Mk 5:1-20
1[Jesus and his disciples] came to the other side of the sea, to the territory of the Gerasenes. 2When he got out of the boat, at once a man from the tombs who had an unclean spirit met him. 3The man had been dwelling among the tombs, and no one could restrain him any longer, even with a chain. 4In fact, he had frequently been bound with shackles and chains, but the chains had been pulled apart by him and the shackles smashed, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. 5Night and day among the tombs and on the hillsides he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones. 6Catching sight of Jesus from a distance, he ran up and prostrated himself before him, 7crying out in a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me!” 8(He had been saying to him, “Unclean spirit, come out of the man!”) 9He asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “Legion is my name. There are many of us.” 10And he pleaded earnestly with him not to drive them away from that territory.
11Now a large herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside. 12And they pleaded with him, “Send us into the swine. Let us enter them.” 13And he let them, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine. The herd of about two thousand rushed down a steep bank into the sea, where they were drowned... 18As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed pleaded to remain with him. 19But he would not permit him but told him instead, “Go home to your family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.” 20Then the man went off and began to proclaim in the Decapolis what Jesus had done for him; and all were amazed.
SEND US INTO THE SWINE: The swine (Greek choiros) is enumerated among the unclean animals (Lv 11:7) because, while it cleaves the hoof, it does not chew the cud. Pork was abhorrent to the Jews. In the time of the Maccabees, seven brothers endured torture and martyrdom rather than eat pork in violation of the law (2 Mc 7:1).
Jesus is in the territory of the Gerasenes in the Decapolis which has a predominantly pagan population. The swineherds are pagans who work for a pagan owner. The demons’ specific request to enter into the swine is true to character: being “unclean spirits,” they enter into unclean animals.
Jesus allows the demons to enter into the swine to signal that the time for the ultimate defeat of the demons has not yet come. His action is a pledge of that definitive triumph which must wait for the appointment of God. Jesus also shows beyond question that the real intent of the demons is the destruction of their host.