Matthew 8:31

Thursday, 27 March 2025

 

So the demons begged Him, saying, “If You cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of swine.” Matthew 8:31

 

“And the demons, they invoked Him, saying, ‘If You eject us, You permit us to go into the sounder, the pigs’” (CG).

 

The previous verse noted the sounder of pigs that was feeding in the distance. Now, Matthew continues with, “And the demons, they invoked Him.”

 

The words are straightforward and continue the same understanding previously displayed, which is that Jesus has total authority over them. It is the same word, parakaleó, used already three times in Matthew which has been translated twice as comforted. In Matthew 8:5 and here, it is active rather than passive. Therefore, it signifies to invoke.

 

They are looking for a type of comfort by invoking Jesus to withhold His hand of judgment until the set time. In this state of begging Him, they were “saying, ‘If You eject us, You permit us to go into the sounder, the pigs.’”

 

In Mark’s account, it says Jesus was invoked to not send them out of the country. In Luke’s account, it says Jesus was invoked to not send them into the abyss. Each account is focusing on what the writer thought was the key point for his gospel. There is no contradiction then.

 

Rather, the conversation may have been something like this:

 

Jesus: “What is your name?”

Demon guy: “Legion.”

Legion: “Please don’t send us out of the country.”

Jesus: “Eventually you will have to go.”

Legion: “Yes, but please don’t send us to the abyss. It isn’t the set time.”

Jesus: “You must leave this man.”
Legion: “We accept that. Instead of sending us to the abyss, please permit us to go into the sounder of pigs.”

Of course, this is speculation, but a simple example like this shows how each of the gospel narratives could be true at the same time. Matthew, being a Jew, focused on the unclean pigs. Mark, being told the matter from Peter, focused on the demons not wanting to be removed from the surrounding country. But with Jesus there, how could they continue in the country? Luke, being a Gentile doctor, focused on the final destination for their condition, the abyss.

 

Matthew, above all else, knew pigs were unclean and remembered that these demons would accept being in unclean animals. This would have had all the more impact on him after the law was fulfilled and annulled. He would then come to understand how the Holy Spirit could even descend on unclean Gentiles.

 

We are being schooled in the workings of God in Christ, and how He is able to make something clean out of something unclean and how He can bring near those who were far away.

 

Life application: The words of Matthew are perfectly in line with the words in Mark and Luke. What seems contradictory at first fits harmoniously with what could be when thought through. John, as he completed his gospel, said –

 

“And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen” (John 21:25).

 

As this is so, John is giving a reason for the brevity of the gospels. Matthew could have meticulously recorded every single word of every conversation that occurred in the presence of the Lord. And Matthew’s gospel would go on and on. It would be a giant, cumbersome, and difficult book to get through.

 

This would be the case with each gospel. But then each gospel would be identical to the other and they would be superfluous. However, each is an acceptable length to allow an understanding of what God in Christ has done so that we can then accept, by faith, that they are sufficiently presented in order to harmoniously weave together with the other gospels without being burdensomely long.

 

The things that were not necessary to know have been omitted entirely from the four gospels, such as conversations around the dinner table with Lazarus, Martha, and Mary.

 

Though such accounts may be interesting, they have no bearing on Jesus’ work and fulfillment of the law. Hence, they are not included in the word. What we have is fully sufficient to allow us, by faith, to accept what God has done in the stream of redemptive history. Therefore, let us have faith and believe.

 

Lord God, may we be people of faith by accepting Your word for what it is, a reliable and accurate account of what You have done in and through Jesus to restore us to Yourself. Thank You for this precious word that tells us of our wonderful Savior, Jesus! Amen.