Mark 5:19 “… Go
home to your friends, and tell them what wonderful things the Lord has done for
you and how merciful He has been.”
From Mark
chapter 4, the story was about Jesus teaching by the lakeshore, the Sea of
Galilee, and it was a large crowd so Jesus got on the boat so everyone could
see Him. He began teaching the people by telling them many stories to compare
earthly things with spiritual or heavenly things. When evening came Jesus
called the disciples to go over to the other side of the lake, to the country
of the Gadarenes. They got on the boat and Jesus was tired so He slept at the
back of the boat with His head on a cushion. Imagine that! The Son of God in a boat?
He was so natural in everyday life!
Anyway, the
disciples row the big boat and it was a quiet time, but then unexpected storm
came up. When the disciples became fearful, they woke Jesus up for help and
Jesus calmed the storm. The story began with Mark 5:1-20. What impressed me was
Jesus had time to sail all the way from Sea of Galilee to the country of Gadarenes
which is located southeast of the Sea of Galilee.
One of the
twelves tribes were Gad and it was a Gentile region or area which later would
explains how a herd of pigs could be involved. They had a business with pigs.
Why? The Gentile people worship the god of Zeus and they buy pig to sacrifice for
idol worship.
When Jesus
arrived at the lakeshore, He walked along the way, a severely demon-possessed
man cried out from the tombs of a distance region. Why was that man living among the tombs? No
one could control him and when he saw Jesus, he ran to meet Jesus and fell down
before Him. Demons recognized the power of Jesus and screamed in fear of being
send to hell, too soon. And Jesus told the demons to get out of that man.
But notice
something, the demons begged Jesus not to send them away to some distant place
because the demons were not comfortable with the “presence of positive people.”
The legion means many demons and they are comfortable with “death” atmosphere. So
demons saw a large herd of pigs feeding on the hillside nearby. Demons told
Jesus to send them into the pigs so Jesus said, “Go ahead.” The demons left the
man and went into the pigs, they became wild and plunged down the steep
hillside into the lake, where they drowned.
The man was
finally free and he was sitting there fully clothes and perfectly whole. The
man wanted to go with Jesus, but Jesus said from Mark 5:19 “… Go home to your
friends, and tell them what wonderful things the Lord has done for you and how
merciful He has been.” Jesus was not
welcome in that area so Jesus send the man away with this Good News, Jesus was
expanding His ministry to people who were not Jews. This man’s deliverance from
demon possesses became a living example of Jesus’ power.
When you are
healed, you became a living example of Jesus’ power. This is where Jesus wants
you to share the Good News to others that they have hope in Him because of you.
When we read of the testimonies from others, it inspires us to know that Jesus
Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. There’s a song for that.
God bless you.
No comments:
Post a Comment