Pigs and Miracles

I wrote this on the beach during my camping trip.

Matthew 8:28-34

I wonder when the pig herders first knew that something was wrong? Did the pigs let out a squeal in unison or did they just start to run? I imagine the herders screaming as they tried to block the pigs from running for the cliff. "No! No! No! Turn back!" But there was no hope for the herders. The pigs were mad crazy, running for the cliff.

Then there must have been the aftermath, the sinking reality that they would need to report the loss to their boss. "All your pigs have gone into the sea," they would have told him. Maybe the owner afterward would have walked down to the ocean and watched as one bloated pig carcass after another washed up on shore. Did the owner think about the money, time, and hope he'd put into those pigs? They were his security.

What did the owner think of the rumors he heard coming from the town? The two town crazies had become sane, and they were crediting a man who had sent their demons into his pigs. Why his pigs? He was scared--the townspeople too. "Please," he might have asked Jesus. Please go."

I wonder if the pig owner ever learned that more than one miracle happened on the day his pigs died. Two men were set free and a pig owner engrossed in tie was given a chance to see eternity. Miracles can be costly. May they never be too expensive for us.