General News
24 May, 2026
In good faith
IN GOOD FAITH: In the Gospel of Mark, chapter 8, we read the story of Jesus excursion across the Sea of Galilee to the land of the Gerasenes.
This region, near the ancient Hellenistic city of Gadara, is located a little to the Southeast of the Sea of Galilee in modern-day Jordan.
Immediately upon Jesus arrival, He was greeted by a man who is described as ‘having an impure spirit’ and who lived among the tombs.
Whatever the demon was that possessed this man, it is recorded that it gave him great strength, such that no one could contain him, to such an extent that he was even able to break chains that had been put on him.
When Jesus confronted this man, the demon that was in him immediately recognised who He was, and said to Him; “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!” For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!”
The Bible records that a herd of pigs was grazing nearby. When Jesus asked the demon what its name was, it replied “… legion, for we are many” and begged Jesus to permit it to enter into the herd of pigs, an act revealing the extent to which it recognised His authority over it.
Jesus permitted this, and as the spirits went into the pigs, the Bible records that the herd raced down a steep bank into the lake and were drowned.
The pig herders, having witnessed this, ran back to their city and reported what had happened.
The townspeople then came to Jesus, witnessing the man whom Jesus had delivered, sitting quietly, well-presented and in his right mind, and they also heard of what happened the pigs.
In essence, the people there had been witness to a miracle where a man had been saved from insanity and demon possession and restored to good health.
But they also allowed themselves to be influenced by their perceived loss of their herd.
Their ultimate response was to ignore the good deed that was done by Jesus in healing the man and instead to allow their judgement to be dominated by the perceived cost of the loss of the pigs.
Instead of embracing Jesus and the priceless gifts that He had come to bring to them, they rejected Him and asked Him to leave their region immediately.
This raises the question of how we might respond to the good works of Jesus in our lives and in our world.
As we contemplate the many blessings that He gives us every day, blessings that range from ordinary things like the rain that falls upon the earth through to the less common miraculous events that occur from time to time according to His good pleasure, how do we respond? Are we like the healed man who recognised the wonderful gift given by the grace of God, or are we like the townspeople, who considered the cost to be too high and simply told Jesus to go away?
In the world that we live in today, just like in any other time throughout history, following Jesus can come at a cost.
And as many have found in the past, that cost can be very high.
Are you aware that the 20th century, yes - the years between 1901 and 2000, is recorded as being the century of the greatest persecution of Christians of all time, with no indication that this trend is decreasing? This is certainly something to think about as we decide upon the future direction of our nation and what sort of world we want to have in the future.
In this account, Jesus did as the townspeople asked Him and left.
As he did, the formerly demon possessed man whom he had healed asked to go with Him, showing his faith and thankfulness for what he had been given. Jesus declined his request, instead directing him to go back to his people and tell them everything that had happened to him.
Sometime later, we read in mark chapter 8 that Jesus returned to this same area and encountered a following numbering 4000 people.
You may ask, where did these 4000 God fearing people appear from? There is only one possible answer to this question, which is that the man whom Jesus had healed had obeyed the instruction that was given to him and had spread the news of what Jesus had done.
In the Gospel of Matthew, (4:9) Jesus said “… Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Jesus is able to do wonderful things with those who are willing and faithful in obeying Him. The question is, how willing are we in following Him and His ways?
By David Young