Contemplative Bible Reading

Luke 8:35 (New Living Translation)

People rushed out to see what had happened. A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, and they saw the man who had been freed from the demons. He was sitting at Jesus’ feet, fully clothed and perfectly sane, and they were all afraid.

Fear filled the crowd of people. What brought such? They saw a man sitting a Jesus’ feet fully clothed and perfectly sane. That man was the village idiot, the town nut, everyone knew he was dangerously crazy.

Yet here he was in a blessed repose—sitting completely sane and peaceful at the feet of Jesus. Something unnatural had happened. Something so strange that it was frightening.

The man was sitting peacefully at the feet of Jesus. I want that. I want sanity, peace, tranquility, no stress, and everything we can write in today’s hectic world. I can have it. “All I have to do” is sit at the feet of Jesus.

Consider that. How hard is it to sit on the ground? Pretty much anyone can do it. Well, everyone can do it. Just sit. We must, however, sit in the right place. Not anyplace will do. We struggle with this. Please God, help me in my unbelief.

Side Note: I searched the Internet for images of this (hi)story. All the images were dramatic portrayals of the wild and crazy man. I couldn’t find any of the many peacefully sitting at Jesus’ feet. I guess that seems pretty boring. Odd how we want to see the crazy, but don’t want to see the blessed repose.