GRM 186.2.5-8 · Volume 3
The Gospel as revealed to me
Quotation
Jesus, after crossing the lake from north-west to south-east, asks Peter to land near Hippos. Peter obeys without objection and takes the boat down to the mouth of a little river, which is in flood because of the springtime rains and of the recent storm and flows into the lake through one of the wild rocky gorges common to this coastal area. The assistants – there is one in each boat – fasten the boats and are ordered to wait until evening to go back to Capernaum.
«And be as dumb as an ox» suggests Peter. «If they ask you where the Master is, reply without hesitation: “I don’t know”. And if anyone wants to know where He is going to, give the same reply. In any case it is the truth, for you don’t know.»
They part and Jesus begins to ascend a steep path which climbs the almost upright cliff. The apostles follow Him along a very hard path up to the top of the cliff which levels over to a tableland strewn with oak-trees under which there are many pigs pasturing.
«Stinking animals!» exclaims Bartholomew. «They prevent us from passing…»
«No, they do not. There is room for everybody» replies Jesus calmly.
In any case the swineherds, when they see the Israelites, endeavour to gather the pigs under the oak-trees, leaving the path free. And the apostles pass by, making endless grimaces, among the filth left by the grouting animals, which fat as they are, seem anxious to become even fatter.
Jesus passes without any fuss, saying to the swineherds: «May God reward you for your kindness.»
The swineherds, poor people not much cleaner than their pigs but infinitely thinner, look at Him amazed and then whisper to one another. One of them says: «Is He perhaps not an Israelite?» And the others reply to him: «Don’t you see that His tunic is fringed?»
The group of the apostles gather together, now that they can proceed in one group along a fairly wide path. (...)
186.5
But what are these ruins?»
«They all move away from the side of the mountain because stones and earth are rolling down and bouncing on the slope and they all look around amazed.
«There, there! Over there! Two men completely naked… are coming towards us gesticulating. Mad…»
«Or demoniacs» replies Jesus to the Iscariot, who was the first to see the two demoniacs come towards Jesus.
They must have come out of some cave on the mountain side. They are howling. And one, who is running faster, rushes towards Jesus. He is running so fast and moving his arms up and down so much as if they were wings, that he looks like a strange ugly big bird stripped of its feathers. He collapses at Jesus’ feet shouting: «You are here, Master of the world? What have I got to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Has the hour of our punishment already come? Why have You come to torture us before the time?» The other demoniac, both because his tongue is tied and because he is possessed by a demon who causes him to be dullwitted, does nothing but throw himself on the ground, face down, and weep. He then sits up, remains inert, playing with little stones and his bare feet. The demon continues to speak through the lips of the other man who writhes on the ground in a paroxysm of terror. I would say that he wants to react, whereas he can but worship, attracted and rejected at the same time by Jesus’ power. He howls: «I entreat You in the name of God, stop tormenting me. Let me go.»
«Yes. But out of this man. Unclean spirit, go out of them and tell Me your name.»
«Legion is my name because we are many. We have possessed these men for years and through them we break bonds and chains, and there is no strength of man capable of holding them. They are a terror, because of us, and we make use of them to have You cursed. We revenge ourselves on them for Your anathema. We degrade man below a beast to mock at You and there is no wolf, jackal, hyena, vulture or vampire like these whom we possess. But don’t cast us out. Hell is too horrid!…»
«Go out! In the name of Jesus, go out!» Jesus’ voice thunders and His eyes fire splendour.
«At least let us go into the herd of pigs You met.»
«Go.»
With a beastly howl the demons part from the two wretched men and in a sudden whirlwind, which causes the oak-trees to sway like reeds, they run into the large herd of pigs that with real demoniac cries begin to run, as possessed beings, through the oak trees, pushing, wounding, biting one another and hurl themselves into the lake, when, after reaching the edge of the cliff, they have but the water below as a shelter. The swineherds are overwhelmed and dumbfounded and while they shout seized by fear, hundreds of animals fall headlong into the calm water in a succession of splashes, causing the water to surge and foam; they sink, refloat, showing in turn their round bellies or their pointed snouts with terrified eyes, and in the end drown.
186.6
The swineherds run towards the town howling.
The apostles go towards the place of the disaster and come back saying: «Not one of them is saved! He has done them a bad turn.»
Jesus replies calmly: «It is better if two thousand pigs perish than one man. Give them some clothes. They cannot stay like that.»
The Zealot opens his bag and gives one of his tunics. Thomas another one. The two men are still somewhat stunned as if they were just awaking from a sound sleep full of nightmares.
«Give them some food. Let them go back to the normal life of men.»
Jesus watches them while they eat the bread and olives given to them and they drink out of Peter’s flask.
At last they speak: «Who are You?» asks one.
«Jesus of Nazareth.»
«We don’t know You» says the other.
«Your souls know Me. Get up now and go home.»
«We have suffered very much, I think, but I cannot remember very well. Who is this man?» asks the one who spoke on behalf of the demon, and he points at his companion.
«I do not know. He was with you.»
«Who are you? Why are you here?» he asks his companion.
The one who was dumb, and is still more inert, says: «I am Demetrius. Is this Sidon?»
«Sidon is on the sea, man. Here you are beyond the lake of Galilee.»
«Why am I here?»
Nobody can reply.
186.7
Some people are arriving followed by the swineberds. They look frightened and curious. When they see the two men dressed and tidy, their astonishment increases.
«That is Mark of Josiah!… And that is the son of the heathen merchant!…»
«And He is the one who cured them and caused our pigs to perish, because they became mad when the demons entered them» say the swineherds.
«Lord, You are powerful, we admit it. But You have already caused us too much harm! A damage of many talents. Go away, please, lest Your power should bring the mountain down and hurl it into the lake. Go away…»
«I will go. I do not impose Myself on anybody» and Jesus without further discussion goes back the way He came.
The demoniac who spoke follows Him, behind the apostles. Farther back, at some distance, there are many citizens watching whether He is really leaving.
186.8
They go down the steep path back to the mouth of the little rent, near the boats. The citizens remain on the terrace watching. The demoniac who has been cured goes down behind Jesus.
In the boats the assistants are terrified. They saw the pigs raining into the lake and are still contemplating their bodies which surface more and more numerous, more and more swollen, with their round bellies in the air and their stiff short legs like four pegs stuck into a huge fat bladder. «What happened?» they ask.
«We will tell you later. Loosen the boats and let us go… Where, my Lord?»
«To the gulf of Tarichea.»
The man who has followed them, now that he sees them getting into the boats, implores: «Take me with You, Lord.»
«No. Go home: your relatives are entitled to have you. Speak to them of the great things the Lord has done to you and tell them how He had mercy on you. This area is in need of faith. Light the flames of faith out of gratitude to the Lord. Go. Goodbye.»
«Comfort me at least with Your blessing, that the demon may not possess me again.»
«Be not afraid. If you do not want, he will not come. But I bless you. Go in peace.»
The boats depart from the shore westwards. Only then, when the boats are ploughing through the waters strewn with the swine victims, the inhabitants of the town, which did not want the Lord, withdraw from the terrace and go away.
Annotation
The employees tie up the boats - there is one per boat - and are ordered to wait until evening for the return to Capernaum. They are two anonymous figures, obviously carrying out maneuvers. They were undoubtedly present in EMV 185.
At least, let me into this herd of pigs: The original text speaks in the singular here: Lasciami. This singular request will be ingenuously interpreted by Peter in EMV 203.3.
Gospel of Matthew 8, 28-34
Mt 8, 28-34 : As Jesus reached the other side of the river, in the land of the Gadarenes, two possessed men came out from among the tombs to meet him; they were so aggressive that no one could pass by that way. Behold, they cried out, "What do you want with us, Son of God? Have you come to torment us before the appointed time?" Now there was a large herd of pigs in the distance, looking for food. The demons begged Jesus, "If you expel us, send us into the herd of swine." He replied, "Go." They went out and into the pigs; and behold, from the top of the cliff, the whole herd rushed into the sea, and the pigs died in the waves. The guardians fled and went into the city to report all this, and in particular what had happened to the possessed. And behold, the whole town came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw him, the people begged him to leave their territory.
Gospel of Mark 5:1-20
Mk 5, 1-20 : They came to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, in the country of the Gerasenes. As Jesus got out of the boat, immediately a man possessed by an unclean spirit came forward from the tombs to meet him; he lived in the tombs and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain; indeed he had often been bound with leg irons and chains, but he had broken the chains, broken the irons, and no one could restrain him. Constantly, night and day, he was among the tombs and on the hills, shouting and hurting himself with stones. Seeing Jesus from afar, he ran to him, bowed before him and cried out in a loud voice: "What do you want from me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me!" For Jesus was saying to him, "Unclean spirit, come out of this man!" And he asked him, "What is your name?" The man said to him, "My name is Legion, for there are many of us." And they begged Jesus insistently not to drive them out of the country.
Now, on the hillside there was a large herd of pigs looking for food. So the unclean spirits begged Jesus, "Send us to these swine, and we will enter them." He allowed them to do so. They came out of the man and entered the pigs. From the top of the cliff, the herd rushed into the sea: there were about two thousand pigs, and they were drowning in the sea. Their guardians fled and spread the news in town and country, and people came to see what had happened.
When they came to Jesus, they saw the demon-possessed man sitting up, clothed, and coming to his senses, he who had had the legion of demons, and they were seized with fear. Those who had seen all this told them the story of the demon-possessed man and what had happened to the pigs. So they began to beg Jesus to leave their territory.
As Jesus climbed back into the boat, the possessed man begged him to be allowed to be with him. He did not consent, but said to him, "Go home to your family, and tell them all that the Lord has done for you in His mercy." So the man went away, and began to proclaim in the Decapolis region what Jesus had done for him, and everyone was in awe.
Gospel of Luke 8, 26-39
Lk 8, 26-39 : They landed in the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. As Jesus disembarked, a demon-possessed man from the city came to meet him. For some time he had not put on clothes, nor lived in a house, but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell at his feet and said in a loud voice: "What do you want from me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Please don't torment me." Indeed, Jesus was commanding the unclean spirit to come out of this man, for the spirit had taken hold of him many times. He was then kept bound in chains, with fetters on his feet, but he broke his bonds and the demon dragged him away to deserted places. Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" He replied, "Legion". Indeed, many demons had entered him. And these demons begged Jesus not to order them to go into the abyss. Now, there was a sizeable herd of pigs foraging on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to allow them to enter the pigs, and he did. They went out of the man and into the pigs. From the top of the cliff, the herd rushed into the lake and drowned. When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled; they spread the news in the town and in the countryside, and people went out to see what had happened.
When they came to Jesus, they found the man whom the demons had left, seated, clothed and restored to his senses, at Jesus' feet. And they were seized with fear. Those who had seen told them how the demon-possessed man had been saved. Then all the people in the territory of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave their home, because they were in great fear. Jesus got back into the boat and sailed away.
The man the demons had left asked if he could be with him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, "Go back home and tell everyone what God has done for you." So the man set off to proclaim throughout the town all that Jesus had done for him.