Do you remember I told you about how Jesus calmed the raging winds and waves with just a word? Well, what happened next was, if that’s possible, even more amazing – it was certainly weirder! We crossed over the side of the lake and landed on the shore in what we knew to be a Gentile area – normally no-go for us Jews. We were already feeling pretty tense, wondering what we were doing here, when two men came from behind some tombs that were nearby. They looked terrifying – strong, with straggly hair and wearing rags, and began screaming at us. “What do you want with us, Son of God? Have you come to torture us before God’s appointed time?”
I mean, I was properly freaked out. Who on earth were they and how on earth did they know who Jesus was? Their voices sounded pretty odd – like there was some evil power behind them. Me and the other blokes took a step or two back, and sort of motioned towards the boat – as if we felt it was time to leave, never mind the fact that we’d only just arrived. But we looked at Jesus who didn’t seem frightened – far from it – in fact, he stepped towards the men with a smile on his face – as if he was enjoying himself – as he did so, the men seemed to quail before him – they looked panicked, as if the power they were encountering was greater than the power they had – and they started looking around. Then, with some level of desperation, they motioned towards this large herd of pigs that were feeding in the distance, and they begged, “Please, if you’re going to cast us out, send us out into that herd of pigs.”
“All right,” Jesus shrugged, “Go!”
The men seemed to roar and then went still. Meanwhile, the pigs started shrieking, making a horrendous noise, and then they stampeded down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned. There were men who’d been looking after the pigs and ran off. Meanwhile, the men who had been screaming at Jesus had been transformed. They were completely at peace. In their right minds. Whatever had been tormenting them, forcing them to live as outcasts among the tombs, had gone from them forever – and into the pigs. Jesus started to talk to them – you could tell the gratitude that was coming from them – while me and the other disciples were speechless – we didn’t know what to say. What is there to say, when you go from storms to seeing men freed like that? Jesus is amazing!
The men’s gratitude wasn’t shared by the locals – a crowd came from the village – they had the pig herders with them – and asked us to go away. Clearly they were frightened by the power that Jesus had. And there was no doubt – he has power – we’ve never seen anything like this. Who is this man? Could he really be the Son of God as the demons said?
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