This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to day 2 of our look together through Mark chapter 5 in Daily Drive Time
Devotions. 14-20 today are the verses we are going to be looking at. And you
remember yesterday we took a look together at a man healed from a possession in
his life that had driven him out into the tombs and was causing him to do
terrible things to himself.

Today, we are going to see how the people reacted to what happened that day, the
people of the town. Remember that at the end there were some demons who said,
"Would you put us in those pigs? " And the pigs immediately ran down a hill and
drowned themselves, which is an example that sometimes pigs are smarter than
people.

The pigs immediately recognized that they wanted nothing to do with this demonic
force in their lives, that they didn't want to have anything like that in their
lives, and they immediately gave themselves up because of the evil that had come
upon them. Well, listen to what happened next, verses 14-17, "Those tending the
pigs ran off and reported this in the town and the countryside, and the people
went out to see what had happened. " Well, I would too.

Verse 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. Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to this
demon-possessed man and told about the pigs as well. And then the people began
to plead with Jesus to leave their region.

" Now why that last verse, verse 17, why did they plead with Jesus to leave
their region? In almost every instance where Jesus healed people, the people
rejoiced, the people flocked to him. He was so crowded by people who wanted to
be healed and they rejoiced in these miracles that happened.

What was the difference here? Why did they plead that he would leave their
region? The difference was the pigs.

They were afraid because the pigs had all been drowned. They were afraid because
it had cost them something for this man's life to be changed. They had to pay a
price.

You see, they were raising pigs. They had a good business going. And you might
say in one sense they had staked their future on pork bellies, on floating pork
bellies at this point.

You might say that in this town the market in pork bellies had just taken a
sudden and unexpected dive. I got about a hundred others like that, but we'll go
on to talk about what was happening in these people's lives. Why do people live
without the love of Christ?

Because we're afraid to pay the price of change. We think, "What's it going to
cost me? " We think, "What am I going to lose?

" And these people saw that it was going to cost them somehow monetarily. It
cost them in the commerce of their community. And because of that they were
afraid.

And fear does the strangest things to us. Instead of seeing what God is
offering, we start to sweat about what we might lose. Instead of seeing this man
sitting there dressed and in his right mind, they saw drowned pigs.

Instead of seeing the Son of God, Jesus Christ, God in human flesh, right there
in their city, willing to make a difference in their lives, they saw drowned
pigs. These people chased the answer to all of their problems out of their town
rather than face their fear. And the sad part is that they probably justified it
later with words like, "Just think how bad it would have gotten if he'd stayed,
the other bad things that he would have done.

" But I can't feel judgmental towards these people in that town because I've
done the same thing, and I guess you have too. There have been times in my life
where God wants to do something wonderful in my life, but I'm afraid. I'm afraid
of the next step.

I'm afraid of letting go of what I've had. I'm afraid of the new thing God is
challenging in my life. I'm afraid.

I'm afraid he won't be there. I'm afraid Jesus won't take care of me. I'm afraid
of what it's going to cost me.

And when that happens, I say no, or I say wait, and I miss out on the wonderful
thing that God wants us to do because my mind is focused on drowned pigs. My
prayer is that for me and you both, this story is a reminder of the things that
we hold on to and how small and insignificant they are compared to the great
things that God wants to do in our lives. There was one person in that town who
got it that day, who understood it that day.

The story of the man ends far differently than the story of the town. Listen to
verses 18 to 20. As Jesus was getting into the boat, he was getting into the
boat to leave the town because they told him he needed to.

Verse 18, as Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon
possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, "Go home to
your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had
mercy on you. " And so the man went away and began to tell the Decapolis how
much Jesus had done for And all the people were amazed.

Here's this man who had been healed of his confusion of the demon possession,
and he just wanted to be with Jesus, but Jesus had a more important job for him
to do. And so he says to him, "I want you to go and I want you to tell your
family. " Now it's interesting.

Jesus told most people not to tell when he healed them. We've already seen
several examples of that in Mark. He heals and he says, "Don't tell anyone.

" But he told some people, a few people, to tell others. Why did he do this?
Because he knew the people he was healing, because he knew the need of their
lives.

And he would not let everybody tell, because as we talked about earlier, he had
a timing of when he needed to go to the cross, and he didn't want the news to
get out too quickly. But he also knew the heart of those he healed, and he knew
there were some people they needed to tell. In order for their healing to be
completed, they needed to tell.

We're going to see a woman later in this chapter who needed to tell. And here's
a man who needed to tell his family and his town what had happened. This man
needed to see that his family and his town were amazed by what Jesus Christ had
done for him.

And that's exactly what happened. All the people were amazed at this story. All
the people were amazed at what Jesus Christ had done.

And so this man who had been in the tombs for so long, and had seen people if
he'd recognized it, looking at him with only derision and hate and ridicule, now
he sees them looking at him in a new way, as a miracle, the miracle of what
Jesus Christ can do. If you'd looked at this community, you'd come into it
before Jesus came that day and healed this man, and thought about who is the
least likely of people to make a difference in this community, you would have
pointed to this man. The amazing thing to me is that Jesus uses him to make the
difference.

It's hard to miss the point in this story. The town, all of whom seemed to be in
their right mind, they didn't need healing. The town ends up being controlled by
their fear.

And this man, who'd been confused and afraid for so long, ends up being set free
from his fear. That is what Jesus Christ can do, because the town chased Jesus
Christ away. And this man invited Jesus Christ in.

Let's take a minute to talk to Jesus Christ right now. Jesus, we thank you. We
thank you that you continue to speak to us and draw us in.

And in those times when, because of our fear, because we're so focused on some
little thing in our lives, losing it, not having it, we refuse to follow you, or
we drag our feet in following you, Jesus, you're patient. You don't give up on
us. You continue to call us.

Help us to hear you today. And help us to see those little things for what they
are. Help us to see that Jesus Christ, the greater things you want to do in our
lives are so much more.

And help us this day to have faith in you. In one small way, in one small place,
help us to take a step of faith that says, Jesus, we trust you instead of what
we want. We trust you instead of what we've had.

We trust you instead of our selfish ends and desires. We trust you because we
know you love us. You'll never fail us.

You'll never forsake us. And in that sense of gratefulness, we pray today,
Jesus, amen. Be sure to join us tomorrow.

We're going to look together at another healing in this chapter, Jesus's healing
of a woman who had suffered for 12 years.