And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their region.
Read Chapter 8
Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
Ambrosiaster, in Luc. 3. 30: The two daemoniacs are also a type of the Gentile world; for Noah having three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japhet, Shem’s posterity alone was taken into the inheritance of God, while from the other two sprang the nations of the Gentiles.
De. Cons. Evan., ii, 24: Whereas Matthew relates that there were two who were afflicted with daemons, but Mark and Luke mention only one, you must understand that one of them was a person of note, for whom all that country was in grief, and about whose recovery there was much care, whence the fame of this miracle was the more noised abroad.
City of God, book 9, ch. 21: God was so far known to them as it was His pleasure to be known; and He pleased to be known so far as it was needful. Hewas known to them therefore not as He is Life eternal, and the Light which enlightens the good, but by certain temporal effects of His excellence, and signs of His hidden presence, which are visible to angelic spirits though evil, rather than to the infirmity of human nature.
Quaest. V. et. N.T., 9, 55: When the daemons cry out, “What have we to do withthee, Jesus, thou Son of God?” we must suppose them to have spoken from suspicion rather than knowledge. “For had they known him, they never would have s...
In Luc., 3: Or; The swine are they that delight in filthy manners; for unless one live as a swine, the devils do not receive power over him; or at most, only to try him, not to destroy him. That the swine were sent headlong into the lake, signifies, that when the people of the Gentiles are delivered from the condemnation of the daemons, yet still they who would not believe in Christ, perform their profane rites in secret, drowned in a blind and deep curiosity. That they that fed the swine, fled and told what was done, signifies that even the leaders of the wicked though they shun the law of Christianity, yet cease not to proclaim the wonderful power of Christ. When struck with terror, they entreat Him to depart from them, they signify a great number who, well satisfied with their ancient life, show themselves willing to honour the Christian law, while they declare themselves unable to perform it.
The town from which they came to meet the Lord, asking him to leave their district, represents the synagogue, which did not want to receive the Lord and Savior of the human race even after witnessing his divine power. He therefore returned to his own town. Because he was rejected by the synagogue, he came to his church, which is properly called the city of Christ. On seeing him, the Gerasenes entreated the Lord to depart from their district. Such people are also found among us. Out of faithlessness they compel the Lord and Savior of the world to depart from the district of their hearts, for according to Scripture, “the Holy Spirit will not enter a perverse soul or dwell in a body enslaved to sin.”
That he would depart from their coasts. St. Jerome thinks these people did this out of a motive of humility, looking upon themselves unworthy of his presence: others judge that the loss of the swine made them apprehend lest Christ, being a Jew, might do them greater damages. (Witham)
The fear lest his presence might cause them some fresh loss, seems to have overbalanced, in their estimation, the advantages they might have expected from his visit. (Bible de Vence)
How often has our good Lord wished to visit us, to honour us with his sacred presence, to enrich us with his divine inspirations; and how often, like these Gerasens, have we desired him to depart from our territories? Some worldly interest, sensual enjoyment, or supine listlessness on our part, has occasioned us to neglect the proffered advantages. Oh! can there be more marked ingratitude than this! Oh! how shall we one day grieve for having lost, by our culpable indifference, immense spiritual treasures, which have been mad...
Mor., ii, 10: For the Devil knows that of himself he has no power to do anything, because it is not of himself that he exists as a spirit. "And he saith unto them, Go.”
Thus the daemons held the two men among the tombs without the town, that is, without the synagogue of the Law and the Prophets; that is, they infested the original seats of the two nations, the abodes of the dead, making the way of this present life dangerous to the passers by.
By their coming forth to meet Him is signified the willingness of men flocking to the faith. The daemons seeing that there is no longer any place left for them among the Gentiles, pray that they may be suffered to dwell among the heretics; these, seized by them, are drowned in the sea, that is, in worldly desires, by the instigations of the daemons, and perish in the unbelief of therest of the Gentiles.
They entreat him to leave their district, not out of pride on their part (as many believe) but out of humility. They judge themselves unworthy of the Lord’s presence, just as Peter after the catch of fish fell before the Savior’s knees and said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” .
This is no voluntary confession followed up by a reward to the utterer, but one extorted by the compulsion of necessity. A runaway slave, when after long time he first beholds his master, straight thinks only of deprecating the scourge; so the daemons, seeing the Lord suddenly moving upon the earth, thought He was come to judge them. Some absurdly suppose that these daemons knew the Son of God, while the Devil knew Him not, because their wickedness was less than his. But all the knowledge of the disciple must be supposed in the Master.
But both the Devil and the daemons may be said to have rather suspected, than known, Jesus to be the Son of God.
For the presence of the Saviour is the torment of daemons.
The Saviour bade them go, not as yielding to their request, but that by the death of the swine, an occasion of man’s salvation might be offered. "But they went out, (to wit, out of themen,) and went into the swine; and, lo, the whole herd rushed violently headlong into the sea, and per...
Because there were who thought Christ to be a man, therefore the daemons cameto proclaim His divinity, that they who had not seen the sea raging and again still, might hear the daemons crying; “And when he was come to the other side in the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two men having daemons.”.
Or; Luke and Mark chose to speak of one who was more grievously afflicted; whence also they add a further description of his calamity; Luke saying that he brake his bonds and was driven into the desert; Mark telling that he ofttimescut himself with stones. But they neither of them say that there was only one, which would be to contradict Matthew. What is added respecting them that they "came from among the tombs,” alludes to a mischievous opinion, that the souls of the dead became daemons. Thus many soothsayers use to kill children, that they may have their souls to cooperate with them; and daemoniacs also often cry out, I am the spirit of such an one. But it is not the soul of the de...
Otherwise; The sea is the turmoil of the world; the boat in which Christ isembarked is to be understood the tree of the cross, by the aid of which the faithful having passed the waves of the world, arrive in their heavenly country, as on a safe shore, whither Christ goes with His own; whence He says below, “He that will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” When then Christ was fixed on the cross, agreat commotion was raised, the minds of His disciples being troubled at His passion, and the boat was covered by the waves. For the whole strength of persecution was around the cross of Christ, on which He died; as it is here, "But he was asleep.” His sleep is death. The disciples awaken the Lord, when troubled at His death; they seek His resurrection with earnest prayers, saying, "Save us,” by rising again; “we perish,” by our trouble at Thy death. He rises again, and rebukes the hardness of their hearts, as we read in other places. "He commands the wi...
. The inhabitants of the city begged Jesus to leave because they were grieved and thought that they would suffer something worse thereafter. You, O reader, learn that where there is swinish life, it is not Christ Who dwells there, but demons.
The inhabitants of the city begged Jesus to leave because they were grieved and thought that they would suffer something worse thereafter. You, O reader, learn that where there is swinish life, it is not Christ Who dwells there, but demons.
