Speaking of God the Father’s kindness, how he’s χρηστός to the ungracious and the wicked, this example is fun. The story occurs in Matthew, Mark and Luke. I’ve chosen the version in Luke for a number of reasons: I’m reading / praying Luke and Acts at the moment; in this version the man Jesus encounters is naked; what this episode follows (the Apostles having to awaken Jesus so that he can calm the seas, make the storm stop). But first, the Greek and Vulgate texts, inexpertly presented, followed by the latest Peregrinus mistranslation.
But just before that, a Roman pig from Pompeii:
The Greek:
26 Καὶ κατέπλευσαν εἰς τὴν χώραν τῶν Γερασηνῶν, ἥτις ἐστὶν ἀντιπέρα τῆς Γαλιλαίας.
27 ἐξελθόντι δὲ αὐτῷ ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ὑπήντησεν ἀνήρ τις ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἔχων δαιμόνια· καὶ χρόνῳ ἱκανῷ οὐκ ἐνεδύσατο ἱμάτιον, καὶ ἐν οἰκίᾳ οὐκ ἔμενεν ἀλλ’ ἐν τοῖς μνήμασιν.
28 ἰδὼν δὲ τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἀνακράξας προσέπεσεν αὐτῷ καὶ φωνῇ μεγάλῃ εἶπεν· Τί ἐμοὶ καὶ σοί, Ἰησοῦ υἱὲ τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ὑψίστου; δέομαί σου, μή με βασανίσῃς·
29 παρήγγελλεν γὰρ τῷ πνεύματι τῷ ἀκαθάρτῳ ἐξελθεῖν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου. πολλοῖς γὰρ χρόνοις συνηρπάκει αὐτόν, καὶ ἐδεσμεύετο ἁλύσεσιν καὶ πέδαις φυλασσόμενος, καὶ διαρρήσσων τὰ δεσμὰ ἠλαύνετο ὑπὸ τοῦ δαιμονίου εἰς τὰς ἐρήμους.
30 ἐπηρώτησεν δὲ αὐτὸν ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Τί σοι ὄνομά ἐστιν; ὁ δὲ εἶπεν· Λεγιών, ὅτι εἰσῆλθεν δαιμόνια πολλὰ εἰς αὐτόν.
31 καὶ παρεκάλουν αὐτὸν ἵνα μὴ ἐπιτάξῃ αὐτοῖς εἰς τὴν ἄβυσσον ἀπελθεῖν.
32 Ἦν δὲ ἐκεῖ ἀγέλη χοίρων ἱκανῶν βοσκομένη ἐν τῷ ὄρει· καὶ παρεκάλεσαν αὐτὸν ἵνα ἐπιτρέψῃ αὐτοῖς εἰς ἐκείνους εἰσελθεῖν· καὶ ἐπέτρεψεν αὐτοῖς.
33 ἐξελθόντα δὲ τὰ δαιμόνια ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου εἰσῆλθον εἰς τοὺς χοίρους, καὶ ὥρμησεν ἡ ἀγέλη κατὰ τοῦ κρημνοῦ εἰς τὴν λίμνην καὶ ἀπεπνίγη.
The Latin:
26 Et navigaverunt ad regionem Gerasenorum, quae est contra Galilaeam.
27 Et cum egressus esset ad terram, occurrit illi vir quidam, qui habebat daemonium jam temporibus multis, et vestimento non induebatur, neque in domo manebat, sed in monumentis.
28 Is, ut vidit Jesum, procidit ante illum: et exclamans voce magna, dixit: Quid mihi et tibi est, Jesu Fili Dei Altissimi? obsecro te, ne me torqueas.
29 Praecipiebat enim spiritui immundo ut exiret ab homine. Multis enim temporibus arripiebat illum, et vinciebatur catenis, et compedibus custoditus. Et ruptis vinculis agebatur a daemonio in deserta.
30 Interrogavit autem illum Jesus, dicens: Quod tibi nomen est? At ille dixit: Legio: quia intraverant daemonia multa in eum.
31 Et rogabant illum ne imperaret illis ut in abyssum irent.
32 Erat autem ibi grex porcorum multorum pascentium in monte: et rogabant eum, ut permitteret eis in illos ingredi. Et permisit illis.
33 Exierunt ergo daemonia ab homine, et intraverunt in porcos: et impetu abiit grex per praeceps in stagnum, et suffocatus est.
The Mistranslation:
26 And they sailed into the country of the Gerasenes, a land which is opposite Galilee.
27 But some man out of the town, having demons and who for many years did not don cloth and who in a house did not dwell, but amongst the monuments for the dead, met him coming out onto the land.
28 Seeing Jesus, crying out he fell before him and with a great voice said: What is it to me and to you, Jesus son of God the Most High? I stand in need of you, may you not torture me!
29 He therefore gave the word of command to the unclean spirit to go out from the man. Because for many years the demon had seized him, and he was bound in chains and watched over with shackles, and breaking through the fetters he was driven by the demon into the wastelands.
30 So Jesus asked him, What is your name? And he said, Legion, because many demons went into him.
31 And they called to him so that he might not order them to go out into the abyss.
32. But there was there a substantial herd of swine grazing in the mountain: and they called to him so that he would give command to them to go into those swine: and he commanded them.
33 So going out from the man the demons went into the swine, and the herd set in motion down the overhanging bank into the standing water and drowned.
So, just to update since Luke 6:35, Jesus has been up to all and sundry - healing the centurion’s child at a distance, raising the dead, unwithering hands and the like. Then he decides to take a ride in the boat and catch some much needed sleep. The Apostles, some of whom are actual fishermen who know their way around a squall on the Sea of Galilee one would hope, wake Jesus up. The boat’s filling with water, wind, storms, we’re going to die. Jesus rebukes the weather, all is well, leaving the Apostles to wonder as to what kind of man is it who commands the weather. (Seriously? Dude, where were you two pages ago?).
Jesus gets off the boat. Who rushes forward to meet him? Some naked guy who inexplicably knows his name and his profession / lineage. Naked guy. Of course. Who else? That’s important. These are some bad demons.
When, around the robing room in some dire and delapidated tribunal of criminal justice, one is asked, “What do you have?” the following exchange happens all the time, in one form or another:
Barrister A: What do you have today?
Barrister B: Small matter of running amok in a kebab shop with a really big fork.
Barrister A: Naked?
Barrister B: No.
Barrister A: Amateur (scoffs and stomps off)
These demons. They’re awful. Entirely ungracious and wicked to this poor wretch. Which other possessed / moonstruck / lunatic in the New Testament gets deprived of the dignity of modesty? They’re all clothed, except this poor fellow. People clearly try to help the man out - chaining him up so that he begins to appreciate the joys of indoor living but the demons compel him to live in the badlands.
What does Jesus do? He listens. At this point in the Gospel, I’m thinking that not many readers expect that Jesus would torture the demon. (The demon is lying to the Lord - “don’t torture me” - when in fact there’s a Legion of them in there. Jesus lets the lie slide). Jesus simply commands the demon to leave the man alone. This fails to have immediate effect. Jesus is friendly: What is your name? Have you even engaged with a homeless person or an aggitated, floridly psychotic, mental patient intent on violence? Being friendly changes the world.
Jesus is patient. He hears the demons out. The demons make a request, Jesus gives them what they want. Whereas Jesus rebukes the weather (and the Apostles all through the Gospels), there’s none of that here. Patience, tolerance and friendliness. Graciousness. The Lord is good.
The story continues to reveal that the man winds up clothed and in his right mind at Jesus’s feet. The locals, once they hear of this, ask Jesus and his lot to just move on and we’ll forget this ever happened. They were filled with fear.
Kindness, patience and generosity are indeed frightful when one considers just how radically one can read the Gospel. The greatest kindness, to my mind, shown here is to the legion of demons.
Peregrinus