As you know I'm researching Biblical history, and discovering some little known facts. In reading A Visual Guide to Bible Events my eyes were open, so to speak, to a connection I never saw before.
The first time Jesus takes the disciples to the Decapolis region a whole herd of pigs die, and they're asked to leave. Thank you very much. The second time was preceded by the disciples witnessing the healing of a Phoenician woman's daughter. As if seeing that wasn't enough, he takes them back to the 'other side.'
According to Mark 7 they went by foot this time, not by boat like they did before. I have to wonder if the disciples thought they'd be killed before they could high-tail-and-run. Any fears the disciples had was pushed aside by the greeting they received.
Upon arriving to the Hippos area a deaf man is brought to them for healing. (According to Matthew 15 the list of ailments is longer.) The people are amazed this time. Not only do they not ask him to leave, they don't leave him. In fact, they stayed three days before Jesus tells his disciples to feed the four thousand people who are there.
What can be easily overlooked, well at least I overlooked it, is that these people were gentiles. And just how did these people know to go to Jesus when he arrived to the Hippos area?
Well, remember the man whose freedom from demons killed that herd of pigs? Remember Jesus told him to share what had happened to him with his family and his people? Well, he did a good job. Because the next time Jesus came their way the people were open to hear what he had to say and what he had to offer.
So in one trip away from the Galilee region, Jesus shows his disciples that he came for every one, even the ones Jews felt didn't deserve it.
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