Crazy

“26 (Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27 When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.”” (Luke 8)

More than once I’ve talked to someone who thought there was some mystical secret hidden by God in the Bible.  Something, some bit of wisdom or insight, which would unlock the mysteries of Life, the Universe and Everything.  Invariably, they had already found it, of course.  Strangely, this new wisdom they had found usually runs counter to everything else said in the Bible.  Most times, it provides blanket approval for anything the seeker’s heart desires.  Funny that.

Here’s the thing, there IS a key to Life, the Universe and Everything hidden in the Bible.  And I’m gonna show it to ya, free a charge.  Actually, Jesus is!  How ya like them apples? 

“25 And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” (Luke 24)

That’s it, right there.  Like a game of Where’s Waldo, every time we open the Scriptures we should be looking for Jesus.  He’s there, on every page.  Even the ones in which he’s already the star.  Especially the ones where he’s already the star!

Like this story from Luke.  It may seem obvious where Jesus is on this page.  But is it?  Why did Jesus get into the boat?  Why did he want to go across the lake?  Every other time, EVERY other time we see Jesus cast out a demon, it’s just out, gone, evicted.  This time, he lets them go into a herd of pigs…why? 

This story is the story of the gospel in a nutcase.  Follow along.  Jesus is in his home country.  He chooses to go to a foreign shore.  The Gadarenes/Gerasenes/Decapolis was predominantly Gentile.  Not Jesus’ people.  They’re raising pigs.  Jews were forbidden to eat pigs.  A book I recently read said there is almost no archeological evidence of pigs in all of Israel.  Not a porkchop bone in the whole country.  This might be the one law the Jews were able to follow.  These are not Jesus’ people, they’re not even his KIND of people. 

But Jesus comes to them.  Unasked for, unlooked for, unheralded, unwanted, the Son of God comes to a people living in sin and perfectly content to do so.  In short order, He is met by a naked man living amongst the tombs.  A man tortured by demons.  A man completely exposed to God living among the dead.  Rejected by his own people, unable to be restrained, completely lost, completely depraved, unable to be saved.  He has been rendered down to an animal.  If he isn’t the picture of our true souls lost in our sin then I’ve never seen one.  We see ourselves as in control, on the hill, respectable businessmen tending our herds of swine.  God sees us naked, deranged, tormented, wild and suicidal…

And He has pity on us.  “30 Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion,” for many demons had entered him.”  Identity.  One of the consequences of the fall is our loss of identity.  When we lost our connection to God, we forgot who we were.  We are nothing apart from Him.  He is our source.  When people ask us, “What do you do?  What are you?  What juices you?  What are you about?”  The answer to this question, if it isn’t, “A son of the most high!” then it’s our personal version of “Legion.  For we are many.”  Jesus comes to restore us, to give us back our true name, our true selves.  To reconnect us to our source, our Father.  To give a people with no hope, living among the dead, LIFE. 

But Jesus isn’t done this living parable.  He sends the demons into the herd of pigs.  The pigs then march into the sea and die.  Mark tells us there were about two thousand pigs.  Market value (if I’m reading the reports right) say pigs are going for just under a hundred dollars a head right now.  Doing the math (if I’m doing the math right) we’re talking two hundred thousand dollars, running down the hill and drowning itself in the sea.  More so, if you consider all the future little piggies these pigs were gonna provide… this is a fortune, possibly the whole village’s livelihood and future hope, gone!

It’s no accident.  The King, the True King is here!  His presence disrupts!  In His absence we have set up false systems, demeaning ourselves and breaking His laws.  The King is the true Source, He will not share his glory with swine.  We have rebelled.  Jesus is showing us our idols.  Symbolically removing the unclean, the unfaithful and the untrue from our lives.  In order for us to seek life from Him, He has to break our hold on the fatal lies we’re already clinging to. 

And true to form, the villagers kick Jesus out.  Just as his own people will send him back to the Father in a year or so on a Roman Cross.  Thanks for the healing, Jesus, but frankly, we’d rather have our pork barrels.  And Jesus consents to go….

But not without leaving behind a witness.  “18 As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. 19 And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” 20 And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.”  Jesus is redeeming the whole world, but He’s doing it Through Us!  He came, proved who he was, shook up the local economy, cleaned up and polished off one wretch and sent him out.  This is God’s plan!  Crazy!  One guy, not God in the flesh, goes and tells the people all Jesus has done and a little while later, in Mark 7 and 8, Jesus again travels through the Decapolis and again, the people come out...

And this time, they sit at His feet and listen to Him for three days and eat miracle bread from His hand.  Crazy.