One of my favorite Christmas songs is “Go Tell It On The
Mountain”: “Go, tell it on the mountain, Over the hills and everywhere. Go,
tell it on the mountain, That Jesus Christ is born”. This story in Luke 8,
is a great illustration of this song as we read what happened after Jesus cast
the demons out of the maniac of Gadara.
A great miracle has just taken place when this man is delivered
from a lifetime of demon possession. You would have thought the people of his home
city would have been thrilled when they found him sitting at the feet of Jesus,
with clothes on, and in his right mind! You would have thought that they would
have invited Jesus to come to their town and perform the same miracle there on
those that needed a powerful deliverance too. Or maybe there were sick and afflicted
people that needed healing. But just the opposite happened!
Instead of being delighted they were afraid when they heard
and saw what had happened and they ask Jesus to leave the area! It might have
been because they lost a few thousand of their swine and the money they had
invested in them. Or because they were content with their lives and community
the way it was and didn’t want any change. They could be a good example of the wayside
path, or the stoney ground that Jesus had told earlier in His parable in this
chapter. They obviously didn’t want Jesus and rejected Him!
We need to point out that when a notorious sinner gets
saved, people take notice and have to make a decision also about Jesus for
themselves! Notice first the people who spread the message about Jesus and this
miracle. It was the swine herders who went and told the townspeople. This is
not surprising. The work of Christ sent them into the ranks of the unemployed.
When Christ cleans up society, many will be without jobs, such as, bartenders
and casino workers.
Not everyone was happy about the miracle. When
righteousness does a great work, though it be a great benefit to society, not
everyone will be happy. Evil is not happy when righteousness does a good work,
for it hurts the work of evil. Verses 35-37, says: “They were afraid and …. seized
with great fear”. The people who were not only upset, they were terrified.
The ungodly are terrified when God works. Criminals are never happy when
policemen show up in force. Guilt works this way.
How amazing! Verse 37 tells us: “Then the whole
multitude of the surrounding region of the Gadarenes asked Him to depart from
them”. When Christ was rejected and told to leave the area, He acquiesced
to their wishes. God still does this. Unwanted, God will leave, but much to the
loss of those who do not want Him. The people who ran Christ out of the country
of the Gadarenes ran out a tremendous blessing. There were many people who
continued to suffer physically who could have been healed had Christ stayed. There
were many people who have suffered spiritually and are still suffering
spiritually in the fires of judgment because they ran Christ out of the
country.
It is a dangerous thing to reject Jesus and His offer of
salvation. You might never get another opportunity!
The man who was healed desired to go with Jesus and
disciple into the boat to go back to the other side. But Jesus “sent him
away” (v. 38). It was a good sign that the man wanted to be with Jesus! It
was evidence and proof that he had experienced a genuine salvation. When we get
saved, we should want to pray, read our Bibles, commune with Jesus, and go to
church with God’s people. But Jesus sent him back to his family and region to
share the “great things” that God had done with him! And he obeyed and proclaimed
Jesus to everyone he could in that region of the “ten cities”.
I trust you are willing to publicly testify for Jesus to
your family and friends, and “go tell it on the mountain”, during this
Christmas season too!
God bless!
