Good analysis, Bingley.

You make 2 points here:

1. So, "Legion" only asked to be sent into the swine when it was clear that Jesus was going to cast them out of the man.

Yes, I see you are right. My account is wrong. The "legion" did ask Jesus to "send us into the swine", but only out of fear of a greater evil: that they would be cast out of the country altogether.

2. Jesus obliged the "legion" by sending them into the swine, and the swine proceeded to throw themselves lemming-like to their deaths over a cliff. You observe, correctly, that the text does not tell us if Jesus had anything to do with this.

If anyone can help us with this, Bingley, it is not because they have a greater "theological bent". It can only be that they have access to a text which you and I haven't consulted. Any meaning which does not emerge from the words themselves, or from other words which bible scholars consider authoritative, is conjectural.

I made the inference, and I agree it was an inference, that Jesus sent the swine hurtling over the cliff to terminate the "legion", for three reasons:

A. Jesus had no reason to negotiate with the "unclean spirits". They were thralls of the devil [the story is titled "The Gadarene Demoniac Healed"], they were at his mercy completely, and they could do nothing but evil wherever they resided, in whatever country, in whatever host. If the "legion" was not at the mercy of Jesus, they would not have asked to be sent into the swine to avoid a harsher outcome.

B. If the "legion" were merely set free from their human host and cast into another country, they would be free to enter another human host. Where is the profit in that for Jesus? He saves one man to contaminate another? Perhaps many others, as we are talking about a "legion" here.

Is Jesus caring only of those whom he meets in person? Let us give Jesus more credit than that, I argue.

C. Swine are not lemming. They have no known propensity for self-destruction. While any herd of animals can be swept up in the frenzy of a stampede, what prompted some swine to destroy themselves, initiating a stampede, so suddenly, so conveniently?

My Conclusion

When the "legion" approached Jesus asking him to exercise mercy by sending them into the swine, rather than into another country, we don't know that Jesus ever intended to send them into another country. In fact, upon reflection, we can see that Jesus never could have had that intention. In fact, we can see that it must have been his intention to send them to their doom all along.

And that is what he did, Bingley, though the text leaves it to us to figure it out. He sent them to their doom.

The Only Mystery

The only mystery here, Bingley, is why the text left it to the reader to figure this out.

Perhaps because the author of the text wanted the reader to discover, for himself or herself, the love which Jesus has for all of humanity, the reader included -- for that is the true meaning of this bible story, I believe.

True wisdom is only achieved through original insight.

At least, that's the way I see it, Bingley.