1. This passage demonstrates Jesus’ power to deliver men from the darkest forces imaginable – men possessed by demons. He wanted the world to know that He had now conquered the forces of evil.
2. Some deny a force of evil in an unseen world, whereas the persons who accepts the Bible as the authoritative Word of God accepts what the Bible teaches about their presence. We cannot simply accuse a person who suddenly acts strangely as the consequences of mental illness.
3. This is a miracle story which caused much discussion and usually the discussion has centered around the destruction of the herd of pigs.
· Water was believed to the fatal to demons. Jesus just made use of the opportunity. Jesus did not deliberately destroy the herd of swine; he used their stampede to help two poor sufferers.
· We could never compare the value of a herd of swine with the value of someone’s immortal soul. Our sympathy with pigs does not extend far enough to prevent our eating them.
4. Why were the two possessed men violent?
· Some give themselves over to evil step by step. They walk so long in pride and envy, selfishness and lust and they rebel against giving of themselves.
· Some become so self-centred and selfish and they react violently if they do not get what they desire
· Some give themselves over to the evil so much that they become possessed with evil.
5. They whole city who went to see Jesus saw only the loss of their wealth. Salvation was not on their mind – business was. Their thoughts were engulfed in their material loss, not in heaven’s gain.
It is true that Jesus destroyed two thousand pigs but two men are more valuable than these. We can imagine the amount suffering these two might have undergone from the number of pigs they required to go into. The attitude of the people who came to see Jesus, corresponds to several of ours. We fail to see the nobility in God’s work especially when things go wrong with us. We cannot gain anything without losing something. We are called to lose our possessiveness of all kinds and get attached to Jesus the only true wealth and possession.
Courtesy
The Preacher’s Outline and Sermon Bible
William Barclay’s Commentary
Believers’ Bible Commentary
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