Contemplative Bible Reading

Matthew 8:32-34 (New Living Translation)

32 “All right, go!” Jesus commanded them. So the demons came out of the men and entered the pigs, and the whole herd plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned in the water.

33 The herdsmen fled to the nearby town, telling everyone what happened to the demon-possessed men. 34 Then the entire town came out to meet Jesus, but they begged him to go away and leave them alone.

This is part of the (hi)story of Jesus casting the demons out of two men. The demons departed into a herd of pigs and the pigs charged down into a lake and drowned themselves.
Try to imagine this scene as the herdsmen saw it. They didn’t see the spiritual battle. They saw a herd of pigs charge down a hillside and drown themselves in a lake. Picture that. It is crazy; it is violent, and it is a frightening display. This Jesus fella’ shows up and crazy, violent things happen.

In fear, the herdsmen fled.

In fascination, the townspeople came to Jesus.

The townspeople didn’t want to meet Jesus and hear what Jesus had to say. Instead, they wanted Jesus to go away and leave them alone. One crazy, violent event was enough for them. Go away. Please.

The power of God can be terrifying. We have science fiction movies with super heroes transcending reality and doing crazy, violent acts all the time. Old hat, blah, so what? Yeah, well let’s witness something real. Not so blah. Terrifying.

And, as usual, it’s not the event, it’s the reaction. How do we react to the power of God? Come near to God? Tell God to go away? Dear God, help me to come near to You.