Getting to Know Jesus More #3

In the middle of Luke 8, we began to see Jesus respond to the disciples' question: “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?” We saw yesterday that instead of seeing Him just heal a demon-driven man, Jesus drove out over a thousand demons at the same time. They now see what kind of impact that would have:
34 When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. 35 Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. 36 And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed. 37 Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. 38 The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.

The impact on the delivered man was totally life-changing: he now was in his right mind, clothed, and ready to tell anyone and everyone what Jesus had done for him.  The impact on the community was great as well - in a negative way. When Jesus was healing one person at a time in Israel, there was a mix of praising God and a group of negative, self-righteous people.  Luke notes that though everyone came out to see and hear, all the people from all the region asked Him to depart. Why would they do that? Spiritual apathy. They wanted things to stay the same. They were afraid of what kind of change Jesus would expect in their lives.  The more we get to know Jesus, the more change we can expect in our lives. Many do not want things to change, even though it is the best thing we could ever hope for.