Dear Rehoboth,

Do you have any sympathy for the pigs? If you are reading through this passage, I think many of us focus a lot on the pigs as they fly over the ridge. I question why Jesus killed all the pigs. But I am also the same person who when watching a big battle scene hates to see the horses get shot. I seem fine with the idea of all these persons fake dying, but as soon as a horse is shown “suffering” or maybe the dog dies in the story, I start to get emotional. I would venture to guess I am not alone in this feeling but have you ever stopped to wonder how messed up that is. In the movie, neither the person or the horse actually suffer. In fact, a lot of times the horses aren’t even real horse and yet I feel bad for the random animal and not the random person. What in us drives us to react this way? I’m not sure, but whatever that feeling is, I believe it is also at work in our story this week. This week I am going to spend some time in the idea of why we care about the pigs more than the healed person.  What is it about humans that makes us cry at the commercials about dogs in cages but easily tune out when we see people dying on the sides of streets? What makes us cry for the pigs and unable to rejoice for the man who was healed? There must be something there that I just can’t see. I would love to hear what you think about that?

Another place I may want to take this sermon is in regards to the last couple of verses. This man has been healed, and he asks Jesus if he can come along with him. That’s a responsible request. I think I would want to stick close to the man who changed my life. I would probably want to see what else he can do. So I don’t think this man is being selfish or needy; he just wants to follow. Jesus though says no, go home and tell them about me. I wrote a paper on this passage not long ago, and this is what I wrote,

“A lot of times, we want to pick where Jesus has called. We want to believe that Jesus has called us to be a lead Pastor at a big suburban church, and we will go ahead and tell Jesus that. Or we want to work in nonprofits to fulfill our call. Or that joining the social committee is a better fit for ourselves compared to the trustees. We sometimes want to tell God what we are called to. In Mark, though Jesus is quick to show that he is the one that decides our callings. Jesus calls each of the disciples, and they follow. The once possessed man, much like us, tried to choose his calling. But Jesus says no. Jesus doesn’t reject his passion for being a follower, but Jesus decides what he is called to. This man is called to go back to the place that rejected him, that shackled him, that wanted nothing to do with him, and seemed to care more about pigs than the fact that he was healed. This is where Jesus sent him to spread the gospel. We don’t always get to choose where we are called to, and sometimes we are called to what we would think are the worst places.”

I believe this is something we need to think about as a church. Sometimes following Jesus means following him to those places we would rather not go. It means making those changes we would rather not make. It means putting aside our will for his. This man was blessed, and it is out of that blessing that he proclaims the gospel. What would it look like for us to actually go where Jesus sends us? We like to follow Jesus when he sends us to take care of the animals. I am not sure we like to follow Jesus as much when he sends us back to our dungeons to proclaim the gospel. My question for us to ponder this week is where is Jesus calling us to go? If the answer makes you comfortable, I’m afraid you may not have found the answer.

Grace and peace,

Pastor Lee