Gerasa

Biblical Text

Gerasa is the setting of the account in which Jesus healed a demon-possessed man. This account is treated in detail in the article Healing of the Gerasene Demoniac. Mark 5:1 describes the place as the region of the Gerasenes on the other side of the sea, and Luke 8:26 as the land of the Gerasenes opposite Galilee. Matthew 8:28, which records the same event, calls it the region of the Gadarenes.

According to the text, Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee by boat and arrived at this place. There he met a man possessed by demons who lived among the tombs. The demons gave their name as "Legion" and begged to be sent into a nearby herd of swine. Once the demons had entered them, the swine rushed down a steep slope into the sea (Mark 5:9–13). The people of the region who witnessed this begged Jesus to leave. The healed man, as Jesus instructed him, returned home and proclaimed in the Decapolis what Jesus had done for him (Mark 5:17–20).

Background

The name "Gerasa" is associated with the Hellenistic city of Gerasa (modern Jerash in Jordan), southeast of the Sea of Galilee. A Hellenistic city was one shaped by Greek culture. Gerasa is known as one of the cities of the Decapolis, a name meaning "ten cities." The city, however, lies a considerable distance from the lake, and it has long been noted that this location does not fit the scene of the swine rushing into the sea.

Three main views have been proposed to explain this problem.

• The Gadara view: The "Gadara" of Matthew was a Decapolis city closer to the lake. This view holds that Scripture refers not to the city itself but to the wider territory belonging to it.
• The Gergesa view: The third-century church father Origen is reported to have proposed "Gergesa," a site on the lakeshore. Some scholars identify it with the ruins of Kursi on the eastern shore of the lake.
• Manuscript variation: The Greek manuscripts of the Gospels themselves vary among the readings Gerasa, Gadara, and Gergesa.

Scholars continue to disagree about the exact location.

The region appears to have had a large non-Jewish population. The large herd of swine is commonly cited as evidence of this, since swine were unclean animals under the Law (Leviticus 11:7).

Significance in Scripture as a Whole

The Gerasa account is read as a scene in which Jesus' ministry extended beyond Jewish territory into regions inhabited by Gentiles. The detail that the healed man told of Jesus' works in the Decapolis has also drawn attention, and many interpreters see in it an early picture of the gospel reaching Gentile lands. Mark 7:31 records Jesus passing once again through the region of the Decapolis.

Interpretation and Points of Debate

Matthew records two demon-possessed men, whereas Mark and Luke record only one. The place name also differs among the Gospels. Explanations of these differences vary according to perspective.

• Those who emphasize biblical inerrancy hold that the differences are not contradictory. They harmonize the accounts, for example, by suggesting that Mark and Luke mentioned only one man because he was the more prominent of the two.
• Others treat these differences as an instance of the Synoptic Problem, attributing them to each author's editing of his sources.

Some interpreters connect the name "Legion" (Latin legio, a Roman military legion) with the Roman occupation. This, however, is the view of certain scholars; the text does not say so directly.

It is also commonly said that the healed man was a Gentile. This, however, is an inference drawn from the character of the region and is not stated explicitly in the text.

In the Korean Church

In the Korean church, the place name is widely known through the story of the "Gerasene madman." Sermons commonly focus on restoration and the casting out of demons, and they frequently apply the words "Go home to thy friends, and tell them" (Mark 5:19) to family evangelism and to witness in everyday life.