Daily Readings from the Life of Christ August 4,2010

The herdsmen ran away, and went to the city and reported everything, including what hadhappened
to the demoniacs. And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus; and whenthey saw Him, they
implored Him to leave their region. -Matthew. 8:33–34

It’s startling to realize that some people do not respect Jesus as much as the demons do. But that
was exactly the case for this city (probably ancient Gerasa). The populace wanted nothing to do with
the Lord but actually begged Him to leave their area. Mark’s account of the incident gives us more
clues to their attitudes: “the people came to see what it was that had happened. They came to Jesus
and observed the man who had been demon-possessed sitting down, clothed and in his right mind . . .
and they became frightened” (Mark 5:14–15). As much as any hostility they may have had, they
were simply scared.
As unregenerate sinners, the Gerasenes were no doubt bewildered and intimidated by Jesus. They
saw His ability to control demons and animals and to restore crazed minds to sanity—and the result
was complete opposition to Christ.
In sharp contrast to the attitude of the city people, one of the delivered men implored Jesus to let him
go with Him (Mark 5:18). He manifested a great faith, love, and adoration for the Lord—so much so
that he could not bear the thought of sepa-ration. But Jesus commanded him, “Go home to your
people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on
you” (Mark 5:19). The man was to be an evangelist to his own people, testifying that despite their
present opposition to Jesus, the Son of God did not want them to perish spiritually.

Ask Yourself
Are there people in your life whose rejection of and opposition to Christ are totally baffling to
you—going against all logic and every example of God’s reality? How should you respond to such
hardheadedness?


From Daily Readings from the Life of Christ, Vol. 1, John MacArthur. Copyright © 2008. Used by
permission of Moody Publishers, Chicago, IL 60610, www.moodypublishers.com.
Available online at: http://www.gty.org/Resources/Devotionals/dailyreadingsone
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