28When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes,c two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. 29“What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?”
30Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. 31The demons begged Jesus, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”
32He said to them, “Go!” So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water.33Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. 34Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region. (Matthew 8)
Thoughts: For many in the West, a confrontation with demons seem remote. We have psychologists who could have given such people medicine to calm them so that no one would have to be afraid. Yet no one could say that these two people in this remote region were not feared nor were they weak. No one had been able to do anything with them. But Jesus did. He healed them, and when he did the pigs ran headlong into the water. Ironically the people did not care about these two. They may have cared about the pigs (an unclean food to the Jews). They may have cared about the power and bravery of Jesus- they wanted him to leave. Instead of asking the healer to stay- they wanted to be left alone. Today, so many of us are so secular- wrapped up in our commerce (pigs) that we have no time to deal with anything unusual. We would rather not deal with God- we'd rather just go about our business with our low expectations of life. Our task is when someone as helpful and great as Jesus comes knocking on our door- we should let Him in.
Prayer: Lord, let me be welcoming to you and trusting in you.
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