Quest 15
Question: What do these have in common?
A. People in a boat that is being swamped in the middle of a storm?
(4:37-38) - And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”
B. People seeing a “crazy” man running at them from a cemetery?
(5:2-6) - And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him.
C. People seeing 2,000 pigs run in a frenzy over a cliff into a lake and drown?
(5:13-14) - And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea. The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country.
Answer: Fear of Jesus.
A. (4:41) - And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
B. (5:7) - And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.”
C. (5:15-17) - And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region.
1. Fear of Jesus is an indication that you have an understanding of his true identity.
Should you fear God? From the lips of Jesus (Luke 12:4-5) - “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!”
Who fears Jesus today? Example: Jesus said, “I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18). How much concern and attention do you see given today to what the New Testament says about the church?
2. Jesus will not force himself on any of us.
(5:17) - And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region.
He will not even force himself into the church. (Revelation 3:14, 20) - “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea . . . Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”
If you are waiting for Jesus to send a lightning bolt or blinding light to get your attention, good luck with that. What are you waiting for?
3. Jesus can turn your storm into a story with a happy ending.
(5:14-15) - And people came to see what it was that had happened. And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind.
After the storm, the desire might be to run away, but Jesus told him to go home (5:19-20) - “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.
A year later Jesus returned to this area (7:31) - Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. Now Jesus finds “a great crowd had gathered” (8:1). The result was the miracle of the feeding of the 4,000.
4. The story of the demon-possessed man illustrates three responses to Jesus
“Don’t destroy me!” (Demons) Some know they are doomed because of their evil ways but don’t want to change. They know they can’t continue to exist when they meet Jesus.
“Don’t disturb me!” (Towns people) Some are self-satisfied and don’t want to leave their comfort zone. They are the unfruitful thorny soil in Jesus’ parable (Mark 4).
“Don’t leave me!” (Demon-possessed man) Some see in Jesus the only hope of salvation.
