[Journey with Jesus – Day 16]
I cannot tell you the difference Jesus made in my life. Before he came in his boat, I was barely in my right mind. I lived among the tombs, among the dead, People avoided me, they were so fearful. I didn’t care. I was so full of rage and hatred. I was too strong for the shackles they put on my hands to control me. Like an animal. Now I realise that something dark and demonic had hold of me. Legion – an army of demons – dwelled within. I tried to satisfy the rage by cutting myself with stones. But then Jesus landed with his disciples. I felt something new then – fear. I threw myself down at his feet, and cried out, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God” – for I knew exactly who it was who had landed at the lake shore. Then he commanded the spirit to leave me, and again I protested, “I beg you, don’t torment me.” I even tried bargaining with Jesus, asking him not to banish us from the region – and instead to drive us out of the man into a nearby herd of pigs. He nodded his head and with that, I felt a great weight off my mind, the inner darkness and rage left; I felt peace again. Within seconds, the herd of pigs rushed as one down the steep bank and into the sea. There was such a commotion. But I felt free!
Quickly, Jesus turned to his disciples and a moment later, someone produced some clothes. Jesus asked how I felt, and I said, simply, that I felt free. I was a new man. All thanks to him. He looked thrilled for me. The peace that had descended lasted for a few minutes, until a large number of people came out to us – people from the local town. They looked at me, looked at Jesus and looked frightened. Then, to my astonishment, they begged him to leave. I couldn’t believe it, when he had done so much good. But Jesus didn’t protest – he gathered his disciples and they headed for the boat. I ran after him. As he was getting in, I pleaded with him, “Please may I come with you?”
He shook his head, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you.”
“I will,” I replied. And I have done, ever since. I’ve made it my mission to tell people how much Jesus has done for me. I’m met with amazement, but they can’t deny that I’m not the man I was – I may have well been dead, but Jesus made me alive.
I didn’t know if I would see Jesus again, but a rumour spread that he had arrived with his disciples. Since people had heard of the transformation he had brought to me, they believed he might be able to help others who had been plagued by suffering. One of them was a man who was deaf and could hardly talk. A group of us made our way to Jesus with our friend. Jesus recognised me. “It’s good to see you,” he said, “Do I have you to thank for the welcome?” he smiled.
“I think so – I did what you told me!” I replied, “You changed my life. Please, could you help our friend. He’s deaf and is unable to speak properly. Please put your hands on him.”
Jesus looked around. “Let’s get away from the crowd, shall we?” So, we went apart from the crowd a little. Jesus looked into our friend’s eyes. Then he did something we didn’t expect – he put his fingers into his ears; then he spat and touched his tongue. On reflection, though, I think Jesus was explaining to our friend what was about to happen to him. Then, Jesus looked up to heaven and sighed deeply. “Ephphatha!” – which is Aramaic for “Be opened.”
We looked at our friend, who looked around at him with a perplexed expression on his face – this then turned to wonder. “I can hear!” He exclaimed.
“And talk,” added Jesus, smiling. We embraced, so full of joy. At that, word spread all throughout the town. People were simply overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
We begged Jesus to stay with us, and more people came to hear him teach and experience healing from him – those who were blind, crippled, unable to speak – and many others – received healing and freedom. We were so amazed and gave glory to the God of Israel. A large crowd had gathered, and you could tell his disciples were becoming agitated, because we had all been together so long that we were running out of food. I overheard Jesus say to his disciples, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.”
Well, his disciples weren’t impressed with this. One of them asked, “But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?”
“How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked.
“Seven,” they replied.
“Great! Why don’t you ask the crowd to sit down on the ground?” The disciples looked at each other and shrugged, then started to usher the crowd to sit down on the ground. I looked around me, and realised just how many people there were – a sea of people – thousands who had gathered to hear Jesus. I looked back, and saw Jesus taking the seven loaves. He gave thanks to God, broke them, then passed them, along with a few small fish that he had, to his disciples. They then passed them onto to the crowd. I couldn’t see how this would end well – surely the food would run out. … But it didn’t … The disciples kept on handing out the food until everyone had ate their fill. We were so amazed at what had just happened. We all had the same look of wonder on our faces. Afterwards, I could see the disciples picking up leftovers and putting them into baskets – I counted seven of those altogether. Incredible that so many were fed and satisfied – and that there was so much left over. I asked one of the disciples how many there were here, and he said he reckoned four thousand men, besides women and children. Jesus is amazing. He does all things well!
Halwill Publishing 