THESE PEOPLE DID NOT WANT JESUS
Mark 5:12-17 NKJV
12 So all the demons begged Him, saying, “Send us to the swine, that we may enter them.” 13 And at once Jesus gave them permission. Then the unclean spirits went out and entered the swine (there were about two thousand); and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and drowned in the sea.
14 So those who fed the swine fled, and they told it in the city and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that had happened. 15 Then they came to Jesus, and saw the one who had been demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. 16 And those who saw it told them how it happened to him who had been demon-possessed, and about the swine. 17 Then they began to plead with Him to depart from their region.
This fifth chapter of Mark is action-packed. Jesus raises a little girl from the dead. He heals a woman who has a bleeding problem and delivers a man possessed by demons. I am not sure of the time frame, but it sounds like an eventful day.
The demon-possessed man was quite a handful in the region of the Gaderenes. Matthew tells us that there were actually two men, but Mark's account only speaks of one. But he was fierce. He was homeless and lived in the tombs and scared people to the point that they avoided that area. This man would run naked through the tombs, screaming and cutting himself with stones. To make matters worse, when this man was confronted and bound with chains, he would break the chains and get free. Evidently, this had happened numerous times.
Yet when this man saw Jesus, he ran and worshipped him. Even though he was demon-possessed, something drove him to approach Jesus. Not an attempt to harm Jesus but to connect with him. And Jesus was not in the least scared of this man. Instead, He commanded the demons to leave him. The demons begged Jesus to let them enter a herd of pigs that were feeding nearby. Upon entering the pigs, the entire herd runs into the water and drowns. That had to be an amazing sight.
But what was even more amazing was that when the people from the town came out to see what had happened to the pigs, they found the formerly possessed man sitting with clothes on and in his right mind. You would think that they were excited to see what Jesus had done for this man who terrorized the community. Instead, they were afraid. That's a bit hard to take. The man who frightened everyone in the area was now completely sane and had his act together, and the people were afraid.
These people were so afraid that they began to beg Jesus to leave their area. Wait, what? Why would they want the guy who just answered one of their big problems to leave? The scriptures do not give us the reason, so we’ll have to make some assumptions.
We assume that what people do not understand, they can be afraid of.
We can assume that the fact that the demons left the man and entered the pigs was scary to these people. And the pigs drowning themselves in the ocean did not help matters. And here is my theory on the reason for their fear. They were afraid that Jesus, who had power over demonic forces, would use that power against them. They obviously did not know Him and His reputation for compassion and kindness. They saw a man who could control demons and did not trust Jesus to use that authority for good.
What these people could have done was get excited. If this Jesus could help the craziest guy in town then this Jesus could help those in the city with lesser problems. They did not know how good He was, so they wanted nothing to do with Him.
APPLICATION
I wonder how many have that same mindset today? They do not see God as good and loving, so they avoid Him. Instead of believing that God can help them, they are in fear that He will cause them harm. So, instead of inviting Him into their lives, they want nothing to do with Him.
Part of our job as believers is to be a witness of how good God is. Many times, we forget that those who don't know Him really don’t know His character and nature. The better we reflect Him, the more open they can become. When people realize how good Jesus is, they want Him in their lives.
PRAYER
Lord, may Your goodness and grace shine through me to others.