When Jesus is Not Wanted Here
The very last sentence of Matthew chapter 8 says that the people of Gadarenes “pleaded with Jesus to leave their region.” To Christians in the 21st century this is an astonishing statement. Jesus, the Christ, Savior of God’s creation and Son of God incarnate, is being pleaded with to leave!
Some context to the story may be helpful, but is it really necessary?! Is there any situation in which a person would be reasonable in asking God to leave? I mean - the Son of God visits your town and you go out to Him and ask him “earnestly” to leave! No welcome, no offer of hospitality, no tour, not even a souvenir, just a “please get out of here.”
Now before going any further and certainly before we cast judgement on the people of Gadarenes, let’s consider our own lives. We, the people who know the full story and have the complete testimony by the faithful followers who were with Jesus and have gone on before us, at times do not want Jesus involved in our lives. There are times when Jesus may not feel welcome in our “region”. We have our things going on and while we know about Jesus and understand who He is, we really do not want Him messing with our things.
For the people of Gadarenes their thing was pigs. Jesus delivered demon possessed men upon entering the region and the method Jesus used in this instance was to allow the demon to enter a nearby herd of swine. Upon demon possession the pigs went crazy and all ran into a lake and drown. The people of the region heard about the incident and immediately asked Jesus to get out. Even with the evidence of the once demon possessed men standing before them, healed and free, the people still had no desire to have Jesus around.
This raises an interesting question for us. What are the pigs in our lives? What would cause us to ask Jesus to skedaddle?