01.10. Chapter 10 The Demoniac—the Man as Sent Away from the Feet of Jesus

Chapter 10 The Demoniac—the Man as Sent Away from the Feet of Jesus

Even in daily life, and in the experiences of our own souls, do we find it true that the Lord’s ways are not as our ways, nor His thoughts as our thoughts. An example we find here. Jesus solemnly taking the Gadarenes at their word, moved towards the ship which had brought Him to their shores. That ship had come full freighted with blessing; and now, with the exception of what might be left behind in and through the demoniac, it was about to bear all away again.

There was one, however, from among the Gadarenes, who willed not that Jesus should depart from those coasts, rather that Jesus would have tarried there forever. Need we say that that man was the one so lately known as the demoniac. "As He was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed kept begging Him to go with Him."

We can imagine the man’s distress, perhaps his agony of mind, as he saw Jesus about to embark, and go where he could not follow. As the boat receded from view, he at least would stand upon the shore, with his eye riveted upon it, until it faded from his sight. His eye would strain to secure the last glimpse of the One to whom he owed all; and as His figure became lost amid the others, and the boat itself became indistinct, and disappeared, he would return home disconsolate and alone.

Those who belonged to Jesus were about to embark with Him, and he who gladly would be with Him too, must be separated from Him, to go and live among those who have rejected his deliverer, and, it may be, himself; for it was through his cure—that they lost their swine! To have sat at those feet, and now to see them depart, probably forever from his shores—yes, to see them sent away, may have well grieved him to the very heart!

We need no great powers of imagination to picture to ourselves the feelings of this poor man, as Jesus was about to depart. Love, reverence, gratitude, all the higher and nobler feelings of our nature—were probably putting forth their power in him who had so lately been a habitation of devils. But other motives also may have had their place.

It was but a very little while before, and this man had been torn by the devils. His memory was filled with the pictures of what he had been. He shuddered at the thought; and also, it may be, at the dread lest those evil ones should find him again; and so entering into the house now swept and garnished, make his last estate worse than the first.

We cannot wonder if this poor man were full of fears. He thought, perhaps, of the wondrous look of Jesus’ eye, and of the sound of His voice, as He commanded the evil spirits to leave him, and that he would not be safe away from that eye and voice.

If such thoughts filled his mind, they were natural, though not of necessity true. And it may be observed further, that the self-distrust which such a class of thought exhibits, is far more safe than that overweening confidence which, among many now-a-days is, on their first reception of the truth, so common.

If the poor man before us now had such a thought as we have been speaking of, it was in its measure a true one—for no one is safe out of the reach of the eye, and ear, and voice of Jesus. Only he knew no more than of the natural eye, and voice, and ear; and if so, no wonder if he was afraid to be left behind, far away from reach of them.

It is our happiness to know that we can ever keep within reach of the eye, and ear, and voice of Jesus; and it is our safety to live in the power of this truth. It is well for us to keep steadily in sight—the One by whom we have been delivered; to have all our thoughts centered on on Him; to expect that He who has acted against our enemies, will, if need be, do the like again.

Christians today have this advantage over all who enjoyed His bodily presence on earth for a season—they can ever be with Him, and He with them. The man had a purpose for himself—he besought Jesus that he might be with Him; but Jesus had other purposes, and His and the man’s were not the same. No doubt he who has been acted upon strongly by Christ, becomes a man of purpose. New thoughts, and desires, and intentions fill his mind; he will do this and that, he will go here and there for Christ—but the Lord often has different purposes for him. And this is a lesson which we all need to learn—but more especially those who are just brought to Christ. The thought does not come to us naturally, we have to be taught it by God.

It is not of necessity our sin, that we make purposes for ourselves; it is rather ignorance; we have come into a new sphere, where things are managed differently from what they were in the old one; and we know no better than to have our own ’yes, yes,’ and our own ’nay, nay,’ provided it is for God. The witness of sincerity is very precious—but we must not content ourselves therewith, we must seek to know the mind of God, rather than our own. We must put ourselves at His disposal—and not think of forming purposes for ourselves. For with all our sincerity—we may go astray. We may take the wrong turning altogether, or enter on a path, which will not be the one in which He shall be most glorified.

Let us recognize the purposes of God. Let us say, "He has His purposes for me—let me seek to know them."

It may be that we shall have to learn them through our mistakes—but how much better to do so, through our obedience and self-surrender. God will bring His people to a knowledge of what He wills for them, in some way; but the way may depend as to its bitterness or sweetness, much upon ourselves.

Jesus had commanded this man to leave His feet! Surely if ever man could be excused for thinking that Jesus made a mistake, this man might. If he went with Him, walking reverentially, with His apostles beside Him, or, it may be, even behind Him; if he took up his recognized position at the feet of the One who had exorcized him—surely he would be a perpetual trophy of His might, an ever present witness of His mercy and power! Would not human reason have said, ’It will be well for this man to be ever with Jesus, that men may look at him, and hear from himself and others what he had been, and so believe that Jesus came to overthrow the dominion of the devil.’ Would it not be soothing and strengthening to Christ Himself amid the ingratitude of those He benefitted, and the desertion of many who at hard sayings would drop off, and walk no more with Him—to have one, at least, who would ever sit at His feet, and look up with gratitude at His face, and drink in the sounds of His voice; and perhaps, for all we know, dare the soldiers of the Roman legion; and sit, with bowed head and weeping eyes, at the foot even of the very cross, preferring the feet of Jesus even there, at life’s risk—to safety anywhere else!

We would have thought so—but such was not the mind of Christ. When He ascended up on high—He did not back any trophies of triumph from earth. Those who accompanied Him were destined to be a trial to Him, and not a comfort, in the day of His affliction, for they all forsook Him and fled. But we ask ourselves the question as to whether any lack of tenderness can be discerned in Jesus, or any lack of appreciation, in thus sending this man away from continual personal abiding with Him.

What Jesus did here, He did, as ever—wisely and in love. He destined that man to a higher mission than always sitting at His feet.

It may be, that He who saw farther than any human eye, knew that the man’s desire was not the best thing for that man’s full blessing. At any rate it leads us to the thought that places of the greatest spiritual privilege, communion with particular godly people, all of which we may deem to be essential to our spiritual happiness, or life, really are not so. In our spiritual life, what we may think is best for us—may be too much to us, and too much for us. Loving the unseen Jesus—is a greater blessing, than looking at the very body of Christ, and loving as we look.

We continually find ourselves clinging to the physical in every possible form. Particular books, preachers, churches, companions— may become hindrances and not helps, because they themselves take the place of the spirit which belongs to them, wherein the true preciousness consists.

We often think it very hard that we are sent away from places of spiritual privilege; but God, who knows our earthly tendencies, orders it all in love.

It was when Jesus was on the very point of ascending, that He said, "Lo, I am with you always—even unto the end of the world." The materialistic may take a degraded form, as in the power of the swine to hinder the Gadarenes from receiving Christ. It may take a higher and more refined form, as in binding this man, as the only place of safety or of comfort—to the physical human body of the Lord. As Jesus now sustains His church by His Spirit, and enables it ever by faith to see Him, and repose and rejoice in Him—though His bodily presence is removed. So, perhaps, He meant to sustain this Gadarene, by allowing him to be always with Him, even though His earthly form had taken flight, and was gone.

If only we have faith and spiritual understanding, we shall see that though outward presences depart—that Jesus Himself is not to us, at least, really gone.

He then, who would be ever at the feet of Jesus, or companying with Him, is sent away. "But Jesus would not let him; instead, He told him—Go back home to your own people, and report to them how much the Lord has done for you and how He has had mercy on you." At first sight, when we hear Jesus not permitting this grateful man to follow Him, and show his love and admiration by so doing—we may think that the Lord did not appreciate the offer; or that it was harsh for Him not to grant the request. But we find the denial accompanied with a command, which shows us that Jesus did not sever Himself from the man’s offer of service—but accepted it, only in a different sphere from that which he himself had proposed. He would have been a personal disciple of Jesus—but Jesus made him a missionary to the Gadarenes. The former demoniac received a commission from the Lord; he was left on His behalf a witness for Him in the land where He had been rejected; the only human means through which anything could now be done for the people in those parts. All that could be known of His mercy and love—Jesus entrusted to that man. In truth, the man who had the devils now received a high commission from the Lord—one which would require as much spiritual strength from above to fulfill—as it needed strength from beneath to be what he had been before.

He was appointed to solitary testimony amid an exasperated people, and those, his own countrymen. He had aimed high in wishing to be always with Jesus—and he is placed high by Jesus.

Though the Lord was going away—the connection between the Gadarene and Himself was not to be severed. The former demoniac was to be appointed to a place of singular honor and responsibility—to that of solitary testimony. He, and he alone, was to be Christ’s witness among his countrymen!

Some might say—’Is this all?’ But what a ’this’ is it! What a trust is it, and what a man to have it reposed in! The place of solitary witness is one from which flesh and blood might well shrink—but it is one of great honor in the sight of God. Jesus does not reject the service of the Gadarene; He only orders it in a different channel from that which he proposed. The former demoniac was ready to give up home to follow Christ; and herein, perhaps, Jesus found a special suitability for His ministry at home.

It is often the one who is prepared to sacrifice home itself for Jesus—who is privileged to do most there at home! It many a time needs a godly person to do anything among our own friends and family—it is sometimes easier to go to the heathen than to friends. They, perhaps, can taunt us with what they have known us to be—they can say, "you were altogether born in sins, and do you teach us?" We may rest assured that there is ample room for the exercise of the most devoted Christian—in their home town! That demoniac might have suffered as much persecution from his countrymen, as the apostles who left with Jesus ever did in their more extended field of testimony and labor. The Lord appears to have recognized here, in this renewed man, a true relationship to his own friends and people. The demoniacal possession had disturbed it; but now that was removed; and being lifted up into a position altogether superior to anything he could ever have had—simply as a Gadarene, he must, in this new sphere, recognize the old relationships, and witness to his friends and relatives of Christ.

There is a peculiar power in the witness of a changed man in his own home, where he, and all about him, is well known. There are diversities of testimony:

There is the testimony of the man who, to all outward appearance, has lived blamelessly.

There is the testimony of the man who has been turned from the evil and error of his way.

There is the testimony of a ’John’—who leaned on the bosom of Jesus, and of a Paul, who persecuted Him.

Whatever power there was in the changed circumstances of this man, Jesus will have him exercise among his friends. The Lord sends him back to the place from which he had specially fled. There, whence he had been driven forth by the influence of the demons—he returns to by the influence of Christ. The man was to be restored to the highest instincts of humanity, not merely to companying with Jesus—but to doing good in the name of Jesus.

Perhaps it was needful that this man, who had fled from home and friends, must be returned to both, as a testimony to the completeness of the undoing of the devils’ work by Jesus.

Jesus did not take the Gadarene away, because there were still the mountains, and caves, and tombs, and the stones with which he cut his flesh, all remaining where they used to be during the time of his possession by the devils; they remained as they were—but the former demoniac was changed as regards them. He had a mission to his friends—one which would occupy all his powers and energies, in which he could spend all his strength.

We are reminded of how it often is with ourselves. We are obliged to live amid the scenes of old trials and temptations, ever recalling to our memory what we have been. Sometimes we have to live among them, and hear them inviting us to go along with them in sinfulness, as we were before. But their attraction, and power, and spell are broken. They no longer fit the heart on which Jesus has wrought! That to which they could appeal has gone! They are, and ever must be, the same—but we are wholly changed! And now let the reader gather for himself some teaching from what has been brought before him. To each one upon whom Christ has wrought—there is a sphere of ministry. It may not be—it probably is not, the one which self would choose—but to Him let us leave the ordering of His own interests; and how we are best to give testimony to His glory.

Let no man despise or neglect his sphere of ministry, because it is that of home. Some of the highest victories of the cross have been won in the home; some of the greatest testimony given to Christ has been there. And should the reader of these lines be appointed to a place of solitary testimony among his earthly friends, when he would gladly be always with the people of the Lord—let him remember the honor and responsibility of his position. The Gadarene demoniac was left in that land where Jesus was not received, as in a measure the representative of Jesus Himself. He—rescued, changed, a friend where he had been a foe—was the counteractive to the hard thoughts concerning Jesus—which kept possession of his countrymen’s minds because of the loss of their swine.

Strange it may seem that Judas the traitor should be allowed ever to company with the Lord; and that this demoniac, who longed to be with Him, and would, to all appearance, have been a faithful and energetic disciple, is not allowed, as he so earnestly wished, to be with Him. But it teaches us an important lesson. It shows us how little we can argue from external privileges and positions!

Jesus takes sail and goes away—and the Gadarene returns to give testimony among his friends. We hear no more of him; but we may well believe that when the last glimpse of the ship was lost, and he turned his steps home to fulfill the mission with which he had been entrusted, he went in the strength of the Lord, and the remembrance of the power and love by which he had been brought, clothed, and in his right mind—to sit at the ’feet of Jesus.’