The Demon Possessed man and the herd of pigs
If you read several chapters of Matthew at one sitting you find Jesus crisscrossing the Sea of Galilee several times. In this instance he leaves large crowds behind to go to the south eastern side of the Sea that wasn’t under Jewish control. We know this from several sources, but one good indicator is the herdsman raising pigs, which were detestable to Jews. Using human reasoning the trip was a bust. Jesus left a large crowd traveled through a terrible storm only to be asked to leave before he ever appeared in a single town. Surely Jesus hadn’t made a mistake, so why would this trip make sense?
I am fond of saying that “Jesus is playing the long game” and that’s what I think was happening here. In fact, I believe the devil sensed that this trip couldn’t be good for his purposes so he somehow got involved in the great storm that suddenly blew up. Fierce storms out of nowhere are common on the Sea of Galilee, so that alone doesn’t make me think the devil was involved. What makes me think it was more than a storm is the way Jesus settles the water. He rebukes the waves, which is usually a term used to scolding or punishing someone. If the waves were simply responding to the wind, etc. Jesus could have simply said “peace, be still” and it would calm down. No rebuke. Maybe I’m making too much out of it, I don’t know. But doesn’t it seem strange that Jesus suddenly has to be on the other side of the lake? And what does He find when he arrives there? Demons inhabiting a man (or two men). Jesus’ arrival on that shore was a distinct threat to the demons, no wonder they didn’t want Him to arrive. Then Jesus directs the man who was healed to return to town, to his home and probably his family. In fact, the man wants to go with Jesus and Jesus refuses. Hold the phone…..
Right before he left the crowds Jesus was telling several men to leave everything and follow Him. They wanted to put affairs in order, bury their dead (probably just excuses for delay) and Jesus encouraged them to leave everything and follow Him RIGHT NOW. But when the demon possessed man wants to follow him, no deal. Why?
Long game, that’s why.
Jesus sends the man back to his town and home, and he then reverses course and goes back to what he was doing, performing miracles and sharing the Good News (back on the western side of Galilee). But soon after this, He will return to the eastern side, to the same area and large crowds will be waiting for him, and he will heal many. I am suggesting that the demon possessed man was infamous, and when he went through town testifying it changed their opinion of the man they only knew as a Jewish Rabbi. They were looking forward to a visit from someone with power, the same person they had ignorantly dismissed from their country a short time before.
Is there a lesson for me here? Perhaps the lesson is to follow God’s instructions even when they don’t make sense. Maybe I should trust in God even when the storms blow around me. Maybe I should pray for spiritual awareness, so I will recognize a spiritual delay for what it is, and pray against it accordingly. Maybe the lesson is to realize the power of God, who casts out demons with a word. Maybe it’s realizing that God loves people who aren’t Jewish, and the Gospel was meant for everyone right from the beginning. There is a lesson here about being prepared and intentional as well.
So many lessons or opportunities to learn from a single passage…and were I to spend more time there would undoubtedly be even more…because in Christ, there is always MORE!
Expectantly,
PR