Matthew 8:28-34 Light Has Come!

Matthew 8:28-34  When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him.  They were so violent that no one could pass that way.  “What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted.  “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?”  Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding.  The demons begged Jesus, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”  He said to them, “Go!” So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water.  Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men.  Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus.  And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.

We see in this scene two men obsessed with the dead, living with the dead, men of violence coming out to meet Jesus.  Because they are possessed by demons, they knew their future: Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?  The demons knew their future, for they were spirits who were the opposite of God’s goodness and love.  Instead of  possessing the Spirit of God, they possessed the spirit of pain, violence and even death.  They were so violent that no one could pass that way.  Jesus was the opposite of these demons: He came to bring life to a dead and dying world.  In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.  (John 1:4-5)  Some translations say the darkness has not understood it, which would be true in many cases when Jesus approached people in darkness and they did not recognize him.  But when Jesus stepped out of the boat into the region of Gadarenes, the demons saw him and his power.  They were there with two men in their environment of darkness, but suddenly a bright light came to that area, and they knew it.  They may have met Jesus for that reason: two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him.  They knew their possession of these two men was a lost cause, for they addressed Jesus with these words, What do you want with us, Son of God?”  Jesus recognized the demons’ presence.  He had come for the purpose of delivering the two men from demon-possession.  These demons knew their time of torture was to come; their time of eternal death was in their future.  In the meantime, they wreaked their havoc on these two men.  The demons were destroying these men’s lives, having them cut themselves and live like animals, not like human beings who protect they flesh and love and care for others.  The demons enjoyed their destruction of these two individuals, but Jesus came to set them free.  The more prominent of the two, Legion, had a multitude of demons in him.  He was probably the more aggressive of the two, yet, he feared Jesus.  Have you come here to torture us?  No, Jesus came to deliver two men from their torturous lives.  He came to bring abundant life to these men in bondage to evil, and He came to reveal his power, even over a myriad of demons. This was no happenstance meeting, not just another occurrence in Jesus’ journey on Earth.  This was meant to happen: the occasion is recorded in three of the gospels, showing how important this scene is to Jesus’ earthly ministry.  Jesus said, The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.  (Luke 4:18-19 NKJV)  He came to deliver those who were functioning in tombs from death to eternal life.  The light came to the shore of Gadarenes, and the demons knew it yet had no power against this light, so they quickly capitulated to Jesus’ authority.  The demons begged Jesus, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”  These unclean animals could not withstand the possession of the demons; the evil spirits agitated the pigs to the point that they ran into the sea and drowned.

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This scene does not end in the death of the pigs, but instead ends with the people of the area telling Jesus to leave their land.  They loved darkness more than they loved God because they wanted to protect their lives more than they wanted to walk in the power and the light of God.  This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.  Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.  (John 3:19-20)  This world and its possessions were more important than serving God.  As a community, they could have gathered around Jesus and asked him what they should do now since their livelihood had been impacted with the deaths of the pigs; instead, they begged him to leave them alone.  They wanted their lifestyle as it was, not as it could be.  They lacked vision and faith, so they rejected the light and loved their darkness.  If they would have accepted Jesus as their Savior, they would have had to repent of their lifestyle and the sins concomitant in their region.  As humans, God had given them freewill.  Humans are powerfully made with the ability to decide their own fate, their own way of living.  From the very beginning, God has not surgically removed this part of the human nature.  Man, made in God’s image, possesses the ability to decide the direction he or she wishes to go in life.  However, this willfulness becomes cancerous when people choose amiss according to the way of the flesh.  Sin is in all people, and it has spread aggressively throughout the whole system of mankind, every society and culture.  We first see this cancer manifested destructively in Cain and Abel’s relationship.  Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.”  While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.  Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”  “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”  The Lord said, “What have you done?  (Genesis 4:8-10)  Of course, we know that to love God, we must love our neighbor, especially our brothers and sisters in the flesh and in the Spirit.  Cain revealed that sin had captivated his soul by killing his brother.  God judged him harshly for that waywardness from God’s goodness and love.  We see this murderous thread of hatred and sin throughout the ages as men and women reject God and accept sin into their hearts, even though we know that God offers redemption through his Son: For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (Romans 6:23)  

As with the people in the Gadarenes region, people today continue to love the darkness.  This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.  (John 3:19)  Generally, people covet their way of life more than they covet God’s will.  Their vision of making anything better is to make their lifestyle here on Earth better according to worldly standards.  As with today’s story, maybe a new crop of pigs would help them live happier.  People tend not to want a home with God; they want their home, the way it is.  Often, they want their pigs and the prosperity they represent, not God’s pathway.  They want darkness rather than serving God in the light.  Sadly, in Gadarenes, they actually seemed not to care much if these two men possessed by demons were living in the tombs.  Yes, maybe they were a bother sometimes because of their threatening behavior.  However, the status quo was better for them than seeing two men sitting in their midst in their right minds if it meant a loss of property.  They chose the pigs over Jesus; they wanted the Healer to leave their region, to leave them alone, not to bring upheaval into their lives.  They loved their present darkness more than the light of the Healer.  As with Cain when he broke fellowship with God, the people of this region really did not know that their homes would never again be places of rest and peace.  As Cain, they would be no more than wanderers on this earth for their brief existence.  The judgment God put on Cain was that he would be a restless wanderer on the earth. (Genesis 4:12)  Someday their earthly shells would rest in those tombs; their wandering would cease.  Then they will meet God and his judgment might begin with questions about their unclean lives: their pigs, their rejection of Jesus—the light God sent them that they rejected.  God might ask them why they did not rejoice more about the two demoniacs being delivered from their torturers.  This story of demon-possessed men’s deliverance points clearly to man’s unwillingness to change.  The community did not want to change, but God brought Jesus to the tombs to change two men, to show what is possible when God’s power comes into a community.  The question for everyone who is partaking of this breakfast is do we want change?  Do we really want change by the power of the Holy Spirit?  Do we want to be home with God or do we just want more pigs, a better lifestyle, more security, more peace, less conflict?  Our hearts will decide that, not our minds.  Our minds will often want more or less of the aforementioned realities of this life, but when Moses addressed the Israelites in the wilderness about loving the One True God, he said, Love the Lord your God with all your HEART and with all your SOUL and with all your STRENGTH.  (Deuteronomy 6:5)  Yes, our minds should also be given to the Lord, as the New Testament reveals, but in reality when we are in the wilderness, the mind might be obstructive to God’s desires for us.  We just lost our pigs, our livelihood; but God wants something better for us, a permanent home, a place where we can be at rest eternally.  If Jesus can deliver demoniacs of their torturers, He can deliver us from our present condition of unrest.  Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.  (John 14:27)