Fingerprints of Rejection


The book of Mark presents a beautiful physical example of a powerful spiritual truth. In the fourth chapter, we observe the great Fisher of Men standing in a boat, casting His net into a sea of humanity sitting on the beach. This net is woven from parables which He continues to cast over and over again into the sea of souls. Spirit and truth bait the hearts of these men and women as they wait expectantly before Him, longing to be caught; they have never heard anyone speak with such authority.
As the Fisherman prepares to leave for the opposite shore, He casts one last parable, the parable of the mustard seed. These truths take hold of many lives and fuel the multitude with the desire to follow Him. Faith, hope, and love, like hooks set dig deep within their hearts, cause them to long for more of this Fisherman named Jesus. Some of the boats prepare to trail behind as though some invisible force compels them to follow.
In the night, as they set sail on the Sea of Galilee, a fierce gale arises, and all of the men on board fear for their lives. Only Jesus is at peace, sound asleep in the stern of the boat.
They call to Him, " Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?"
Jesus awakes. Without a word to the fearful sailors, He rebukes the wind and calls out to the sea, "Hush, be still." The wind stops blowing and the sea becomes perfectly calm. "Why are you so timid?" He asks the disciples. "How is it that you have no faith?"(Matt. 8:23-26, author's paraphrase).
They were afraid. Who was this Man who commanded the wind and the sea so that they obeyed Him? Even so, they did not want to leave His side. They knew that this One was different from any teacher they had ever heard, and they hoped upon hope that He might be the Messiah.
As they arrived safely on the other side, immediately they were met by a man who lived among the tombs. No one was able to bind this madman, though he had been shackled many times. However, no chain was able to restrain him, at least no chain that could be seen with mortal eyes.
This tortured soul was imprisoned by the cruel chains of hell, forged link by link from the result of fulfilling his own ungodly desires. The things that he had wanted now possessed him, and he longed for nothing more than to be freed from his evil tormentors.
He cried out every night and every day for help, but there was no help to be found. Only more pain and regret. These familiar spirits were the only company he had. They offered what appeared to be a form of comfort, but in reality, it was only a lesser degree of torture.
On this particular day his taskmasters seemed distracted. From a distance, they had seen something, or Someone, that unsettled them. Some, though only for a season, left the poor tormented soul to prevent the arrival of this Man they so desperately feared. They saw Him coming. They even knew His name, though they dared not mention it.
Stirring up the seas and the wind, they had tried to drown this powerful Prophet, or at the very least to slow Him down. Their plan failed, however, and at His rebuke they were driven off.
The man in whom the demons lived was no longer identified by his own name, for he could hardly remember it himself. Instead, he was known only by the name the demons had given him, Legion, for there were many that possessed him.
He was acutely aware of their return, for with them came greater fear. They seemed to take out their frustration all the more on him.
Suddenly, a voice that sounded like thunder to his spirit, though it was just a whisper, ran through his being. "Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!" The words the man, touched him deeply, for he had so long been bound by demons that he had forgotten he was a man and once had claimed his own identity apart from his tormentors. This Jesus was the first to see that at one time, there was a different man living inside his flesh from the one now possessed by these demons.
Born of the demonic control over his body, an intriguing question spewed from Legion's lips. "What do I have to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me" (Mark 5:7 NKJV).
The demons knew that they had nothing in Jesus, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. They also knew that they had no power over Him.
But the man in whom the demons lived, heard something in this question that struck him to the core. He knew in his own heart, he himself did have something to do with this Jesus. Or maybe it was that Jesus had something to do with him.
Jesus demanded to know his name.
The strongest demon spoke up. "My name is Legion; for we are many," (v. 9).
In the presence of the Messiah, however, this demon did not appear strong. In fact, whining, he begged not to be sent out of the region, but requested entry into a herd of swine on the hill.
Jesus allowed the demons to enter the swine, who ran down a steep slope, plunged over a cliff into the sea, and were drowned. In that moment, the man once called Legion was set free from his bondage forever.
"What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?"
Good question. One we should all ask. And now, the man understood why that question was important to him.This was the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, his Deliverer and his Lord. Sitting beside Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, wrapped in the love of his Lord, he understood.
The men who tended the herd of swine ran into the city and reported all that they had seen and heard. This stunning news drew people from all across that country, and many came out to see for themselves what the Lord had done.
Then a very strange thing took place. Something that is difficult for me to understand.

They came to Jesus, and saw the one who had been demon - possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid..
And those who saw it told them how it happened to him who had been demon-possessed, and about the swine.
Then they began to plead with Him (Jesus) to depart from their region (vv. 15-17).

They asked Jesus . . . to leave. They didn't ask for healing or forgiveness or salvation. They didn't ask for grace or mercy or help in understanding the difficulties of this life. They just asked Him to leave. They saw the mighty hand of God working in their midst, yet they asked Him to leave. Why would anyone ask God Himself, and in this case, God in the flesh, to leave?
Verse fifteen points us to the key. "They were afraid." Fear of something they did not understand nor had the ability to control, something they had never experienced or seen before, caused them to ask God to leave.
Read on. Verse eighteen is a startling statement of God's respecting our right to choice. "And they began to plead with Him to depart from their region. And when He got into the boat."
The very next thing we see Jesus do, after being asked to leave, is getting into the boat. He didn't argue with the people. He didn't lecture them as to what they would miss by sending Him away. He simply got into the boat and left.
It concerns me that many of us may very well be at the same crossroads. We can see God working in our midst. But if He is working in a way that we do not understand, we may react in fear and ask Him to leave. An even more sobering proposition is the biblical fact that He might take us at our word and do just that ...leave. With no argument at all.
I guess this would be all right if we are satisfied to remain in the powerless state in which most of us live. Most Christians today live no differently from the rest of the world around us. If we choose to remain in this condition--unable to heal the sick, cast out demons, or raise the dead--we can remain there.
But we have been commanded to do so much more.

"I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father"(John 14:12, 13)..

If we choose not to obey Jesus' call to the "greater things," we will remain in bondage as well. Unlike Legion, whose chains were visible, our chains are those of respectability, pride, and fear. Our chains may not look ungodly, for many around us are wearing them as well. In some circles they may even appear to be righteousness.
If, however, our pride or fear of losing our respectability keeps us from fulfilling the "Great Commission," which includes healing the sick, casting out demons, and by the way, raising the dead, we too are in bondage, however invisible the chains may appear to be. It is time to break those chains.

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you" (Matt 28:19, 20).

God's ways are not our ways. Sometimes when He works, we see things that we do not understand. Maybe we have never seen them before. I believe the choice may well be ours as to whether or not we see the "greater things [we] shall do" in the days to come.
As for me, I do not want fear or lack of understanding to cause me to ask God to leave my region, my church, or my life. I am not talking about losing my salvation, rather, losing the fullness of my authority as a disciple of Jesus.
The man once called Legion felt the same way. When he felt the power of God in his own life, he wanted nothing more than to remain with Him. But Jesus in His great love knew that this transformed man could now call upon God's power to set others free. So He said to him:

"Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you." So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed (Mark 5:19, 20).

It is for this reason that I know God is calling His church higher. He is calling us to set others free as we ourselves have been set free. It's time to go to our own people and proclaim to them that there is a God in heaven and that He still releases those in bondage.
To deny the Spirit of the living God and His ways when people are in desperate need of His miraculous touch, makes us as guilty as those who asked Jesus to leave their region because He frightened them.



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