Unwelcome? Matthew 8:34, NIV: “Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.” In Matthew 8:28-34, an event is described wherein the miraculous work of Christ so shook up a group of people that they asked Him to “leave their region.” To be fair to those people, such a thing had never been seen before, and to think of such a power to cast out demons must have been a bit overwhelming. Yet, it is hard not to wonder what they may have missed out on. If they would have only taken some time to understand, and thereby discover that the very Son of God was there with them, they could have perhaps seen “greater things that this.” It stands to reason, that even as Christ moved in mysterious, and sometimes frightening, ways back then; He would also move today in ways that would surely boggle our minds. Yet, within our typical churches today, we might have difficulty finding a power of God that has been embraced by the people. We, like they back then, are often frightened. We are wary of anything that breaches the walls of our tradit ions. It is hard not to wonder what we miss out on when we deny the movement of the Spirit when the Spirit breaches our walls. It is hard not to wonder how many times we, in our churches today, have asked Jesus to leave our region--in practice, if not in so many words.
Posted on: Thu, 29 Aug 2013 11:54:13 +0000