Swine Flu – Rob

In Mark 6:11-20 we read of the account of Jesus casting out many (‘legion’) demons from one man. This in and of itself was not unusual for Jesus. He cast out demons all the time; however, a couple things set this account apart from the others.

First, read it,

¹¹ There happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding on the hillside nearby. ¹² “Send us into those pigs,” the spirits begged. “Let us enter them.”

¹³ So Jesus gave them permission. The evil spirits came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the entire herd of 2,000 pigs plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned in the water.

¹⁴ The herdsmen fled to the nearby town and the surrounding countryside, spreading the news as they ran. People rushed out to see what had happened. ¹⁵ A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, and they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons. He was sitting there fully clothed and perfectly sane, and they were all afraid. ¹⁶ Then those who had seen what happened told the others about the demon-possessed man and the pigs. ¹⁷ And the crowd began pleading with Jesus to go away and leave them alone.

¹⁸ As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed begged to go with him. ¹⁹ But Jesus said, “No, go home to your family, and tell them everything the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been.” ²⁰ So the man started off to visit the Ten Towns^a]’>[a] of that region and began to proclaim the great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed at what he told them.

There was a whole host of demons possessing this one man.
Jesus actually granted the request of the demons.
Without ‘permission,’ the demons would not have been able to do ANYTHING!

What a testimony to the greatness of God over everything and anything! Life is not a great cosmic conflict between the equally matched sides of good and evil. There’s God and everything else as a distant second. What these people had happen in their midst (note that the formally possessed man went back and shared what had happened with everyone he could find) was a privilege very, very few ever have. They saw God in action and learned that this God cared about ordinary people!

And what was their reaction to having the savior of all mankind in their midst? To having the creator of life standing in front of them?

Read it,

Luke 8:34–39

³⁴ When the herdsmen saw it, they fled to the nearby town and the surrounding countryside, spreading the news as they ran. ³⁵ People rushed out to see what had happened. A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, and they saw the man who had been freed from the demons. He was sitting at Jesus’ feet, fully clothed and perfectly sane, and they were all afraid. ³⁶ Then those who had seen what happened told the others how the demon-possessed man had been healed. ³⁷ And all the people in the region of the Gerasenes begged Jesus to go away and leave them alone, for a great wave of fear swept over them.

So Jesus returned to the boat and left, crossing back to the other side of the lake. ³⁸ The man who had been freed from the demons begged to go with him. But Jesus sent him home, saying, ³⁹ “No, go back to your family, and tell them everything God has done for you.” So he went all through the town proclaiming the great things Jesus had done for him.

“Hey, why did you mess with our pigs!”

“What’s up with the giant swine slaughter, preacher man?!”

“Aaaaaaaaahhhhh!!! There’s a pig killer on the loose! What will he kill next?!”

“Do you have any idea what those swine will cost to replace?”

And so they drove Him away. They actually picked pigs over Jesus. As a result, they missed God. For most of them, undoubtedly, it was an opportunity that comes once in a lifetime—and they missed it.

Pigs over Jesus.

Unbelievable.

Makes me wonder who the real swine were in this story. Or, at the very least, whether or not these people had a spiritual form of Swine Flu!