Contemplative Bible Reading

Mark 5: 18-19 (New Living Translation)

¹⁸ As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed begged to go with him. ¹⁹ But Jesus said, “No, go home to your family, and tell them everything the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been.”

These verses are near the end of the (hi)story of Jesus healing a demon-possessed man. After years of being the “wild man of the ruins,” we are told that the man sat dressed respectfully and perfectly sane.

All the man wanted to do now was follow Jesus. What better thing is there than to follow Jesus?

Jesus, however, once again does the opposite of what we expect. He tells the man, “No. Go somewhere else.”

Jesus sent the man to the people who had known him all his life. The man was to be an example of how God changes lives. We are told later that all those who met the changed man were amazed.

Sometimes we move forward with Jesus be going backwards into our past. That doesn’t make any sense, but we should become accustomed to the unaccustomed as we serve God.