“The people began to
plead with Jesus to leave their region.”
Mark 5:17
Usually people get kicked for being bad, but one time Jesus
got booted for doing good. The story went a lot like this:
After calming the storms that raged on the sea and in the
disciples’ souls, Jesus and company arrived on the other side of the lake and
were met by a very messed up man. This
guy lived in the graveyard, ran around naked, and was full of demons. He spent his days and nights screaming and shouting
and cutting himself with stones. The
villagers tried to subdue his violence with shackles, but “he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet”(Mk 5:4).
As soon as Jesus saw the man, He commanded the demon inside
to come out. Terrified of his fate, the evil spirit screamed at Jesus, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of God
Most High? Swear to God that you won’t
torture me!”(Mk 5:7) The demon’s
name was Legion which means “many” because way more than one evil spirit
resided inside that poor, wretched soul.
The demons knew they must obey but begged Jesus not to send
them into the Abyss but instead to let them possess a bunch of pigs feeding on
a hillside. Jesus obliged, but as soon
as they entered the pigs, the whole herd of hogs decided they would be better
off dead than demonized, so they “rushed
down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned”(Mk 5:14).
The hog herders hurried into town to tell the news, and the
people dropped what they were doing and ran to see the sights. “When
they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of
demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind”(Mk 5:15). Wow!!
Incredible! Astounding! Amazing! And almost unbelievable except that
before their very eyes sanely sat that the man whose screams had filled them
with terror and whose temper had rerouted their travels(Matt 8:28). Surely the people would gasp at God’s
greatness and rejoice at such restoration.
Surely they would applaud the marvelous miracle and praise the One who
had brought it about. But, no, they did
not. Instead, the people pleaded with
Jesus to go away.
It’s one of the saddest stories in the Bible. Those who had witnessed the transforming
power of God, looked Him straight in the eye and sent Him packing. They sent him away because they were scared,
and they thought that being free of Jesus would free them from fear. “The people began to plead with Jesus to
leave their region” because they were “overcome
with fear”(Mk 5:17, Lk 8:37). Being
scared makes sense—the reality of a demon-commanding, evil-defying God should
cause all souls to shudder, but the power that instigated their fear should also
have activated their faith. To know that there is One so potent, so strong, and
so sovereign that all of creation is subject to His will should bring comfort
and hope and be the cause of great rejoicing.
Here is a God to be believed!
Here is a God to be praised—even if we don’t fully understand His ways.
We don’t. We
won’t. And we’re not supposed to, so
when His works and His ways cause our heads to shake in wonder and our hearts
to shudder in awe, don’t push God away but instead draw close to the One who
reigns supreme over all people and powers, who rules the entire universe in
absolute holiness, and who, in astonishing grace and mercy, has chosen to
redeem and restore His own.
True freedom is only found when Christ is close.
Don’t be overcome with fear. Be overwhelmed with faith.
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