Matthew 8 - 9.4.23
Scripture
Matthew 8:33-34 NLT
“The herdsmen fled to the nearby town, telling everyone what happened to the demon-possessed men. Then the entire town came out to meet Jesus, but they begged him to go away and leave them alone.”
Observation
This story about Jesus is something I can imagine coming out of a horror movie! Jesus enters a small town in the region of Gadarenes. In this town, there is place where nobody dares to go. It is where the people of the town bury their dead. This place is known as…THE TOMBS! In these tombs reside two demon possessed men; men who are so violent and evil that no one in town could even pass near that area. (Pretty scary story so far right?!)
Enter Jesus. Then Jesus comes walking into town, and these two demon possessed already acknowledge Him, knowing exactly who Jesus is, (the Son of God). Knowing that they were pretty much done for because they were no match for Jesus, these two demon possessed men begged Jesus to just cast them out into a nearby herd of pigs. Jesus kindly obliged. And the demons left the bodies of the two men and entered the herd of pigs. The herd of pigs then plunged themselves down the hillside into a nearby lake and drowned in the water. The whole town heard what had just happened, and instead of thanking Jesus for what he had done, they begged Him to go away and leave them alone. WHAT?!!
Application
Don’t be content staying in our “comfort zone”. Step out of it and experience more of Jesus.
It always baffled me in this story that the people kicked Jesus out of their town for healing two demon possessed men. Why would they do that?! Well before we bash this town for doing that, let’s think that this is probably the first time this town has ever seen or heard of Jesus. Then to find out Jesus approached the place where no one ever goes, interacts with men who everyone was afraid of, then casts out the demons into a herd of pigs. Then they saw these herd of pigs, most likely some of the people’s source of income, go down a hill, jump into a lake, where they all drowned. I mean that experience can be quite terrifying!
This town was probably content with letting these two demon possessed men be. They figured they could just let the men live near the tombs, and they’ll just avoid that part of town. They pretty much found a way to live their lives despite having these two men live amongst them.
But Jesus freed the two men from their demons, essentially freeing the town of this burden as well. They were now free to roam and go in all parts of their town. But how did the town react to this miracle? They were frightened and asked Jesus to leave.
It makes me think that we too can be like that in our own lives. We can get too comfortable with the way things are. We don’t realize that Jesus has freed us of our burdens and wants to give us so much more. All we have to do is invite Him to stay, and reside in “our town” with us. But we tend to push Him away because we get scared of the unknown. Let’s not waste the opportunity. Invite Jesus to come and clean house. There is much better things awaiting us when we do!
“Then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord, and he will again send you Jesus, your appointed Messiah.” -Acts 3:20
Prayer
Father God, thank You for coming into my life and cleaning up my mess. Please forgive me when I’m ungrateful for it. Forgive me for the times in my life where I’m content with the way things are, and I am not willing to get out of my comfort zone to grow spiritually. May I be reminded that You are not done with me yet. You have more great things in store for me Lord, if I just continue to push forward and trust in You. Give me the courage to continue to grow spiritually until the day You call me home. In Jesus name I pray, Amen. 🙏🏽
-Moses Gaddi