Jehovah Study Project: Part 3

Luke 8: 26 - 39 v. 26-27, 29 "Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. And when He came out onto the land, He was met by a man from the city who was posessed with demons; and who ahd not put on any clothing for a long time, and was not living in a house but in the tombs... For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For it had seized him many times; and he was bound with chains and shackles and kept under guard, and yet he would break his bonds and be driven by the deom into the desert."

v. 35, 38-39 "The people went out to see what had happened; and they came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting down at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind; and they became frightened... But the man from whom the demons had gone out was begging Him that he might accompany Him; but He sent him away, saying, 'Return to your house and describe what great things God has done for you.' So he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him."

This is the story of when Jesus and His disciples sailed to the land of the Gerasenes ( I encourage you to read the whole thing. I love this story!). When they get off the boat, the man with many demons, wearing no clothes and who has been running around the tombs comes up to Him. He has been "living" among the dead. I think the idea of him being naked and being around dead people just really demonstrates how this man has no life in him and has been stripped of everything good. Also, the demon would drive him into the desert which again shows how his life is a wasteland or as Anne of Green Gables would say, "a perfect graveyard of buried hopes." I personally would be completely freaked out if this kind of man was coming up to me. Actually, even if he wasn't approaching me I'd still be frightened out of my mind. When Jesus commands the demons out of him, they cry out for him to rather send them into the pigs. As you know, when Jesus lets them, the whole herd of pigs goes off the cliff and drowns in the lake. This news all got around and everyone obviously wanted to see what had happened. I love how in v. 35, we see how the man who had the demons cast out is now sitting at Jesus' feet, clothed and in his right mind. This is so cool!

One, he's sitting at the feet of Jesus. This is often showing physically how people are higher and lower than each other in reputation. In Luke 7:38, the woman falls at Jesus' feet crying and perfuming His feet, this is another picture of what it means to sit at someone's feet. This man immediately shows that he knows Jesus' place and His right to rule. This man knew Jesus was His Savior.

Two, he's clothed and an added bonus, he's in his right mind. So I'm guessing he's not taking anymore vacations to the desert. I think clothing on him really vividly shows he now has life symbolically too. When we are baptized into Christ, we are now clothed with Christ (Gal. 3:27). I think its amazing the contrast here of light and darkness and Life and death. Jesus has given this man life. He now has peace with God (Rom. 5:1) and this must have been such a great feeling of release for him! No wonder he wanted to go with Jesus. Jesus is Life and He has given Himself for this man, so this guy now has abundant life. So when Jesus told him to tell his house about what Jesus had done for him, no wonder he instead spread it through the entire city!

I think we see here how being a witness of Jesus' life is so important. We need to allow people to see this difference in our lives too; the contrast between life we have now and the darkness we were in before. We need to be real, this man didn't pretend nothing had every been wrong with him, he spread the truth about Jesus' Life. Jesus transforms lives by becoming Life and this shouldn't be something we need to do, but rather somthing we're excited to do because Jesus is our Life! Christ is in us, our hope of glory! Jesus transforms lives. This is exciting and we should allow Him to share through us His Life. I know this year, Jesus has showed Himself to me by how He has carried me through some dark times. But this time before Christmas compared to now really does seem like a drastic change between Life and death, darkness and life. But this time was so very important for me to understand both myself better and this made me see my complete dependancy of Jesus which is what we always need to be coming back to; Jesus! Life because of Jesus, how exciting! This is our Jehovah!

This year I've often had the question of what is the meaning of life? Or, why did God make me? But I don't even have to get hung up on these questions. The point is, Jesus made me and He is my Life! He is my Jehovah and He can be my capital L-O-R-D of my life. So why don't I rather realize that I'm here and He has given me Life to share with others. Praise Him!!