Daily Devotional for Monday 13th May
The power of Jesus against evil
The start of this week continues looking at the power in healing that Jesus offers. Today there is quite a lot to unpack in these few verses.
We have seen how huge crowds would gather in the hope that Jesus could heal them and the moment He got out of the boat, Jesus was faced with a man possessed by impure spirits.
In these passages it shows us how outcast this man was. He lived in a cave away from all civilisation and there were many failed attempts of trying to contain him as the evil spirits would physically break the chains that tried to hold him down. Has there ever been times in our lives when we feel bound by chains and desperate to be free?
When Jesus arrived, the evil spirits knew exactly who Jesus was – and they were in fear. The man shouted “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God”. This shows us all how many people rejected the idea that Jesus was the Messiah, but the evil spirits knew exactly who He was and what He was capable of – their fear should show us His mighty power.
The man stated to Jesus his name was Legion. The word Legion was used to describe the largest number within the Roman army, usually meaning between 3000 to 6000 people. This volume shows us how many evil spirits were taking hold of this man, and yet they coward in Jesus’ presence.
What does that show us of the power our God has within this world? Our God is so powerful that evil spirits that can grip us have no power when we lean into God and give our lives to Him. On our own, we cannot fight against evil, but with Jesus we are protected and saved. This man had thousands of evil spirits within him, and our ONE God removed them all.
Jesus could’ve easily sent the evil spirits into hell (referred to as the bottomless pit in Luke 8) instead choosing to send them into a herd of pigs that were then drowned. At this time, pigs were seen as unclean animals and so weren’t consumed by Jews, however Gerasenes was mainly occupied by gentiles, and so the pigs would’ve been the people’s livelihood and source of food. The demise of so much of their livelihood would’ve caused worry and anger to the local people.
Imagine the look of shock on the towns people’s faces when arriving at the cave, they witnessed the man that was once possessed and unable to live amongst them was now completely fine and in his right mind! How would this make you feel if you saw somebody healed? What emotions do you think would surface?
Jesus wanted this man to go and tell everybody how he was healed. Until this point, we have seen Jesus telling people not to talk about what miracles He had performed. By going to show everybody this miraculous healing meant that Jesus work was visible to everyone and they knew exactly who had healed this man of such evil. We see how the man went in the Decapolis – this is ten cities - to spread the word. That would be a huge number of people who got to see and hear about the power of Jesus.
Time to reflect…
Do we feel held back by chains and evil in our own lives? Reading these verses again, how would it feel to be freed of this feeling?
Pause to pray…
Heavenly Father, we thank you for this new week and for the opportunity to delve deeper into Your word. As we read these verses, we thank You for showing us the power You hold. We pray that within our own lives, you help us to fight the demons we have and to know how much You love us to do that. We pray that you free us from the chains that are holding us down and free us to grow closer to You.
In Your heavenly name,
Amen.
