Q: In Matthew 8:34, the whole city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him, they begged Him to depart from their region. Isnt this rather embarrassing for the Son of God?
A: No. Sometimes these townsfolk get a bad rap, like, The craven knaves! Lo, they longed for the return of their filthy swine, while ignoring the deliverance of their brother!. But Matthew leaves the scene fairly open-ended, and theres no strong drive to make this picture negative for anybody. Matthew does not directly imply that the townspeople were materialistically concerned about the loss of the swine; nothing in Matthews text indicates forthrightly that the swine were owned by the townspeople. The possibility is open that the townspeople wanted Jesus to leave for His own safety, to avoid any punishment which the owners of the swine (who were elsewhere at the time) might wish to inflict.
Mark (in Mk. 5:15) and Luke (in Lk. 8:35) mention that the people, when they saw the ex-demoniac sitting at Jesus feet, clothed and lucid, became afraid. I dont think this was an Eeek-A-Mouse! kind of fear; I think it was a sense of apprehension that they were in the presence of someone who had a power which they had never encountered before -- a Jewish rabbi whose actions had led to the return of the ex-demoniacs lucidity, and to the death of some 2,000 pigs. They may not have concluded Good guy or Bad guy, but simply, hmm; a traveling Jewish rabbi from Galilee, possibly dangerous to non-kosher animals and procude; also probably costly to befriend after the herd's owners find out about this and asked Him -- nicely -- to go back to His own turf. No matter what their motivation may have been, though, theres nothing here thats absurd.
Yours in Christ,
Waterrock
A: No. Sometimes these townsfolk get a bad rap, like, The craven knaves! Lo, they longed for the return of their filthy swine, while ignoring the deliverance of their brother!. But Matthew leaves the scene fairly open-ended, and theres no strong drive to make this picture negative for anybody. Matthew does not directly imply that the townspeople were materialistically concerned about the loss of the swine; nothing in Matthews text indicates forthrightly that the swine were owned by the townspeople. The possibility is open that the townspeople wanted Jesus to leave for His own safety, to avoid any punishment which the owners of the swine (who were elsewhere at the time) might wish to inflict.
Mark (in Mk. 5:15) and Luke (in Lk. 8:35) mention that the people, when they saw the ex-demoniac sitting at Jesus feet, clothed and lucid, became afraid. I dont think this was an Eeek-A-Mouse! kind of fear; I think it was a sense of apprehension that they were in the presence of someone who had a power which they had never encountered before -- a Jewish rabbi whose actions had led to the return of the ex-demoniacs lucidity, and to the death of some 2,000 pigs. They may not have concluded Good guy or Bad guy, but simply, hmm; a traveling Jewish rabbi from Galilee, possibly dangerous to non-kosher animals and procude; also probably costly to befriend after the herd's owners find out about this and asked Him -- nicely -- to go back to His own turf. No matter what their motivation may have been, though, theres nothing here thats absurd.
Yours in Christ,
Waterrock
