power of preparation

Luke 8:³⁵ Then they went out to see what had happened, and came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. ³⁶ They also who had seen it told them by what means he who had been demon-possessed was healed. ³⁷ Then the whole multitude of the surrounding region of the Gadarenes^[e] asked Him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. And He got into the boat and returned.

 

You would think that if people saw Jesus deliver a man from demons that had tortured and controlled him they would react differently than the passage above describes.  When is it that Jesus inspires "great fear"?  One answer might be that these people had not been prepared for a Savior.   They lived on the opposite side of the Sea of Galilee and were called  Gadarenes.  They were of a Greek background and did not have the traditions and the teachings of the prophets, nor the specific ministry of John the Baptist, to prepare them.  I suspect that they hadn't given much consideration to their need for God.  Since they were removed from the ministry of Christ they may not have even heard of the miracles.  When Jesus delivered one of their own from demonic posession they didn't understand what He had done.  All they knew was that He had shattered their reality and broken into their comfortable world with actions they couldn't understand.  Still, today, there are many who have not been prepared...who have not considered the possibility of a living God...of one who can deliver from evil...of One who comes to establish a relationship with His creation.  We still have much work to do to prepare and to communicate Him to this world, which is more comfortable in the presence of sin and demonic authority than the presence of God, Himself.

 

blessings,

Rob Smith