Luke 8:31-39: a reflection

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.

A man who had long been in the grip of dark powers is set free by a word from Jesus. When the crowd comes out to see, they find him transformed: sitting at Jesus' feet, clothed, and in his right mind. It is a quiet, moving picture of what Christ does. Where there had been torment and chaos, there is now a person restored to himself, calm and clothed, resting at the feet of the One who healed him.

The reactions are telling. The townspeople, gripped by fear, ask Jesus to leave; they would rather have their comfort undisturbed than have this power among them. But the healed man wants only to stay with Jesus, to go wherever he goes. Jesus, however, gives him a different assignment: return to your home, and tell what great things God has done for you. So the man goes and proclaims throughout the city what Jesus had done for him. His mission field is his own hometown.

There is a pattern here for anyone Christ has changed. The natural desire, once you have been set free, is to stay close to Jesus, and that longing is good. But often his call is to go back to the ordinary places, home, neighbors, the people who knew you before, and simply tell what he has done. You do not need a dramatic platform. Your own story of what God has done for you, told where you live, is exactly the witness Christ asks of you.

Lord Jesus, you set the tormented man free and restored him to his right mind, then sent him home to tell what God had done. Thank you for the ways you have changed me. When I long only to stay close to you, help me hear your call to go and tell, in my own ordinary places, the great things you have done for me. Make my story a witness to your mercy. Amen.