When Freedom asks you, "Faith or Fear?"
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| Kinnereth--Panorama By Zachi Evenor and User:MathKnight - Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zachievenor/12325753455/, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31001863 |
Matthew 8:27-34
The men were amazed, and said, “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”
When He came to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes, two men who were demon-possessed met Him as they were coming out of the tombs. They were so extremely violent that no one could pass by that way. And they cried out, saying, “[a]What business do we have with each other, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before [b]the time?” Now there was a herd of many swine feeding at a distance from them. The demons began to entreat Him, saying, “If You are going to cast us out, send us into the herd of swine.” And He said to them, “Go!” And they came out and went into the swine, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and perished in the waters. The herdsmen ran away, and went to the city and reported everything, [c]including what had happened to the demoniacs. And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw Him, they implored Him to leave their region.
New American Standard Bible (NASB)Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
So, basically, here are two guys with life-altering problems. They are possessed by demons who are making them "extremely violent."
Maybe you have never seen someone who is demon-possessed, or have only seen it in the movies. Sadly, I have to tell you it's real. In fact, once in Africa, a friend of mine was taken to pray with some demoniacs chained to trees. They had been locked up so that they wouldn't hurt anyone. You know how people sometimes say, "The devil made me do it?" Well, for these people, that wouldn't have been a joke. The demons in our Bible story were so in control of those two men that they became a danger to others. What a horrible and seemingly hopeless way to live!
Maybe you have never seen someone who is demon-possessed, or have only seen it in the movies. Sadly, I have to tell you it's real. In fact, once in Africa, a friend of mine was taken to pray with some demoniacs chained to trees. They had been locked up so that they wouldn't hurt anyone. You know how people sometimes say, "The devil made me do it?" Well, for these people, that wouldn't have been a joke. The demons in our Bible story were so in control of those two men that they became a danger to others. What a horrible and seemingly hopeless way to live!
So, Jesus, full of love and grace, sets them free. This is the Jesus who had already been healing every kind of disease and sickness, including healing demoniacs, epileptics and paralytics from throughout the nation of Syria. He had cleansed a leper. He had healed his friend Peter's mother-in-law. And, as I mentioned, he has already calmed a great storm at sea.
Wouldn't you like to know someone with that kind of power? How awesome is that?
Yet, this town. . ."the whole city," the Bible says, implored him to leave them alone.
Really?
The reason this struck me this morning, is because several times in the past few weeks, I have talked with people like those in that story, who basically want left alone. They have stood on the brink of seeing amazing, powerful things from God and yet basically said, "No, thank you."
They simply shake their heads and turn back to a life that they think they control.
That's hard for me.
That's hard for me.
People hear that human trafficking victims were just rescued from a brothel by daring and devoted missionaries and . . . What? It's too scary to listen to the stories? Those lives just went from "hopeless" to "hopeful." You don't want to hear about that?
Or God transformed someone's miserable hum-drum day-to-day, and put him on an entirely different track? Now he is looking ahead to a brand-new job. A new city to live in. New friends. Isn't that exciting? . . . What? It's too scary to think about what God might do if you give him control of you?
Or God transformed someone's miserable hum-drum day-to-day, and put him on an entirely different track? Now he is looking ahead to a brand-new job. A new city to live in. New friends. Isn't that exciting? . . . What? It's too scary to think about what God might do if you give him control of you?
It's as if our cities also implore Jesus to just butt out. And oh, what they are missing.
Matthew's account of the demons and the pigs is fairly short and concise. There are two other accounts in the Bible--one by Mark and one by Luke--that give more of the detail. They tell that the possessed men weren't just walking out of the cemetery. At least one of them lived there. Unlike the men my friend saw in Africa, this man was loose. He couldn't be chained up anymore, because it had been tried many times and he tore the chains apart and broke the shackles in pieces. Mark tells, "no one was strong enough to subdue him."
Constantly, night and day, the man went about screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, gashing himself with stones. Luke adds that the man was naked, and hadn't worn clothes for a long time. Can you imagine the anguish in this man's life? The heartache? The pain? He was wounded, inside and out. Ostracized, separated from others. Do you imagine his loneliness? His shame? His feelings of hopelessness? But we have a God who has a plan for us. He wants to give us each a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11).
Constantly, night and day, the man went about screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, gashing himself with stones. Luke adds that the man was naked, and hadn't worn clothes for a long time. Can you imagine the anguish in this man's life? The heartache? The pain? He was wounded, inside and out. Ostracized, separated from others. Do you imagine his loneliness? His shame? His feelings of hopelessness? But we have a God who has a plan for us. He wants to give us each a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11).
Mark and Luke wrote that it wasn't just one demon holding these men captive, but many. And the demons knew Jesus wanted them to come out and release the hold on their prisoners. Not wanting to be sent back to the Abyss, they ask Jesus to send them into a herd of swine. About 2,000 swine actually. He agrees, and the swine--with the demons--rush down a steep bank into the lake and drown.
By Mark Peters from Baltimore, USA - Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11762434
This obviously is a big concern to the herdsmen of the swine, who run off and report it widely. Probably skeptical, the whole city came to see what they were talking about. ("Suuuuure a legion of demons ran off with the merchandise. Yeah, right!")
Do you know what the crowd saw when they finally got there? Not only did they see the mighty and kind Jesus, who was still there waiting for them, but the man who had been demon-possessed. That man was "sitting down, clothed and in his right mind," the very man who had the legion of demons.
Do you know what the crowd saw when they finally got there? Not only did they see the mighty and kind Jesus, who was still there waiting for them, but the man who had been demon-possessed. That man was "sitting down, clothed and in his right mind," the very man who had the legion of demons.
You know what their emotional reaction was when they saw that?
Amazed?
Grateful?
Awed?
How about frightened? They were frightened! Luke says, "Gripped with great fear."
So, here's the question for you. If you had been there, what would your reaction have been? Imagine that you lived in a little town for years with two men who ran around the cemetery, screaming, naked and cutting themselves. Then, imagine that one day someone came to meet them and, suddenly, they are healed. Suddenly, they are in their right minds, changed from "town lunatic" to "boy-next-door." Then, imagine that people who you know personally say they saw the change. They tell you that the chaos that once filled those men was relocated into a herd of swine, proving their problem was a supernatural one, not just a mental or emotional one.
After seeing such a remarkable circumstance, wouldn't you feel hopeful? Would you be encouraged, as you realized that Jesus could certainly solve any problem in your life? Or would you be scared?
Would you tell him to leave?
Would you tell him to leave?
Mark and Luke tell us about someone else's reaction--the healed man's. He was dramatically changed, and his response was to want to follow Jesus wherever he led. When Jesus chose to send the man back to his own people, to tell what God had done for him, his testimony became a vehicle to amaze others with God's goodness and power. He didn't seem scared a bit to tell his amazing story. You know why?
Are we seeing the deliverance of broken souls here and now--trafficking victims, orphans, drug addicts, heartbroken, ill and confused? Or are we focused on our own day-to-day? The bottom line? The mortgage and comfort and what's on Netflix?
Jesus sets people free. He sets us free. What do you do with that freedom? Does that freedom lead you to faith? Or fear? If it's the latter, let me tell you as someone who's been there: your eyes are focused in the wrong direction. Let your faith bring you to freedom and that freedom bring you to an even deeper faith.
The most important question I believe you can ever ask yourself is what Pilate asked in Matthew 27:22 on that first Good Friday.
"What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?"
You can run away. . . or run straight to his arms and watch the unfolding of his beautiful plan for you.
Verses taken from NASB translation:
Matthew 8:27-34
Mark 5:1-20
Luke 8:26-39
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