The Sad Fate of the Gadarenes

"And the whole city (of Gadara) came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw him, they begged him to leave his surroundings... for they were very afraid. And Jesus, getting into the boat, turned back" (Matt. 8:34, Luke 8:37).

The fate of the Gadarenes is sad. They witnessed a magnificent miracle from the Lord. The terrible demoniac who dwelt in the tombs and who had sown panic among them, had been healed. Obviously, their fate was not sad because they had witnessed this miracle, but because of what came immediately after: they expelled Jesus from his city.

What reasons did they have to do so? Lucas says it was out of fear. It was a fear, no doubt, irrational or, at least, strange. The Gadarenes had been freed from an undesirable neighbor, whom the Lord freed and returned to their normality. They had seen the glory of God unfold his resources before their very eyes.

They too had experienced a very great material loss: two thousand pigs had perished falling into the sea, at the moment their countryman was released. Two thousand pigs was the price that the Lord's departure from his surroundings cost.

What's with us? What things have driven the Lord away from our surroundings? Does his presence bother us? Does he claim too much? Is his presence excessively absorbing of him, so that he leaves nothing to ourselves?

A village of Samaritans did not want to receive the Lord, because "his appearance was like going to Jerusalem". They were jealous of the Jews who lived in Jerusalem; They would have wanted the Lord to go where they were, but they did not accept that he was only there passing through. These Samaritans rejected the Lord out of jealousy.

Whether out of fear, jealousy, or anything else, rejecting the Lord makes us the most unfortunate people on earth.

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