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Here comes the pig after dog in the Lunar New Year. Everyone longs for a prosperous year! For people to have fun, there are many pig styling products for sale in the Lunar New Year Fair. However, the recent severe African swine fever epidemic has caused the public to lose confidence in eating pork.
Jews don't like pigs because they are ceremonially unclean. In fact, there are many animals that are prohibited from being eaten in Judaism (see Leviticus Chapter 11): rabbits, camels, finless and scaleless seafood, but these animals have not caused too much dislike by the Jews.
Coincidentally, most pig idioms and expressions in different languages are derogatory such as "Eating like a pig", "You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig.", "Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion." (Prov 11:22) People who promote healthy diet also think that pork, ham and bacon are unhealthy foods. Moreover, the diseases carried by pigs are indeed easily transmitted to humans, such as foot and mouth disease, swine fever, and trichinosis. Pigs are omnivorous and eat almost everything, and sometimes very dirty. Improper sewage disposal in pig farming will inevitably become the means for the spread of these diseases.
In 167 BC, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, a Hellenistic Greek king of the Seleucid Empire, outlawed Jewish religious rites and traditions and ordered an altar to Zeus erected in the Temple in Jerusalem. He ordered pigs to be sacrificed. Later, the Maccabean Revolt won and the Jews recovered Jerusalem. This is the origin of the Jewish holiday Hanukkah (Festival of Lights).
The New Testament Gospel recorded that Jesus restored a demon-possessed man in the region of the Gerasenes (Mark 5:1-20). People in that region raised pigs, and this man lived in the tombs, both were regarded as unclean for Jews. However, Jesus deliberately came to this area (Mark 4:35), searched for the man and restored his dignity, self-control and freedom. With Jesus’ permission, the demons came out of the man and went into a herd of pigs on the nearby hillside. Two thousand pigs became crazy, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.
Based on the current figure, a 180 kg pig costs about $3,900. The pig farmer lost about eight million dollars! Jesus allowed the demons to attach to the herd; otherwise the man would be hurt forever. Jesus sacrificed pigs to save the man, because the value of man is far more precious than the 2,000 pigs. It is a pity that the Gerasenes treasured the pigs and pleaded with Jesus to leave, in fearing of more property loss. The man, back in his right mind, went home to his own people in the Decapolis, witnessing what Jesus had done for him.
Are there any "Gerasenes" around you today? Is Jesus looking for them? Are you willing to respond if God asks you for your 2,000 pigs (wealth, security, talent…) to save a man in great need?
Servant pastor
Rev. Benedict Shum
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