This morning, as I read, I came to a very familiar story in Mark 5. It's the story of a man with a real problem. Somehow he had come under the influence of demon activity and over time found himself possessed by thousands of demons. The results were completely dehumanizing. Mark writes, "a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones." The description of this man's life is most tragic. He was living like a wild animal, out of control and insane. It's obvious these demons had taken a great toll in his life.
...
What I love about Jesus, as I read his interaction with men and women in the bible, is how kind and loving he is with the hurting and harassed of humanity. This is one of those people whose life was being destroyed slowly by these demons who had taken over his body. He was no longer in control! But then Jesus shows up, "When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won't torture me!" For Jesus had said to him, "Come out of this man, you evil spirit!" Then Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" "My name is Legion," he replied, "for we are many." And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area. A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. The demons begged Jesus, "Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them." He gave them permission, and the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned."
...
I love the picture this passage paints. This man is desperate! He needs help, but much of his life and mind is no longer in his control. With what is left of his mind he realizes that Jesus can help. Notice how Mark describes this, "When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice," Do you see it? He's in Jesus' presence, but he can't help himself, he shouts at the top of his voice. He's desperate! He needs help. Jesus isn't shaken, he isn't offended. He deals with this man's problem, chases off the demons who had taken over his life and gives him back his sanity. It's an amazing story. Now, there are the 2,000 pigs to talk about, but what I want to focus on is the end of the story and a puzzling response from those who lived in this community, "Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man—and told about the pigs as well. Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region."
...
The part of this that has always puzzled me is the last sentence, "Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region." I've read that sentence and wondered about it but never really understood their response. Suddenly, this morning, I got it! It suddenly hit me...they have more guys like this man! Their great fear is for their stuff, their pigs, their possessions. If they let Jesus stay he will deal with the other men and women who are like this one and what then will happen to their stuff? For them, if the choice is Jesus or their pigs they chose the pigs.
...
I wonder...how often have I done that? How often has the arrival of Jesus revealed my great need, what I must let go of, what I could lose if he stays and I have chosen my miserable comfort instead of Jesus. I'd rather keep my stuff than risk the loss with what Jesus might do. What's most important to me? What I have, my security, my things or Jesus? There are times when the choices scare us, but for this one man the desire for freedom and a relationship with God changed his life. His demons were gone and now all he could talk about was Jesus.
...
What's most important to us? Will we turn Jesus away for fear of what he will ask us to let go of in our lives or will we willingly give him freedom to change everything so we can have him. What's most important to you?
...
5 comments:
Mike, I absorb the world through my head (re. mind, brain, etc). I seem not to be built to absorb it through feelings (re. emotion, intuition, etc).
Your question implies the latter, that Jesus can help us if we're open and receptive to his message, and willing to make whatever sacrifices it takes to follow Him.
As someone who tends to think much more than he feels, I can't accept the "trust Jesus fully" idea. I'm not rejecting the idea of Jesus or that he exists - I'm saying that the way you describe him in this blog entry is something that rubs my fur the wrong way.
I have a very difficult time believing that my method for viewing the world is so fundamentally flawed that it prevents me from being helped by Jesus. If God exists, and if he created the universe, he gave me a brain which seems to have strong opinions about how *not* to conduct my life. It doesn't give me much direction as to how I should behave, though, and perhaps that's where Jesus comes into play.
But... I'm often confronted with this idea that in order to be saved, I'm supposed to give up & ignore the part of me that asks questions. That's what's important to me: the ability to ask questions and to figure out whether I've found answers to them or not.
I'm afraid I CAN'T give that methodology up, despite the fact that it seems like you're suggesting that this is exactly what I must do.
Have I misunderstood you about this?
Whatever, great thoughts. You finish with a great question,
"Have I misunderstood you about this?"
May I describe it this way- Imagine I'm showing you a beautiful diamond. I'm totally amazed by the colors and clarity I see in this stone and in my amazement I tell you about just one facet of that diamond. What I have tried to do in this post, and I approach different facets in other posts, is to tell you about just this one facet of a relationship with God that I see right now. What you have described is another amazing and beautiful facet of knowing God and that is through our minds, our understanding, our intellect. Please don't assume I'm negating the facet of this relationship you mention simply because, at the moment, I'm fascinated with this facet of knowing God. What you describe is just as important in knowing God as what I focused on in this post, but what I have emphasized here is simply one part, one facet, of who we are and who God is. I'm sorry I rubbed you the wrong way. I sure didn't mean to do so. For this moment of inspiration I was focused on the things I saw in this one story. I am not, by any means, negating all the other facets of knowing God nor ignoring all the other parts of who we are that God has made to know him. I hope this diamond illustration has helped to clarify that I'm not at all ignoring intelligence, but simply have a focus for the moment on something else. I would love to take some time and discuss the facet of who we are that desires to know and understand God. And by no means do I want to minimize the minds (brain) part in knowing God. If I am not engaged intellectually in this discussion then I'm simply a fool or an idiot. I've come to believe in God with both my mind and emotions, so please understand my fascination for this moment with this one facet of knowing God. I will turn the stone around soon and spend some time looking at the facet of knowing God that challenges you. Thanks for the great comments and thoughts. I understand and agree with your observations. It might be a great post to work on. What would that look like? What topic would you like me to address that would focus on the facet of knowing God that challenges you? I don't want you to give up your methodology, but possibly be aware that others are on the other side of the issue looking at something else that fascinates and challenges them. It doesn't mean either of us are wrong or right. It's like the old story of 7 blind men describing an elephant, isn't it? Well, for the moment, I'm trying to describe the tail. I'll join you at the trunk shortly...:)
Whatever,
One last thought that came to me after I already posted my response is this- it's not as important to me HOW someone comes to know God as it is that he/she does come to know God. Either through intellect or emotion, the route is not as important to me as the destination. What's most important? KNOWING GOD. And I know that's a quest you are on as well. SO, continue your quest. Thanks again for the great thoughts.
Mike responded to me with this: Please don't assume I'm negating the facet of this relationship you mention simply because, at the moment, I'm fascinated with this facet of knowing God. What you describe is just as important in knowing God as what I focused on in this post, but what I have emphasized here is simply one part, one facet, of who we are and who God is. I'm sorry I rubbed you the wrong way.
First and foremost, I'm not easily insulted on the internet :) I spend a lot of time discussing things with people, most of whom I either disagree with or at least am working to try to understand better. In the end, it takes a lot to annoy me personally - and you haven't come close to doing that.
I respect the idea that in order to understand things, we should try approaching the question/problem from different angles. In this case, it'd mean coming to both feel and know/understand the truth of Jesus.
I often encounter the idea (as expressed by Christian believers) that if I'm not feeling the truth of the gospel, I'm not approaching him openly or honestly. Although it appears I may have been mistaken, it seemed to me that your post was a polite way of saying this very thing.
---
That's a long-winded way of saying that I'm glad I was wrong, and I'm also glad that you've given me a little insight as to how I should read your blog entries. I like knowing more about the people I talk with.
---
Mike also wrote this: What topic would you like me to address that would focus on the facet of knowing God that challenges you?
Great question. You've asked me this previously, and although I wasn't ready to ask you to discuss things that are important to me, I think I owe you the effort of doing so. My question would be in reference to this conversation we've had here:
While I'm not accusing Christian believers of being anti-intellectual, the vast majority of evangelism I encounter explains that I need to feel my way into believing. In essence, the intellect is a barrier to belief.
I'm a deist. I believe God may exist, but I dislike/disbelieve in religion. That leaves me in a difficult position - especially when considering that I'm being told that I'm looking for Truth the wrong way.
What should I do? How can I tell the difference between a sincere search for the truth (re. evidence that God exists, information from him about how I should conduct my life, etc) and different people who claim to be searching, yet tell me I'm not really searching correctly?
Whateverman,
You said, and said well- "I dislike/disbelieve in religion."
I'm with you on that! Religion has done nothing good for man. It's created boxes that no one can endure. I detest religion, and so, being in the "religion business" I constantly have to fight against it's desire to grab me and pull me in. I'm with you on the religion thing!
You also said- "What should I do? How can I tell the difference between a sincere search for the truth (re. evidence that God exists, information from him about how I should conduct my life, etc) and different people who claim to be searching, yet tell me I'm not really searching correctly?"
God didn't create us to put our minds on the shelf when it comes to knowing him. I would ask you to keep your mind engaged in your search for truth. I try to use my brain as much as I can in reading, evaluating and dealing with truth and error. Emotions are of no help to me when it comes to truth. I consider them the results of decisions, good or bad, and will rarely lead me in the right direction. Keep your mind involved here, man, don't let others tell you this is an emotional discovery, yes emotions will be part of it, but they should never be the reason for your decision. And, thanks for your thoughts. I'll start working on a post to begin this discussion on discovering truth. It is an odyssey that has taken my whole life to this point and I hope to be on the quest for truth until I die. The people who annoy me the most are those, both atheists and theists, who claim to have discovered absolute truth and proudly hold their trophy in the air. Such claims from any of us don't impress me. BUT, show me a man searching for truth and God and I will join him in his quest! The universe, God and all there is to know is too vast for any of us to say we have found the holy grail of truth....it is a quest I love, and to be honest, don't tell anyone else....my mind is highly involved in. If I ever had to check my brain at the door to believe something then I'm not interested. God gave me a mind for a reason, I think he expects me to use it. Please keep using yours.
Side note- I'm nearly 60 years old and still have a pile of 6-10 books I am reading at all times in various disciplines. I read Dawkins, but I also read C.S. Lewis. I want to know as much as I can from as many sources as I can. Let me recommend one book that I think would really help in your journey, it's a book by C.S. Lewis titled "Mere Christianity". I think it would address a number of issues that you are discussing as you write. If you can't find a copy let me know and I'll send one to you.
Post a Comment