Pleading Jesus to Leave

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MARK

PLEADING JESUS TO LEAVE

Mark 5:14-17

14 Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. 15 When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. 16 Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man — and told about the pigs as well. 17 Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.

NIV

Why did the people plead Jesus to leave their region? Was he disturbing their economy? Were they afraid he would send other demons into other herds of pigs that would drown, or maybe a herd of sheep that would run off the cliff? This could cost them a whole lot of money and that simply would not do. Maybe they wanted Jesus to leave because they were afraid he would find some demons in them they did not want exposed. Maybe they just were not ready to accept such a supernatural event in their area and just wanted to be left alone to live their lives as they have been doing. What we do know for sure is they did not want anything to do with Jesus, they pleaded for him to leave their region. When Jesus shows up things simply change, as in this case a man was restored to a whole condition and a whole herd of pigs were dead. Did Jesus cause the death of the pigs? Not likely, as it was the demons who asked to be allowed to go into the pigs, of course, Jesus allowed it. Two thousand pigs is a lot of money to somebody and surely they must have been upset about losing so much, but a man’s life was saved. Wasn’t that worth it? It would appear it was not, as the people pleaded for Jesus to leave them alone. They could deal with one demon possessed man hanging around, but to lose so much may have been more then they wanted to give up. Can we relate to them in any way? When Jesus shows up in our area, in our life, are we willing to allow him full access in every area of our life? Are we willing to let him heal us or change us even if it costs something on our part? Is there any area in our life we plead Jesus to leave from? Surely we are not actually possessed by a legend of demons, but maybe we simply have some habits we would rather hang on to. Maybe we like to gossip, maybe we like to be critical, or judgmental, maybe we enjoy thinking more of ourselves then we should, or maybe we enjoy being impatient, jealous, envious or selfish. Maybe we have some other kind of habit we don’t even want to admit is a habit and we would rather Jesus just leave that area alone. Why did they plead Jesus to leave?