One Demoniac? Or Two?

How Many Demoniacs Met Jesus?

Mark and Luke tell a story of a demonized man that ran out to meet Jesus after he crossed the Sea of Galilee (Mark 5:1-20, Luke 8:26-39). Matthew tells of the same incident, but in his story there are two demonized men that run out to meet Jesus (Matthew 8:28:34).

What happened? Did Matthew make a mistake? Or were Mark and Luke wrong in their versions?

Both Stories Are True!

Neither Mark nor Luke say that there was only one demonized man. This means the second man could well have been there, but for some reason these two Gospel writers chose not to mention him. As we look (below) at what is known about the most prominent of the two men, it becomes clear why Mark and Luke might have wanted to narrow their focus to only one man.

On the other hand, why would Matthew have wanted to expand his story to include the more obscure of the two men? There is evidence in how Matthew tells his stories that may give us a clue. First, Matthew has no mention of the "Legion" of demoniacs pleading with Jesus. Mark and Luke tell of this conversation after Jesus had attempted to cast the demons out. Jesus inquires as to the demons' name, and with the additional power of knowing their name, banishes them, as they requested, into a herd of pigs.

Matthew, on the other hand, is reluctant to imply that the power of Jesus is limited in any way. We see this, for instance, in the story of Jesus' second visit to his home town of Nazareth (Mark 6:5-6a, Matthew 13:54-58). According to Mark, "Jesus could not do any miracle there except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them; and he wondered at their unbelief." Matthew is unwilling to go so far, and writes instead, "Jesus did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief."

There is another factor in Matthew's choices that I have been unaware of before today: Matthew prefers to write about two's rather than one's!  In two more stories, Matthew has two blind men instead of one (Matthew 9:27-31 and 20:29-34). Compare this with Mark (10:46-52) and Luke (18:35-43). Also, at Jesus' triumphant march into Jerusalem, Matthew (21:1-11) mentions two donkeys while the other gospels mention only one. There are some Bible commentators who have enlarged on this predilection of Matthew's, but I will have to do some more study before I'm up to date on what Bible scholars think of this.

Biographies of Two Demoniacs

Surprise: There is actually enough information in the three Gospel stories to write a short biography for both of them. I will begin with the "lesser" demonized man mentioned only by Matthew.

Biography of the Lesser Demoniac

This man accompanied the "greater" demonized man by living in the tombs with him. So, at the time that they met Jesus, both men had companionship of a sort. But between the two of them, both men were so fierce that people were unable to pass through their domain. Matthew's story continues with Jesus' conversation with the demons, who are un-named by Matthew. It is possible with the text we have that the demons controlling this particular man were cast out immediately upon the first time that Jesus gave the  command. As in most encounters between Jesus and demons, they identify Jesus as the Son of God and ask what Jesus is going to do with them. Perhaps this man was beset by only a single demon.

No other information is provided. He is just "fierce." We do not know where this man came from or how long he had been at the tombs. Whereas the other man was wearing no clothes, we have no information as to whether this man was clothed or not. We do know that only one man--the "greater" former demoniac--begged Jesus to take him along in the boat when Jesus was departing. We hear of no instructions to this person nor of any testimony that he may have taken to the Ten Towns of this Roman district. He simply disappears from the story.

Biography of the Greater Demoniac

In contrast with the first man, we have a wealth of information about this one. We know that he is a former resident of a nearby city (again, probably Hippos). We know that he has a home there, where Jesus sends him (Luke 8:39), and where he has relatives ("his people"). We know that the townspeople had repeatedly tried to restrain him, including  by the use of shackles and chains, but that he had been able to break the chains and escape again to the tombs. We know that he spent time screaming among these tombs, probably the historical graveyard for the nearby city. He had been living in the tombs for a long time, wearing no clothes.

When Jesus said to the demons in him, "Come out of him, you unclean spirit!" nothing happened. Jesus then asked for the demons' name, which was "Legion," meaning a thousand of them. Jesus then permitted "Legion" to go into the pigs.

When the townspeople came to investigate, they found him seated at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. This man wanted to go with Jesus--the person who had freed him from a legion of demons. But Jesus told him, "Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how he had mercy on you." And that is what he did: he went proclaiming throughout the whole city what  Jesus had done for him. This is the most visible--if not the only--outreach Jesus sent into the ten towns of the Decapolis.

This is certainly the greater story: terror and redemption, and testimony of salvation from a horrible fate. Matthew's story has its place, of course, but Mark and Luke have captured a memorable tale to inspire their readers.