Saturday, July 16, 2022

Legion

Exorcism of Legion. 6th century. Ravenna.

Luke's Gospel* tells us, Jesus met a man possessed [the Gerasene demoniac]. One of the demons did say, "Why dost thou meddle with me, Jesus, Son of the most High God? I pray thee, do not torment me""Then Jesus asked him, What is thy name? And he said, Legion; for there were many devils that had entered into him. And they entreated him not to bid them go back to the abyss".

"We are Legion", also reminds me of "We are Borg", now if "the abyss" is the realm of the underworld (Hell), or the the vastness of space...The largest unit in the Roman army was the legion. A legion was over 5,000 infantry, and a few hundred cavalry or auxiliaries. The Roman army would assimilate, by conquering, land and people. Rome, and Rome's army were greatly feared and hated.

There were a lot of devils, and they did not want separation, or banishment. They begged this not to happen, but it did; although a herd of swine were intermediaries.

Now, if we consider from the perspective of a devil there, or a drone on teevee; neither wants to be cast out, and separated from the whole. Now, the Star Trek universe had many scriptwriters. A problem in episodic shows is continuity, and agreement. One fellow has a character do this, the next fellow has him to something contrary. So, i have not examined the scripts, nor charted the arc of development or change about the Borg. The cyborg drone, Seven-of-Nine was captured from the Borg and was forcibly "assimilated" into the new crew, she was originally human before being taken by the Borg. Her collection of emotions were jarred, and she tried to keep them hidden from others. She was in emotional trauma. Some see her as an abductee by a cult, and then de-programmed, and forever shaken. She had wanted to return, being separated was a crisis.

Whatever Hell is, it is both torment and isolation (at least from God). The residents can be understood to be absent of satisfaction with the place. So, is Scripture telling us even devils are not happy to be in the abyss (Hell)? Still,"We are Legion", and "We are Borg" sound ominous. Legion met doom, and the Borg (at least in some scripts) were defeated.

In the Gospels, this casting out of demons was a miracle. The Gerasene demoniac was a witness in the Decapolis of Jesus' ministry. The Gospels are all different abbreviated portraits of the story of Jesus. Many episodes are described with sparse details, and exegesis can chose to linger selectively on some detail more than another.

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* Luke viii. 26-39; also Matthew viii. 28-34, and Mark v. 1-20.

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