Pigs Fly, Briefly.

There once was a man who went mad.  We don't know why, but there are many possible reasons.  Maybe his child died.  Maybe he lost all his money.  Maybe the chemicals in his body weren't at the right levels for his brain and body to function the way they were supposed to.  Whatever the reason,  the reality was that he was lost to himself, and to others.  In those days, treatment consisted of guards and restraint, usually with chains, but in this man's terror and fury, he couldn't be contained by clothes, chains or people, and shredded them all.  The village where he lived became afraid of him, and threw him out.  Finally, his only refuge was the village cemetery on a hill by the lake, where he found shelter amongst the tombstones.

One day, in the calm that followed a sudden storm, a small boat pulled up on the shore, and Jesus and His disciples got out.  The man had seen the boat approaching, and was watching their arrival.  Jesus saw him, and spoke to him, but the man sank to the ground, screaming, 'What business do you have messing with me? You're Jesus, Son of the High God, don't give me a hard time!' The disciples had heard about this man - they knew that he was a Gentile, which meant he was unclean to them, and they needed to keep away from him.  They also knew that he was said to be possessed by demons and was violent and unpredictable, which meant they'd like to keep quite a long way away from him, and he lived in the tombs, which made him even more unclean to Jews, which is what the disciples were.

At this point, the disciples, still rattled from the storm they had just survived, were in agreement with the man who was mad - they thought the best thing to do was to get back in the boat, sail away to a nice quiet little bay, gather their wits about them and ask Jesus what, exactly, had just happened out there on the lake.  Where had that storm come from?  Why hadn't He done anything to help them sail the boat out of danger?  If He could make storms stop, why didn't He make it stop sooner?  And why on earth was His only concern their lack of faith, instead of their iminent, watery death? (Luke 8:22-25)

Jesus ignored the disciples' muttered cautions towards Him, as He always did.  He turned back to the man and spoke to the demons inside him, telling them to come out. To the shock of the disciples, He then had a discussion with the demons as to where they would go when they left the man.  Finally, the demons left the man only to attack a large herd of pigs that had been grazing nearby, and the disciples watched in horrified awe as the maddened pigs ran frantically round in circles, before hurling themselves into the sea... where they drowned.

The disciples had had quite a day.  First they were almost drowned in a storm, then they discovered that Jesus could stop storms, next when they finally got to dry land there was a man who was known to be mad and possibly possessed by demons, and a herd of pigs who jumped into the lake and drowned.

Next to enter this scene were a group of people from the nearby village, who are - or were - the owners of the pigs.  These people were not in the least bit happy!  Their pigs had drowned, and somehow the local madman was involved, along with a group of those crazy Jews from over the lake.  The villagers told Jesus that they didn't know what He'd just done, but they didn't want Him to do any more, thank you, and could He go away, now.  They had large rocks, sticks, and some hungry looking dogs to back their arguments up.

The disciples were now terrified, again, in risk of serious physical harm, again, and Jesus was not doing anything about it, again.  One of the disciples (possibly Thomas) noticed that the madman had calmed down and was shivering.  He found a spare cloak that was mostly dry in the bottom of the boat, and threw it over the man, who wrapped it round himself.  At this point, the townspeople's attention was drawn from their floating pigs to the man.  This was the one who had terrorised their community - raging, screaming in the streets and outside their houses, terrifying their children and servants, shredding clothes, chains, dignity and peace, along with his family's standing in the community.  This man, who had been mad, possessed, existing alongside the dead when the living threw him out from their midst; this man was now sitting at the feet of the man Jesus who had somehow been involved in their pigs' deaths.  He didn't seem mad anymore - the manic glare had left his eyes, he had a cloak wrapped around himself, and a look of peace on his face.  Even his matted hair seemed a little less wild than it used to.

Jesus pulled out what was harming the man, and returned him to himself.  The man wanted to go with Jesus and the disciples, but Jesus wouldn't let him, telling him to go back to his home and his family, and tell them what Jesus had done for him.

I have often wondered how that went.  I wonder how his family reacted - did they welcome him with open arms, or were they fearful and closed off?  Was he even allowed back into the village at all?  When he returned back to what used to be his life, what was left of it?  The bible says that he told many people about Jesus, and what He had done for him, but doesn't tell us anything of the reaction of the man's family and friends to the startling events in his life.  As is so often the case with the bible, reading it often leaves me with more questions than answers!

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