Go back home
and recount all that God has done for you.
Of all the miracle stories in the canonical Gospels, this one comes closest to the type found in the apocryphal Gospels. Although found in all three Synoptic Gospels, scholars tell readers that they should not make an attempt to reconstruct what really happened. The actual facts of the story are not important. What truly is important is what the Gospel writers were attempting to communicate by the story.
Consider the story. It takes place outside Jewish territory and is associated with Jesus’ Galilean ministry. Since the Gospel accounts were written after Paul’s missionary activities, we see that this supports the contention, which was then supported by Peter, that Jesus came to share the Good News with all humans. In fact the story suggests that Jesus recruited this Gentile as one of his first “evangelists” saying: Go back home and recount all that God has done for you. The Gospel writer wanted to share this same exhortation with his readers. We do well to hear this exhortation as directed to us as well as the man in the story. We need to share with others what God has done for us. Perhaps in simple terms this might mean for us to count our blessings and give glory to God.
The story also suggests that Jesus had power over the spiritual as well as material world. He deals with demons. The story has the demons recognize Jesus’ power to order them back to the abyss – the abode of the dead. It is interesting how Jesus deals with them. He consents to their request to be sent into the herd of swine. This, perhaps, is the most puzzling part of this story. Why would Jesus consent to do what they requested? First, the story tells us that Christians should treat demonic power as nonexistent. Second, it tells us that the only place appropriate for demons is within pigs, animals which, according to Jewish custom, were unclean.
The story also tells us something about the power of knowing the name of a person. There is real power in knowing a person’s name and not treating them as insignificant. You will recall in the story that the demons are represented as having known Jesus’ real name and then Jesus discovering the name of the demons. The Gospels state that the disciples were able to cure people in the name of Jesus. In Eastern Christianity the name JESUS is seen as powerful. The traditional Jesus Prayer supports this assertion. We do well to call upon Jesus to drive out from our hearts any evil spirit that might dwell there. Our Baptismal service suggests: any evil spirit of deceit, wickedness, idolatry, greed, lying and impurity.
When we give into prejudice, bias and judgment of others, these evil spirits seem to find ground to flourish in our lives. Let us ask Christ to drive them out!