Power Over the Natural/Supernatural
With
the rise in popularity of psychoanalytical readings of scripture over the last
century it is unsurprising that quite a bit of academic attention has been
given to this particular passage as an example of popular perceptions of mental
illness in the ancient Near East. This reading is aided by the demoniac’s
erratic and harmful actions that consist of social exclusion—either
self-imposed or imposed upon him by the community—and the inability to be bound
(v.3), and loud shrieking and self-mutilation (v.5), in addition to the
schizophrenic manner in which the demon-possessed character is described,
vacillating between the first- and third-person singular (I/me/he) and the
plural (we/us/they/them). The inconsistent language gives testament to the
character’s fragmented self.[1]
Furthermore, it is noteworthy that Mark curiously describes the Gerasene in v.2
as “a man in an unclean spirit” (ajvnqrwpoV
ejn pneuvmati ajkaqavrtw≥), suggesting that the man is completely
consumed by his demonic identity.[2]
Building upon the work of social psychologist Frantz Fanon, both Hollenbach and
Myers have previously argued for what might be dubbed a psycho-political or
“socio-psychological” reading of the passage, in which demonic possession
occurs as the result of “class antagonisms rooted in economic exploitation”[3]
and furthermore as being representative of public anxiety over imperial
occupation.[4]
The contributions of Myers and others have been particularly helpful in drawing
insight for modern readership; however, we should nonetheless be mindful of the
fact that the world of first-century Judea was perceived by its inhabitants to
be a world quite literally occupied by unclean spirits (more on that later) and
supernatural bogeymen, and no amount of Bultmannian demythologizing can lay
that reality aside.
It
is within this context of the natural and supernatural that Mark places Jesus
as one with authority to heal and cast out demons. As briefly discussed above,
this passage is immediately preceded by Jesus’ calming of a storm on the Sea of
Galilee, an episode which follows the format as Jesus’ first major exorcism in
1:23–27.[5]
This power over nature and the supernatural alike is further highlighted in the
Gerasene demoniac’s initial address to Jesus: “What have you to with me, son of
the Most High God?” (v.7). This naming of Jesus (a gentile title rare to the
New Testament) by the demons is an attempt to exert magical power over him;
however, it is clearly an impotent and ineffective attempt.[6] The authority
of Jesus over an entire legion of demons is ultimately too great—in the end,
even these supernatural beings entreat Jesus by begging him (parekavlei) to allow them to stay in the
region by entering a nearby herd of pigs. Foregoing a physical struggle, and
with little more than a granting of permission, Jesus liberates the Gerasene
from his tormenters.[7]
As the demons enter the herd of swine and send them careening over a cliff into
the sea, the violent potential and destructive nature of the supernatural is
witnessed, and Jesus’ nonviolent authority even over such powerful forces as
the demonic legion is realized.
[3]
Paul W. Hollenbach, “Jesus, Demoniacs, and
Public Authorities: A Socio-Historical Study,” JAAR 49/4 (1981), 573.
[4]
Ched Myers, Binding the Strong Man: A
Political Reading of Mark’s Story of Jesus (NY: Orbis Books, 2008), 192-3.
[5]
Marcus, 189. In Jesus’ dealing with both the
raging sea and the demon-possessed man in 1:23–27, he uses the same command, fimwvqhti (lit. “Be muzzled!”), establishing a link between
Jesus’ power over natural and the supernatural.
[7]
Robert R. Beck, Nonviolent Story: Narrative
Conflict Resolution in the Gospel of Mark (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1996), 76.
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