Picking up in Luke 8, Jesus now encounters the demoniac, another familiar account. Jesus had commanded the demon to come out of the man, and the demon had replied to Him using a proper address, “Jesus, Son of the Most High God”. As the disciples back a few verses had asked “Who is this?” after seeing Him calm the storm, the demon obviously knows and provides the answer. When Jesus asks for his name, the answer is “Legion”. “Legion” is a number, not necessarily a name, and a Roman legion consisted of 6,000 men. This is not to say that there were 6,000 demons in this man, but the answer given certainly implies multiple. “They” beg Jesus, literally plea sincerely with Him not to send them to “the abyss”. The abyss is the final destiny for Satan and his angels (Matt 25, 2 Peter 2, Rev. 20). So while they are not all-knowing, they apparently know of the place they will be going eventually. Meanwhile, they are permitted to go into some nearby pigs (Mark actually says there were 2,000 of them). That the man returned to normal and the pigs were destroyed was proof that the demons were real and that the man had really been cleansed of them. And that he is sitting at Jesus feet being discipled, and then wanting to follow Jesus tells me that he was saved. That is the point of the story. That, and we also see that in spite of all the miraculous events, God can still be rejected, as the many around this occurrence show.
The response to the man from Jesus could easily be the same for us “describe what great things God has done for you.”
Jairus, a synagogue leader, demonstrates his faith by coming to Jesus to ask healing for his daughter. Meanwhile, a woman with some sort of bleeding disorder has the faith in Jesus to heal her, and she merely touches His garment. The story is well-explained in the text, so little more needs to be said. She, too, is saved, as she demonstrates faith in Jesus, which is what caused her to touch Him. Jesus seemingly calls attention to this, as there were lots of others around doing the same, to be used as a backdrop by Jesus, enabling the woman to tell her story. Remember, lots of others were around, and got to hear her explain why she did what she did. That alone was very powerful.
By now, Jairus’ daughter has died, and Jesus goes to the home anyway, now with Peter, James, and John. Jesus told Jairus to “only believe”. Jairus does. After being laughed at for caller her “asleep”, He raises her from the dead. And the family is told not to tell anyone what happened. How could they keep that in? Some believe that telling people might prematurely announce the kingdom of God before Jesus was ready to do so. Others think that the Jews ridiculing Him could simply go on believing that the girl was actually asleep after all; perhaps they were not “ready” for the gospel. Hard to say. I can only imagine Jairus’ excitement, though. If he kept quiet about his daughter, I would imagine he had great things to say about Jesus from that day on.
SO WHAT…?
So, conversion, as we see with the demoniac, the sick woman, and Jairus, involves evangelism. I am converted, a believer, I need to keep telling others the great things God had done.
So, my faith should keep me coming to Him, to His Word.
So, like Jesus, I need to realize that nobody is too bad, too good, too poor, too rich, too “anything” to need and receive salvation. I have work to do, for Him.
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