Scripture Daily

Context No. 3979 of 4322 · Luke

Context · Reflection

Luke 8:31-39: in context

31They begged him that he would not command them to go into the abyss. 32Now there was there a herd of many pigs feeding on the mountain, and they begged him that he would allow them to enter into those. Then he allowed them. 33The demons came out of the man and entered into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned. 34When those who fed them saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. 35People went out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. 36Those who saw it told them how he who had been possessed by demons was healed. 37All the people of the surrounding country of the Gadarenes asked him to depart from them, for they were very much afraid. Then he entered into the boat and returned. 38But the man from whom the demons had gone out begged him that he might go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39“Return to your house, and declare what great things God has done for you.” He went his way, proclaiming throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.

After Jesus casts the legion of demons out of the tormented man and they rush into the pigs, the townspeople come out and find the man who had been possessed sitting at Jesus' feet, clothed and in his right mind. The change is total: the wild, uncontrollable man of the tombs now sits calmly, restored, at the feet of Jesus.

But then two very different responses appear. The townspeople, afraid, ask Jesus to leave; they would rather be rid of him than reckon with his power. But the healed man begs to stay with Jesus, to follow him. And Jesus gives him a different commission: return home, and tell how much God has done for you. So the man goes and proclaims throughout the whole city what Jesus had done for him. Here is the pattern of a transformed life. The man's gratitude made him long to be with Jesus, but Jesus sent him back to his own people as a witness, and his testimony was simply this: tell what God has done for you. He did not need theological training; he had a story, the story of what Jesus had done in his own life, and that was his message.

Have I let the story of what God has done in my own life become my testimony, and am I willing, like the healed man, to go to those who know me and simply tell them what Jesus has done for me?

Sources