=Jesus' Visit to the Gadarene Territory.= Only once is it recorded that Jesus left the Jewish atmosphere that characterized the northern end of the sea to enter the Greek world so near at hand. The exact scene of his healing of the demoniac was apparently uncertain even in the minds of the Gospel writers. It is sometimes described as the land of the Gadarenes and it is exceedingly probable that at this time the authority of the powerful city of Gadara extended along the eastern border of the lake which lay only six miles away. Josephus, in his _Life_ (9:10), refers to certain Gadarene villages close to the shore. On the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee the hills recede at every point from a quarter to a half mile from shore, except at one point across the lake from Tiberias. There the hills approach within forty or fifty feet of the shore, and slope abruptly to the water, making it easy for a frightened herd of swine to plunge headlong over the steep place referred to in the Gospel narrative. Gerasa, from which is derived the other designation of the region (Land of the Gerasenes), is without much doubt represented by the ruins of Kursi or Kersa, on the left bank of the Wady Semakh, about a mile from the sea.^{(32)} The ruins indicate that it was a small village, surrounded by a wall three feet in thickness. The ruins also extend outside the walls toward the lake. On the hillsides which rise immediately above the town are ancient tombs. Here Jesus probably met the maniac whose belief that he was possessed of a legion of demons reflected the strong Roman environment in which he lived. =The Great Crisis in Jesus' Ministry.= The Gospel narratives are so fragmentary and the topographical evidence is so meagre that it is impossible to trace with any degree of assurance Jesus' various journeys. Once, and possibly often, he visited his kinsmen at his native town of Nazareth, following the well-beaten highway along the lake to Magdala and thence past the village of Hattin to Nazareth. From the cities on the northern end of the Sea of Galilee, which were the scenes of his public ministry, the rumor of his work spread in all directions and multitudes came streaming to him from Galilee, Judea, the cities of the Decapolis and even distant Phœnicia. It soon became evident, however, that the majority came merely to be healed, or attracted by the hope that he was the Messiah of the popular expectation. To such his strong ethical message was a disappointment. They represented the stony or shallow ground of the familiar parable, and, therefore, in their lives the seed which he sowed bore no fruit. Scribes sent by the Jewish hierarchy at Jerusalem also came to entrap him with questions and to stir up distrust and opposition even in the ranks of his disciples. Thus he suddenly found himself surrounded not by enthusiastic multitudes but by suspicious, relentless foes.