(Audio)
Meeting Jesus causes transformation. We begin, to some degree, like the man dwelling among the tombs whom "no one could restrain him any longer, even with a chain." We too began near the tombs, under the power of death. We too began unable to control sinful impulses within us. We too lacked integration within such that we were just bundles of desires that might well be called Legion pulling us one way and then another.
As they approached Jesus,
they caught sight of the man who had been possessed by Legion,
sitting there clothed and in his right mind.
Jesus will visit places that are unclean if it means he can rescue new children for the Father. He will visit places where unclean creatures are kept. But he will turn such places upside down.
Those who witnessed the incident explained to them what had happened
to the possessed man and to the swine.
Then they began to beg him to leave their district.
Keeping herds of pigs was livelihood for these people. As the animals go crashing into the sea the people must wonder how they will provide for themselves. When following Jesus demands that we stop investing in impure and immoral things are we willing to follow him or do we beg him to leave us alone? If we experience the transformation he offers we won't readily turn aside.
As he was getting into the boat,
the man who had been possessed pleaded to remain with him.
But Jesus would not permit him but told him instead,
"Go home to your family and announce to them
all that the Lord in his pity has done for you."
For us, transformation in Christ comes is how we have faith. Faith in turn is how we are transformed. It is the same faith that the heroes of the Old Testament possessed.
Yet all these, though approved because of their faith,
did not receive what had been promised.
God had foreseen something better for us,
so that without us they should not be made perfect.
Let's allow Jesus to change us from within. If we do, the challenges and demands we face will be nothing compared to the promise of the one who began a good work in us.
Let your hearts take comfort, all who hope in the Lord.
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