As soon as Jesus and His disciples arrive after the storm, He's met by a man who lives among the tombs. He's inhabited by thousands of demons. The commentary said, "The goal of demons is to destroy the person created in the image of God." These were compelling the man to take up stones day and night to cut himself. What a sight he must have been. To come hurling toward the Son of God, fully aware of His divinity because the demons knew Jesus' identity. His need was so obvious. He was naked, bleeding, disturbed, deranged. And Jesus is so gentle, yet so powerful. Loving, but demanding. There was never a question about His authority over the demons, either at the present time or the final judgment His next actions would foreshadow.
Jesus frees the man from captivity to Satan. Talk about a battle against the flesh. His body was literally inhabited by thousands of agents of darkness, death and destruction. No single good thing came from this man for the entirety of his possession. But then Jesus set foot in the land of the forgotten. He sailed across the sea for the singular purpose of meeting this man in the depth of his depravity. At the end of the scene Jesus gets right back into the boat. His work was complete in the man; He had come for no other reason than to display His glorious ability to release him.
The people who come to see the aftermath of the pigs' stampede are afraid. The man who was once uncontrollable and self-destructive now sits calmly, adoringly at the feet of Jesus. He is clothed. Reminds me of the Garden. God is always covering His people. He always provides a covering. The man is in his right mind, no longer bound to the mind of Satan, but freed to think the thoughts of God, to bear His image in grace and truth, perhaps for the first time in his life. He's been healed. Maybe the scabs were starting to heal already. Maybe he had bathed. Maybe his muscles were finally relaxed in the presence of Life.
What sweet relief had found him. And he is in no way ready to let Jesus sail away. His heart starts to break as he realizes Jesus will not allow him to remain in His company right now. He is to stay, to return to his family and friends with the news that the Lord, Jesus, has had mercy on him. And though his love for Jesus makes the parting so very hard, he is compelled by this same love to be obedient immediately to proclaim how much Jesus had done for him. Everyone marveled.
This is me. This is my life. At least the beginning is, and I desperately want the end to be as well. Satan wants nothing more than to destroy my capacity to bear the image of God. He has a quarry full of lies from which to supply the stones that tear me up, incapacitate me, estrange me from people, and keep me from Jesus. But the story does not end there. Jesus has delivered. He has robed me in righteousness. He forgives all my iniquity. He heals all my diseases. He redeems my life from the pit. He crowns me with steadfast love and mercy. He satisfies me with good so that my youth is renewed like the eagle's.
And my heart breaks because He's not here with me now. But His Spirit dwells within me. And while I long to sit at His feet, aching for the privilege of washing my wounds in His flesh with my tears and drying them with my hair, He is sending me elsewhere for now. Yes, my Comfort is in Him, and He is always, always with me. But my purpose is in proclaiming all He has done. The secondhand reports of the miracle served only to frighten the people who heard. But when the man went on his own to testify of the Lord's work in him, the people marveled. Oh that my life would do the same.
