DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- WHAT IS OF MOST VALUE?

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – WHAT IS OF MOST VALUE?

"And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him, they begged Him to depart from their region." (Matthew 8:34)

To me, this is one of the strangest and most unimaginable events in Jesus' ministry. Consider the scenario. Jesus had come into the region of the Gergesa. It is on the east side of the Sea of Galilee, so it is not a part of Israel and it is inhabited by Gentiles. When Jesus came to the country of the Gergesenes, He encountered two demon-possessed men who were so fierce that they would not let anyone pass by them. This did not intimidate Jesus. The demons recognized Jesus as the Son of God and knew that He had the authority and power to send them to the pit where other demons had been imprisoned. Rather than fight them, He commanded them to go into a herd of swine, which they did, causing the swine to go crazy and run violently into the sea.

There are lessons here about the Demons acknowledging that Jesus was God and that they were subject to Him. It also speaks of the power that Jesus had over demonic forces.

The strange thing to me is the response of the people of that region. When they were told what had happened, and that the demon-possessed man had been set free, they came to Jesus and begged Him to leave their country.

It would seem that a natural response would be amazement, gratitude, thankfulness, and joy at the good thing that had happened to one of their citizens. But no, they wanted Jesus to leave.

What is more valuable? Two men or a herd of pigs? The pigs may have been their livelihood. Since they were in Gentile territory, there was no regulations regarding pigs as there was with the Jews. So when the pigs ran into the sea, they lost some of their possessions and livelihood.

This is so like people today. They don't want Jesus because He may change their lives. Instead of being thankful to God for His great works and blessings, they can only think of what they might lose if they accept Him as Lord of all.

We need to keep our priorities straight. People are more valuable than pigs.

Love, Dad