it is, Jesus is willing to help us let go of whatever is
holding us back from a life to the fullest! This must be true because he certainly delivered
me from the life of pig farmer down in Meade County when he called me to the
priesthood!
One of your best! Thank you!
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