Devotion for the Week...
There
are a number of stories in the Bible that I find interesting, often
because I wonder, "What were they thinking?" This is one such story:
"When he [Jesus] arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. “What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?”
Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. The demons begged Jesus, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”
He said to them, “Go!” So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water. Those
tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this,
including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. Then
the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they
pleaded with him to leave their region" (Matthew 8:28-34).
The
miracle of healing the demon-possessed men is amazing, but that's never
really been why this story intrigued me. I've always wondered why the
townspeople "pleaded with him to leave their region." They so intensely
didn't want Jesus near their town that they begged him to leave. Why?
What were they thinking?
Jesus
had just miraculously healed two men, which you would think would have made the people welcome him with a celebration, but that healing had caused the death of a large
herd of pigs. Someone, or maybe several someones, owned those pigs. Were
all of the townspeople somehow affected by this loss and its
repercussions? Would that explain why they begged Jesus to leave - so
that there would be no further financial consequences? That was the
answer I found in the commentaries I read while preparing to write this
devotion (you can find some of them here and here if you are interested), and it seems to make sense. In fact, it seems rather prevalent today.
The townspeople were more interested in the here and now
than in the kingdom of God which is to come. They were more interested
in preserving their financial security than in anything Jesus could
offer them, and they certainly didn't want to take any chances that
Jesus would change things for them. They quite liked the status quo,
thank you very much. We may not have pigs we're worried about safeguarding, but I think we often have the same attitude as these townspeople.
Jesus
does not physically walk into our towns, so we do not actually plead
with him to leave as they did, but it's possible that our actions are
just as unwelcoming to Him.
How often do we neglect things like prayer or Bible reading because
we're too tired, or too busy with other things? How often do we ignore
the Holy Spirit's prompting to stop gossiping or being judgmental?
How often do we avoid doing the things we know we should be doing
because doing them will be too costly, either in terms of money, time or
popular opinion?
If
Jesus were to suddenly appear physically in our towns, would we be
comfortable with Him? Would we be able to live our daily lives as they
are, knowing that we could run into Him at any moment? Would we find
ourselves changing the way we live, trying to live up to His standard so
that we wouldn't be caught doing things we shouldn't?
Would we find
ourselves wishing He would go away so we could continue living as we
always have, without worrying about things like righteousness, holiness
and pleasing God?
The fact of the matter is, of course, that though we can't see Him physically, He is actually right here with us. Not only in our towns, but in our homes and workplaces. What sort of reception are we giving Him?
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