Those Pigs

My New Testament reading for the next few days is in the book of Mark. This morning I came across that odd passage where Jesus sends the evil spirits into the pigs and they dash down the side of the hill into the sea of galilee. Always the question--why? Why does Jesus let the spirits go into the pigs, why does he let the pigs die? Mark 5

Here's one reason (there are always others, the Bible is rich in multiple meanings). If you remember the name of the evil spirit is legion. Legion, of course, is Roman military term that speaks of a group of soldiers. In this area of the country there had been Roman legions who had carried out cruel and painful attacks on the people. This demon possessed man was probably suffering from that horrible experinece and it opened him up to demon possession. The idea that flows from this is that when Jesus has this legion go into the pigs, the pigs become a roman legion or roman pigs. These pigs then dash into the sea or the abyss--in doing so they show that God rules over and can destroy Roman which has abused people rather than rightfully carrying out their ruling task (cf. Romans 13). The story then, is a political statement of who rules, who reigns and who wins and what the world will look like when all is set right (the demon possessed man is now in his right mind). It is also a story of resistance to this world of hope because the people of the land ask Jesus to go.