The life of Jesus – 16
You are welcome!
Luke 8:35-40Then they went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid. They also which saw it told them by what means he that was possessed of the devils was healed. Then the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes round about besought him to depart from them; for they were taken with great fear: and he went up into the ship, and returned back again. Now the man out of whom the devils were departed besought him that he might be with him: but Jesus sent him away, saying, Return to thine own house, and show how great things God hath done unto thee. And he went his way, and published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him. And it came to pass, that, when Jesus was returned, the people gladly received him: for they were all waiting for him.
In this passage we see Jesus after he stills the storm come into a place called Gaderene. Here a man possessed by evil spirits comes out of the graves to meet Jesus. I love the fact that even though he asked Jesus not to punish him the fact remains that he approached Jesus. Jesus is not offensive to the sinners. What people make of Jesus is offensive to the sinners. You know the story. Jesus delivers the man who uses to run around naked and scaring people. They had to bind him with chains and he would break the chains. For years he terrorized the people from this region. Then Jesus shows up.
There is a lot in this story that we can look at but today I want to look at what happened after this man was set free. He was set free, clothed and in his right mind the bible says. The people from the town or region come and find him like that sitting at Jesus feet. When they find him they request Jesus to leave their region. Can you imagine that? A great thing happened and they ask Jesus to leave. As a matter of fact the people from all around that region asked Jesus to leave. They would rather deal with demonized people than with Jesus. They loved their pigs more than they loved a move of God. This baffles me because not only was this man under the influence of devils but it looks like this whole region is under the influence of demons. At least this man got set free from his demons.
The man that was possessed asked Jesus if he could follow him. Jesus tells him to go to his own house and show them what great things God did for him. I want us to see that this man received the shortest known training on how to be a witness in the bible. Jesus didn’t ask him to first attend a few discipleship classes. He didn’t ask him to get ordained first and be recognized by a board of elders. No, all he says is go and show what God has done for you. They key here is show. What did that look like. Well he was famous for what he was before Jesus met him. Now we see him going back and people could see the difference in him. He no longer ran around naked, cutting himself and demonizing people. He was a changed man. It says that he published it all over that region. He became known as the one that met Jesus. You see our family and friends need to see we are different. When they see us are they convinced that we had been with Jesus?
Acts 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.
The story doesn’t end there. The greatest thing that happened was that this mans testimony turned that whole region around. It says that when Jesus returned they received him because they were waiting for him. This same people that requested Him to leave now wanted Him to be there. How did this change happen? Remember that from all over the region they wanted him to leave. Now they were ready for Him to be there. This one man turned a region to God. What an amazing story.
All this man did was telling what great things God had done for him and his own life were the testimony that it happened. What will happen when we start telling people about the great things that God had done for us? When you read further you see a lot of miracles happening when Jesus returned. All this was possible because one man was bold to proclaim the goodness of God and a whole city or region was ready to welcome Jesus back.
