The Children of God: Freed for Glory (2)

Jesus went to the Gentiles

Garasenes – East side of the Sea of Galilee, one of the Decapolis, mostly Greek Gentiles

A naked, chain-breaking, cave-dwelling, demon-possessed man confronted Jesus.

He had been driven into isolation after breaking out of confinement.

He was a fugitive and an outcast, trying to survive among the dead.

The man had been cast out of his own hometown, rather than having the demons cast out of him.

Jesus asked the man his name.

Literarily – The subject of the question was of a singular individual; the subject of the answer was plural.

What a simple but meaningful question.

No one could have expected him to answer in the plural.

This is the ONLY time in scripture where a multitude of demons are described to speak in unison.

Something other than the man spoke.

Legion was a description of the man’s condition.

Being named after a something/someone gives it/them power.

Legion begged Jesus to be cast into a heard of pigs rather than sent to the Abyss.

Demons begged him. They knew of his power and his mission.

Jews did not keep or eat pigs; they were unclean. So, what better place to send a Legion of demons.

The demons couldn’t torture the conscience of pigs.

But it seems that even the pigs knew this was not a good thing.

Even after the man was delivered, all the people in his hometown were so afraid, they wanted to throw Jesus out.

The people seemed to care more about the pigs that the man who was possessed.

Many are bound by sin and kept out of their community.

Many who are bound to their sin are often identified by it, by themselves or others.

Many are so bound by a condition; they start to be identified by it.

Many, like this man, are cast out by their own people because of that identity.

Jesus delivered the man from the demons.

Jesus commanded Legion with authority

authority that they recognized

authority of divine inheritance

He also gave them permission to go into pigs.

If Jesus knows what was going to happen, then there wasn’t a chance of their being loosed on someone else. They still went into the Abyss.

Jesus central concerns seems to be for the man who was plagued by Legion.

This man had been drastically changed

physically, socially, mentally, and spiritually by the power and compassion of Christ.

He begged to go with Jesus.

Instead, Jesus sent him to his hometown to bear witness to what God had done for him.

Not everyone gets to go follow Jesus, some of us get to stay and tell others of what God has done for us.

God heals, delivers, and restores all who call upon him for help.

Ultimately, God helps those who cannot help themselves.

And, God only stays where he is welcome.

God delivered us from bondage to sin and death.

We are given glorious purpose in God because we were set free in Christ.

God always leaves someone behind to as a faithful witness.

Even when people reject Jesus, God’s faithful witnesses provide a further opportunity to hear of loving and powerful God.

As God’s people, we are commissioned to spread the Good News of freedom in Christ to the whole world.

May God restore everyone to new life, and may we be used as avenues of God’s abundant love for them.