“And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw Him, they implored Him to leave their region.” (Matthew 8:34)
When they saw Jesus… they implored Him to leave. What a sad story this is. Why would an entire city beg Jesus to leave? To understand these words, we must connect them to the region and the events immediately preceding.
Jesus is on the east side of the sea of Galilee, a region commonly referred to as the Decapolis, the place of ten cities, and it is a region that is a non-Jewish territory (hence the pig farming – something you would never have seen done amongst the Jews who considered pigs unclean). This is one of the few times Jesus leaves the land of Israel for a Gentile territory.
Having entered this part of the world, He comes across two men possessed by demons. Wickedly violent and dangerous, these men had been terrorizing the region in such a manner that no one could even pass through where they dwelt. Jesus healed the men and cast the demons into a herd of pigs. The pigs ran directly into the sea of Galilee and drown themselves. These events evoked a sense of awe and wariness of Jesus’ might in the eyes of the people… but it was awe without knowledge. Thus, they begged Him to leave. The demon-possessed men were terrors – how much worse a Jewish man who overpowered them?!
We sing a song entitled Do You Know My Jesus, and it is a good reminder that we must know who Jesus is, or we will miss all that matters. If they had known who wielded the power to cast out Legion, they would have sought Him instead of fled. We will never draw near to a God we do not understand. We must seek to know Him and understand Him. Only then will we draw near with confidence.
Matthew 4:4 #Biblebites