Invite Him In

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 the demon-possessed man—and told about the pigs as well. Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.

Mark 5:15–17

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How did the townspeople respond to Jesus and the great miracle He performed when He cast thousands of demons out of this one man?

They very kindly and very politely invited Jesus to leave. In fact, it says they “pleaded” with Jesus to leave their region. And this is exactly how some of you treat God. You go to church on Sunday morning and pay your respects and then you politely ask God not to interfere with your private life. Why? Why did they respond this way and why do we respond this way?

Verse 15 gives us the answer. It says, “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.” They were afraid! Who knows how long this man had terrorized their area. Who knows how many times they had tried to deal with him. The story tells us that he had often been chained hand and foot. Yet, Jesus arrives and within just a few minutes is able to subdue this man and cast all the demons out of him! They didn’t think this was possible. They were afraid of Jesus’ power. They simply weren’t sure that they wanted someone that powerful anywhere near them or their town. They were afraid of what Jesus could do, afraid of what He might do with all that power.

‌I think many of us respond to Jesus in this same way. We are afraid to let Jesus into our life, because we are afraid of what He might do? Afraid of what He might ask us to do. I struggled with this for a very long time. I was afraid that if I fully surrendered my life to Christ He might call me to be a missionary, or He might ask me to walk up to strangers on the street and share the gospel with them. Are you keeping Jesus at arm’s length? Are you very politely asking Him to leave you alone because you are afraid of what He might ask you to do? Don’t make the mistake these people made. The Bible doesn’t record Jesus ever returning to this area after they invited Him to leave. Don’t let fear keep you from Jesus. Don't plead with Him to leave. Invite Him in.