Jesus in Gerasa? According
to Mark and Luke, Jesus cast demons into swine after entering the
region of the Gerasenes, "which is across the lake from Galilee"
(Luke 8:26). The presence of the lake is central
to the story (the demonized swine leap into it), but it isn't near Gerasa
or its region. Other manuscripts of Mark and Luke, however, have
Gaderenes or Gergasites instead of Gerasenes, and Matthew has
Gergasites. Either Gadera or Gergasa (Kursi)
would have suited this miracle well, for both were near the lake
on its eastern (pork-eating) side. In Mark 5:20, the
healed man reports the miracle throughout the Decapolis , to which Gadera and Gerasa belonged.