When they came to Jesus,
they saw the man who had once been full of demons. He was sitting there with
his clothes on and in his right mind, and they were terrified. Everyone who had
seen what had happened told about the man and the pigs. Then the people started
begging Jesus to leave their part of the country. (Mark 5:15-17, CEV)
In
this past Sunday’s sermon, Pastor Andy made an important observation concerning
the above passage: No one rejoiced that
the man had been set free from demonic bondage.
It’s
a hard pill to swallow, but it is true: there are communities and groups that seem not to mind if a person remains bound and entangled in demonic systems. And, they get nervous when God steps in and does what they thought would never be accomplished.
The
residents of the Gadarene region had their reasons for being
terrified instead of praising God for the astounding act of deliverance they
had witnessed. Interestingly, though, the Bible does not specify why they asked Jesus to leave. We
can speculate on whether there were economic, psychosocial, or other
reasons... but after all our speculation, we are
left with the same conclusion: the community didn’t want Jesus in their region.
As
for me, I love to see the Spirit of Jesus doing amazing things in the community
where I live. And I am begging Him to stay.
How
about you?
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