Another look at the account of the demon possessed man…there’s some new info. here!
I notice at the end of this account it tells us the man previously possessed traveled all around the area of the 10 towns sharing what Christ had done for him. From demon possessed to evangelist! Now that’s a transformation.
My thought today was of the townspeople and how their reaction seems to mirror public opinion today. Let me explain:
We learn from this retelling of the account that the man had been shackled many times before. That is society’s answer to the problem: lock the person away. But Jesus comes and heals the person, negating the need for shackles in the first place. I’m thinking that society didn’t see the man, they only saw the symptom of the problem and wanted it away from them. Jesus saw the man and the real issue (demon possession) and dealt with it compassionately. In our society apart from Christ we see punishment, imprisonment or isolation as the solution to evil. Even though in several thousand years we can’t find evidence of that being a long term solution…we keep right on doing it. The real solution is to cure the person from the inside, which can only be done by Jesus, and a willing recipient…I’m not saying that we should do away with incarceration, but we probably have people locked away who could be perfectly sane helpful productive members of both society and the body of Christ. In fact, we have imprisoned people who were later transformed radically by the Gospel, and we executed them anyway because of their past sins. Something in me struggles with that idea. There doesn’t seem to be any forgiveness in it. I’m not even against the death penalty, really; I just think that if the system worked and the person shows signs of restoration, them for pete’s sake change the outcome from death to life, restore hope!
Second thing: When the demon possessed man was seen fully restored, the people panicked and wanted Jesus gone. Think about that for a minute…the clear solution to their ages long dilemma was right in front of them and they chased Him away. Why? because of the pigs, I think. They valued the pigs more than the man. I see the exact same thing occurring today. We seem to have a greater affinity for the well being of stray dogs than we do for humans. We will travel the globe to save one stranded whale while mindlessly putting to death unborn children, or allowing children in other countries to slowly starve to death, seemingly without concern. Today in Los Angeles there are 60,000 homeless people decaying on the streets. 60,000. So far, the response has been lackluster. Not one of our legislators has produced a solution, and the public outcry is amazing feeble. No one seems to care. I wonder if the same would be true if there were 60,000 starving dogs, or dolphins unable to get back out to sea? Donations would be pouring in, I assure you.
This is what happens to a society when we dismiss God from our ethos. Humanity becomes unimportant, because it came about because of an accident anyway. The devil would have you believe that you were a happy accident of evolution, even in the face of undeniable evidence of intelligent design. The devil has convinced many to see religion in general as a “crutch for the poor” and Christianity in general as a threat to decent society. The very people who possess the solution to the problem are being deemed racist and chased out of the public square.
I would be depressed if it weren’t for the rest of the story. There will be those who are changed regardless, and those happy few will spread the Gospel far and wide so that many will put their faith in Christ. I know this, because I happen to be one of them.
Thankfully,
PR