“And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demoniacs met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way. And behold, they cried out, ‘What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?’ Now, a herd of many swine was feeding at some distance from them. And the demons begged him, ‘If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of swine.’ And he said to them, ‘Go.’ So they came out and went into the swine; and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and perished in the waters.” Matthew 8:28–32.
In today’s Gospel, Our Lord’s descent into our human condition is on display in a very powerful way. We always want to understand the Gospels in the Jewish context that they were written in, especially in the case of someone like St. Matthew, as he was born and raised in the Jewish religion and writes to a predominantly Jewish audience. To that end, I want to point out four details that show Our Lord’s immense compassion for His people in this passage from Matthew’s Gospel.
Understanding the Jewish religious ethos, four details reveal the absolute filth that Our Lord encounters in the country of the Gadarenes. According to Jewish Law, the following four things are considered unclean. They are:
The Gentile people of the country of the Gadarenes
The two demonically possessed individuals
The tombs in which they dwell
The swine into which they are cast
These details occur in a providential sense to show Our Lord’s immense care for the souls of the men who are possessed. He goes down into an unclean situation in order to elevate these poor souls out of the hell in which they find themselves. This parallels the Incarnation. The Eternal Son descends into the brokenness of humanity in order to elevate us higher than we can ourselves. Just as the demoniacs are at the mercy of the demons that possess them, humanity was at “the mercy” of the fallen nature that we possessed. Nothing in our nature could lift us out of the uncleanness that we were in on account of sin. But when Our Blessed Lord took on human nature, He took what is unclean and made it clean.
God’s great love for man is what drives this beautiful descent. To drive this home, St. Thomas comments on the last line quoted in the above passage, that Christ permits the demons to infest the pigs and drive them off the cliff:
“Also, that man might know his own dignity, since he would permit so many thousands of pigs to be killed for the salvation of one man.”1
We ought to remember just how much Our Lord loves us. Thousands of other creatures can die if it means the salvation of one man. But even more than that, Our Lord Himself can die, if it means the salvation of one man. Not a pig. Not a dove. Not a cow. Not a lamb. The True Lamb of God, the Eternal Son, became man so that He could die, to show us our great dignity and the love that God has for us.
For more from Dr. McGovern, visit his Substack at A Thomist, Dedicated to the Theological tradition of St. Thomas Aquinas. Exploring Thomas’ Spiritual Theology and topics in Christology and Mariology.
St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Gospel According to St. Matthew, C. 8, L. 4, 737.