Giving up unclean pleasures for Jesus

This passage of the demon possessed men, to me, is a story of what God requires of us as followers. Jesus often talked about the costs of being His disciples ("Let the dead bury their own dead", "Carry your cross daily and follow me", etc). But in this passage, He shows us through the people living in Gadarenes just how this may be put into practice.

Jesus performs an incredible miracle for these people. He drives out demons from two men. We're told that these men were violent and caused life to be quite disturbing. In fact, the people in that area knew to avoid that area because of those men. Now that was all changed, because of Jesus. This demonstrates several things about Jesus. First, it shows that Jesus is more powerful than the Devil and his demons. The demons can't even come and go between humans and pigs without Jesus' permission. Second, it shows Jesus is a compassionate God who heals even men that are despised by the community.

The people of this area are told all this, as it says specifically in the passage "Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon‑possessed men".

But how did the people respond? The Bible tells us they asked Jesus to leave the area! After Jesus performed such a great miracle for them, they asked Jesus to leave. This is presumably because the pigs all drowned, causing quite a financial impact on the community. It's important to note that to Jewish people (who were the intended readers of Matthew) viewed pigs as the most unclean of all animals. It was Jesus' subtle, metaphorical way of showing that "When I come into your life, all the unclean things rush out."

But just as those people ordered Jesus to leave their region, many people today do the same. We don't care that Jesus is able to set people free from demons, we don't care that He is able to restore order to our communities, we don't care that He rids us of our unclean habits... all we focus on is the loss, and so we ask Him to leave.

Perhaps welcoming Jesus into your life means you'll have to give up some unclean habits. Perhaps it's lust, lying, greed, or any number of sins. Jesus shows us clearly in this passage that there is indeed a cost for having Him in your life.

Created over 2 years ago