OUR FATHER WHOSE SON CAME TO SET THE CAPTIVES FREE

Mather chapter 8 verses 28 - 34 records the arrival at the other side of the Sea of Galilee and encounter with two demon-possessed men.

28 When He had come to the other side, to the country of the Gergesenes, there met Him two demon-possessed men, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass that way. 29  And suddenly they cried out, saying, “What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?”

30 Now a good way off from them there was a herd of many swine feeding. 31 So the demons begged Him, saying, “If You cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of swine.”

32 And He said to them, “Go.” So when they had come out, they went into the herd of swine. And suddenly the whole herd of swine ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and perished in the water.

33 Then those who kept them fled; and they went away into the city and told everything, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. 34 And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him, they begged Him to depart from their region.

In the country of the Gergesenes, two belligerent men possessed by demons occupied a grave yard and terrorized the area so that people avoided passing by there.

Recognizing Jesus as the son of God, they reacted to His arrival by asking why He had come there when He had no business with them and then they concluded that He must have come there to torment them before the appointed time of judgement.

Realizing that the Lord intended to free the men from their grasp, the demons pleaded that if they were to be cast out, they be permitted to enter a herd of swine that was feeding a distance away.

The Lord said one word. "Go".

The demons came out and swarmed into the herd of pigs and the pigs rushed down a steep embankment into the Sea of Galilee  and drowned.

The caretakers of the pigs ran back to their city and reported the events that had just  occurred  at the sea and all the people of the city came out to meet Jesus and they, seeing the high cost of His activities, begged Him to leave them.

The people of the city had discounted the value of the restoration of the possessed-men to their right minds and return of security to area of the cemetary and adjacent roadways. Instead, they only considered the economic impact of the loss of the herds of pigs and they asked Jesus to leave.

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