I’ve enjoyed a small herb garden on my kitchen table several times over the past few years, but in my current season when staying over with new grand babies takes precedence, the herbs, with the exception of a lone basil plant, have gone by the wayside. I had hoped that placing them out front where they’d enjoy occasional rain would hold them until I could attend to them again myself, but rain has been sparse and the heat got them before I did.
Thomas and Amelia are not deterred. They see me watering the basil inside and hear me commenting when it perks up, so today while playing water table outside to stay cool and calm, they decided to attempt to resurrect the rosemary, mint, and thyme. Using my words, Thomas explained to Amelia how giving them a drink of water would bring them back. That would be more than curious at their current state of crispness, but stranger things have happened. If over-saturation and pure determination are the answer, then I’ll be expecting green sprouts any day now.
On one occasion, the Bible records what is to my mind one of the most curious responses to Jesus I’ve encountered. Matthew recorded three chapters of Jesus’s powerful teaching, commonly known as His Sermon on the Mount, followed by incredible healing miracles. Exhausted, Jesus fell asleep in a boat with his disciples just before a violent storm hit. The terrified fishermen wakened Him in a panic and with two simple words from Jesus, “be still!” the storm abated. Then this…
“When Jesus arrived on the other side of the lake, in the region of the Gadarenes, two men who were possessed by demons met him. They came out of the tombs and were so violent that no one could go through that area.
They began screaming at him, “Why are you interfering with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torture us before God’s appointed time?”
There happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding in the distance. So the demons begged, “If you cast us out, send us into that herd of pigs.”
“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.
The herdsmen fled to the nearby town, telling everyone what happened to the demon-possessed men.
Then the entire town came out to meet Jesus, but they begged him to go away and leave them alone.”
Matthew 8:28-34 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.8.28-34.NLT
The exchange between Jesus and the demonic legion possessing the men is curious enough, but I’m struck by the reaction of the entire town. They all came out to see Jesus. Their curiosity at the report from the herdsmen drew them from their homes, their jobs, their meals, whatever occupied their attention in that moment in the same way the testimony of the woman at the well brought a crowd to the edge of town, but their response was completely opposite. As one, they raced to the scene to find the violent men, now in their right minds, fully clothed and seated with Jesus. In the lake nearby floated the bodies of hundreds or even thousands of pigs. No one marveled at the men. No one thanked God. Like the rich young ruler, their pocketbooks predicated their response, but rather than walking away sad, they asked Jesus to leave. So Jesus left.
The townspeople had become so accustomed to avoiding this area, so used to the shrieking in the distance, that the silence unnerved them. Do you struggle with the Psalmist’s message? “Be still and know that I AM God.” (Psalm 46:10) You know the twenty-third Psalm. You know how He leads His sheep through green pastures and beside quiet waters, restoring our souls, but do you, like Saul, kick against the goads? By constantly busying yourself, you are silencing the voice of God and the danger is you’re becoming more and more comfortable with the darkness. Our eyes adjust to darkness the longer we remain in it. We may think we see clearly, but deepest darkness is coming. (John 9:4)
(The Passion Translation in-text note from YouVersion Bible app)
How did the men come to be in this demon-possessed state? We aren’t given their backstory. We’re only told that Jesus commissioned them as missionaries rather than inviting them to follow Him. They would be living, breathing, walking testimonies* of God’s goodness and grace where Jesus was not welcomed. They received this commission before the advent of the Holy Spirit, but I would love to know how it felt for them when the Spirit of God fell, when God’s perfect presence came to dwell in clay jars that once held deepest darkness and now radiated pure Light!
“Go back to your home and to your family and tell them what the Lord has done for you.
Tell them how he had mercy on you.””
Mark 5:19 TPT
https://bible.com/bible/1849/mrk.5.19.TPT
As Jesus commissioned the formerly demon-possessed men, so He commissions us as those called out of darkness into His glorious light.
“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you:
Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.
Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.
Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking.
Instead, fix your attention on God.
You’ll be changed from the inside out.
Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it.
Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”
Romans 12:1-2 MSG
https://bible.com/bible/97/rom.12.1-2.MSG
“We are like common clay jars that carry this glorious treasure within, so that this immeasurable power will be seen as God’s, not ours.
Though we experience every kind of pressure, we’re not crushed.
At times we don’t know what to do, but quitting is not an option.
We are persecuted by others, but God has not forsaken us.
We may be knocked down, but not out.
We continually share in the death of Jesus in our own bodies so that the resurrection life of Jesus will be revealed through our humanity.
We consider living to mean that we are constantly being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake so that the life of Jesus will be revealed through our humanity.
So no wonder we don’t give up. For even though our outer person gradually wears out, our inner being is renewed every single day.
We view our slight, short-lived troubles in the light of eternity.
We see our difficulties as the substance that produces for us an eternal, weighty glory far beyond all comparison, because we don’t focus our attention on what is seen but on what is unseen.
For what is seen is temporary, but the unseen realm is eternal.”
2 Corinthians 4:7-11, 16-18 TPT
https://bible.com/bible/1849/2co.4.7-18.TPT
“Jesus concluded his instructions to the seventy with these words:
“Remember this: Whoever listens to your message is actually listening to me. And anyone who rejects you is rejecting me, and not only me but the one who sent me.”
When the seventy missionaries returned to Jesus, they were ecstatic with joy, telling him, “Lord, even the demons obeyed us when we commanded them in your name!”
Jesus replied, “While you were ministering, I watched Satan topple until he fell suddenly from heaven like lightning to the ground.
Now you understand that I have imparted to you my authority to trample over his kingdom.
You will trample upon every demon before you and overcome every power Satan possesses.
Absolutely nothing will harm you as you walk in this authority.
However, your real source of joy isn’t merely that these spirits submit to your authority, but that your names are written in the journals of heaven and that you belong to God’s kingdom.
This is the true source of your authority.””
Luke 10:16-20 TPT
https://bible.com/bible/1849/luk.10.16-20.TPT
“This is the life-giving message we heard him share and it’s still ringing in our ears.
We now repeat his words to you: God is pure light. You will never find even a trace of darkness in him.
If we claim that we share life with him, but keep walking in the realm of darkness, we’re fooling ourselves and not living the truth.
But if we keep living in the pure light that surrounds him, we share unbroken fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, continually cleanses us from all sin.”
1 John 1:5-7 TPT
https://bible.com/bible/1849/1jn.1.5-7.TPT
*I Believe It (The Life of Jesus)
Jon Reddick
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