Pt. 3 – When Pigs Fly?
Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they (the spirits) begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.” So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.
The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region.
As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.
Notice the contrasts found in the ending of this story. First, you have the herdsmen and the locals fearing after seeing Jesus and the formerly demon-possessed man. This event is counter-cultural to them. The herders just lost hundreds or thousands of pigs; a financial crisis indeed. But it also had to be scary to see the man they could not control sitting there in his right mind and clothed.
Second, look at the response of the man who the Savior has rescued. He wants to be with his Lord wherever he goes. Jesus tells him to go tells his friends and the people of the Decapolis what Jesus has done for him and the man did.
Over two decades, I have had people tell me they will not evangelize (share the good news) because they are afraid or embarrassed to share with their friends and others. I can almost sum up their responses with one phrase: I will tell others “when pigs fly.”
Friends, don’t be fearful, shy, or embarrassed. If you have given your life to him, don’t keep it a secret. Some will ask you to leave, but others will hear it as good news!
Lord God,
I love to tell the story, more wonderful it seems, than all the golden fancies of all our golden dreams; I love to tell the story, it did so much for me, and that is just the reason I tell it now to thee.
I love to tell the story, ’twill be my theme in glory, to tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love.
I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen!
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