Had another exhausting run-in with my challenging street-preaching newspaper vendor.
This one was striking, though, because he was eagerly talking about a section I can usually reference to get folks to back off: Christ's cruel treatment of a herd of pigs, by accepting a demon's request to be thrown into them, driving them to suicide. Apparently some people are *delighted* by that anecdote. Huh! You learn something new about human cruelty every day.
(Got my weekend crossword, though! #Winning)
Matthew 8.28-34, Luke 8:26-37, Mark 5:1-17
It's not bizarre in its context, or in why it was so important it would show up in 3 gospels. The passage is clearly about asserting Christ's prowess as an exorcist - so much so that demons were frightened of him on sight - & the choice of pigs is 100% in keeping with Jewish views of the animals as unclean. Usually the passage gives folks pause; I've never met someone so eager to talk about Christ causing suffering before. Cheers!