But the story that got to me and always does is the last one in the chapter when Jesus delivered the two men from demons and the
"entire town"
came out to see Jesus and then "begged Him to go away and leave them alone."
After seeing the miracle He did they begged him to go away - begged him!!! I have always wondered what their motivation was. Did they not like the men who where normal again? Maybe seeing them reminded them every day of what they used to be? Or maybe they were more upset about loosing their herd of swine then they were happy about the men being delivered? If that's true then they really did have their priorities wrong - kind of like our society today.
But what I really wondered today was if maybe, just maybe, some of them, or all of them, were possessed themseles and it was the demons in them talking to Jesus because they just didn't want to go away themselves!
Whatever the reason, they sure couldn't 'see the forest for the trees'. They were so blinded by themselves they couldn't rejoice in the miracle that had happened to these two men. I began to pray and ask the Lord to please take my blinders off my eyes so I can see the miracles He is doing all around us, every day, to people around us. And to be able to rejoice in those miracles even when they drown my herd of swine or change my way of living. God is always good and He always wants to do us good.
I walked to Sarah's house today on my crutches, had dinner (after walking up her flight of stairs) and then walked down those stairs and walked back home. AND I had my last narcotic pain pill at 6 am this morning. I am healing - slowly but surely. AND I am so thankful. I am going to expect those miracle every day!!!
READ ON - IT ONLY GETS BETTER!!!
3 comments:
Good post! Can you imagine that they were actually asking Jesus to go away? Sometimes we turn away from things we don't understand, too. They got used to seeing that man unable to walk. It is uncomfortable to see him running around. Why is this happening? Can't you just hear that today? Not when we are expecting miracles to happen, though. We had a major healing miracle happen in our house a week or so ago in Belle and it is so awesome to remember again how big God is! I am actually a couple of chapters behind, so I'd better get to reading. =)
btw - it is a miracle that you walked all the way over here, up those stairs, and back down again. Never once resorting to crawling like i would have done if I were you. haha
That story about the swineherders always gets me too -- were they jealous or envious of the great work Jesus did in someone else's life? Were they blind to the understanding of why and how Jesus could do this? Were they cracked wineskins that couldn't hold this new wine?
I agree with what you two have already said... A great degree of discomfort with the status quo changing.
And perhaps their faith level was low -- not knowing how to respond to a situation where a miracle actually happened -- like you said, Sarah, when we're not used to miracles happening. Had their faith muscles become weak?
Kinda like earlier in chapter 8 with Jesus' encounter with the Roman captain of great faith vs. those without: Jesus commented, "Then those who grew up 'in the faith' but had no faith will find themselves out in the cold, outsiders to grace and wondering what happened" (8:12).
I don't want to be an outsider -- i want to be on the INside with lots of faith!! Reminiscient of the '80's song, "I'm in with the in crowd"!!
Anyway. These chapters in Matthew have really been poking at me and challenging me! I always rely on Matthew for a great account of Jesus' birth, but this epistle is more than a Holy Baby Book! It's packed full of life pointers, and they've been accosting me and my faith (sorry i haven't posted, i keep getting distracted between reading and keyboard!)
Happy Weekend!
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