An Unlikely Preacher Part 4

 So far we've been talking about this unlikely preacher in a very peculiar way. He lives in an unlikely place, he has an unlikely behavior, he has had an unlikely encounter with Jesus but today I want to focus on the people around him, the people of the  country of the Gerasenes (Mark 5, Luke 8) or the country of the Gadarenes (Matthew 8). You will ask which country is it? Well it's both. Gerasa is a little town or village, which is about six miles  around the curve of the lake (opposite Galilee Luke 8:26), right on the shore. Gadara was further south inland and was the bigger town, probably the county seat. It was a gentile country.

There was an unlikely crowd

Despite the awesome thing Jesus had done for this man, the crowd acted towards Jesus not quite as you would expect. Look at what happens:

1. They started spreading the news

"The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country." 

I don't believe they were trying to spread the news in a positive way because of what it says in Mark 5:17: "And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region." Wow! They wanted to have no business with Him. I see no evidence from the text that there was a well intended comment from the crowd at all. They wanted him out of their country and quickly. 

They were even very careful in not missing any detail of those news.

"The herdsmen...told everything, especially what had happened to the demon-possessed men." (Matthew 8:33)

"And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs." (Mark 5:16 ESV)

The words "everything", "especially" and "described" cannot be more explicatory. They wanted to spreads the news very clearly even though it wasn't with good intentions. That's what makes it unlikely. Wouldn't you want to keep a man like Jesus who had just performed a great miracle. Wouldn't you want to stay by His side to see if you can get your own special miracle. Well this crowd certainly didn't and that's what makes them a very unlikely crowd. A crowd that refuses to see Jesus as what He is, the Savior of this world. 

We could see this story like a big theatrical play, where Jesus is the main character, the demon-possessed man is the co-star and the pigs and the crowd are the rest of the cast. It's like a story of good vs. evil, where good always wins the battle. Jesus always wins even though sometimes we don't see it. We might not see it because of unbelief, we might not see it because we're too busy with life or maybe, we might not see it because our commitment to him has dwindled.

The herdsmen spread the news and created fear among the people whether intentionally or not. Their fear eventually drove them to beg Jesus to leave.

2. They were curious.

"And people came to see what it was that had happened." 

People wanted to see with their own eyes what had happened. It's understandable. It's such an amazing  story that, like Thomas, you have to see it to believe it. John MacArthur says the following about this event: " It is one of the most riveting accounts in all Scripture; nothing like this display of power over demons is recorded in Scripture since God threw Satan and all the evil, rebelling angels out of heaven. It was a massive upheaval. That was a sweeping act by God....". No wonder people wanted to see this grandiose event. Jesus did to this "Legion" what He did to the rebelling angels. He threw them out in an instant.

3. They were afraid.

"...And they were afraid" Mark 5:15c

The word "and" is a connecting word. It's basically connecting that statement in verse 15 to the description of the man earlier in the verse. They couldn't believe what Jesus had done for this man. So, they were afraid because they had never seen something like that. It was a lot to take in that day. First the pigs and then this. They had never seen anybody freeing a man from the kingdom of darkness in that magnitude. It wasn't one little demon, it was thousands of them. They had never seen such a display of power over demons, so magnificent, so out of proportion, so enormous. Sure, Jesus had cast out evil spirits from people before but not at this level. So, "they were seized with great fear" (Luke 8:37c)

A little foot note here, fear is a double-edged swore. It can make you do things that are profitable for the kingdom of God and that allow you to grow spiritually. That's healthy fear. Or, it can make you do things that are not good for the Kingdom and delay your spiritual growth. That's unhealthy fear. This crowd was from a gentile nation. They had no knowledge of the saving power of Jesus. They just pushed him away. They had no desire of having a relationship with Him.

Let us never forget that we are always part of  a crowd. The question is: is it the good crowd or the bad  crowd? We definitely don't want to be like the herdsmen and the people of the town. A crowd that is in the opposite side of Jesus. A crowd that goes against Jesus and His values. A crowd that doesn't want to be a part of His Kingdom. We want to be part of a crowd that supports the Lord who can  calm the storm ( Mark 4), the Lord who has power over demons (Mark 5), the God who performs miracles (Psalm 77:14). Make sure you always choose the right crowd because at the end of the day, it never pays off to be on the opposite side of Jesus. 

In this day and age, way too often, people continue to refuse the truth of the Gospel and therefore, more and more people keep moving towards the anti-Jesus crowd. We, as Christians, more than ever need to preach the Gospel to all the world and start bringing people to the feet of Jesus. Then, and only then, we'll be building the Jesus crowd and therefore His Kingdom. "We must proclaim the kingdom of God and teach about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance." (Acts 28:31). That's the only way. Be in that crowd!