In todays reading we have three separate accounts of two different stories. The story of Jesus driving out the demons from the possessed man who lived in the region of Gadarenes in the town of Gadara, and the story of Jesus healing Jarius (the leader of a local synagogue) daughter. For each story we have accounts by Matthew, Mark, and Luke. You may notice some slight differences in the accounts. Remember these accounts were written by three different individuals. The four people that wrote the Gospel accounts (the Biography of Jesus life), were Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Each one of these writers was writing to a different audience and come from their own individual perspective. For example; Mathew and John were Apostles that actually lived and studied with Jesus. Mark was not one of the twelve Apostles. His name is really John Mark, and he wound up being Pauls companion on his missionary journeys. Luke was not even Jewish. Luke was a Greek physician. Luke was a close friend and companion of Paul. Youre first question might be...How could Mark and Luke write a biography of someone if they werent there observing all the accounts theyre writing about? Think of todays biographers; most of them are investigative journalists that gather all the facts from eyewitnesses. Luke and Mark are credible New Testament writers because they lived in the same time as Jesus. That was one of the requirements for entry into the Bible in order to maintain credibility. Because of this, some minor differences occur in their accounts. Our first account today is an example of this. Matthew says there were two demon-possessed men, while Mark and Luke refer only to one. Apparently Mark and Luke mention only the man who did the talking. This does not mean there werent two men. It simply means that in their way of telling the story, they are just focusing on the character speaking. Our first account is about a demon possessed man who lived in the region of Gardarenes. In this account, when Jesus disembarks from His boat He is met by this man. Demon possessed people are under the control of one or more demons. Demons are fallen angels who joined Satan in his rebellion against God and are now evil sprits under Satans control. They help Satan tempt people into sin, and have great destructive powers. But whenever they are confronted by Jesus, they lose their power. These demons recognized Jesus as Gods Son; of course they did! They were very well acquainted with Him from before their fall. They recognized Jesus as God, but did not follow Him. This is a great example of people who say they believe in Jesus, but do not follow him. Simply believing a fact is not the same believe, that is spoken of in John 3:16... For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 The kind of believe spoken of in Johns verse is a belief that becomes part of your life. It is not a passive word, but an active word. For example: If you believed there was a million dollars buried in your backyard, would you just rest in the fact that the money was there? No. Youd tear up the yard until you found it. Jesus half brother James also spoke about this belief in his account... You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless? James 2:19-20 Getting back to our story, after the demon has been cast out of the man, and the people from the town see that he has been healed, they ask Jesus to leave. I always found that to be very strange. But, unlike their own pagan gods, Jesus could not be contained, controlled or appeased. The people feared Jesus supernatural power, a power that they had never before witnessed; of course not, their gods were fake! People who have a false religion, like to control their deity. They dont want to give up their own will, they want to sit on the throne and call the shots. They use their gods as mere trinkets or superstitious ideas that they manipulate according to the situation.... They are upright, like a palm tree, And they cannot speak;They must be carried,Because they cannot go by themselves.Do not be afraid of them,For they cannot do evil,Nor can they do any good.” Jeremiah 10:5 Moving on to our second story, a man named Jarius (the leader of the local synagogue) comes to ask Jesus to bring his daughter that had just died, back to life. While Jesus is on his way to the mans daughter, a woman in the crowd with a chronic bleeding disorder pushed forward in the crowd to simply touch the fringe of Jesus robe, having faith that by simply touching it she would be healed. Both these situations represented dead people. Jarius daughter was physically dead, and the woman was as good as dead since her bleeding made her unclean thus untouchable in the community. Both of these stories show us that there is no right or wrong way to approach the Lord to ask for help. It was because of their faith that Jesus healed them. They didnt ask for a sign, they didnt go through a bunch of rituals, they simply had faith that if they asked Him, Jesus would heal them. When we are going through situations that seem like they are without hope it would be good to remember Jesus words to Jarius.... While he was still speaking to her, messengers arrived from the home of Jairus, the leader of the synagogue. They told him, “Your daughter is dead. There’s no use troubling the Teacher now.” But Jesus overheard them and said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith.” Mark 5:35-36 youtube/watch?v=l2zHk95UnsE
Posted on: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 02:36:04 +0000
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