Wednesday, April 15, 2015

How Do You Feel When You See Jesus Coming?

A little over a year ago my family and I were given a little white puff-ball dog.  A Maltese.  Here he is doing one of his favorite things.  He looks real cute but he has some serious separation anxiety.  And after being left at home for a while he goes crazy when we get back.

That crazy dog, running around, so excited and anxious and nervous and jumping and twisting around and barking is the picture that popped into my mind when I read the story of the demon possessed man from Luke 8 this morning.

It's actually something that I had missed every other time I have read this passage but it jumped off the page when I read it this morning.  Let me set it up.

As I was reading down through the chapter I first was struck by this verse, "Consider carefully how you listen" verse 18.  I actually stopped reading and just thought about that for a minute.  How often do we consider how we listen?  What does that even mean?  I wasn't sure, so I prayed something like, "God, help me to learn to listen so that I don't miss You in anything."

As I kept reading I came to the verse that caused me to think about my crazy dog.  It happens in verse  27 right after Jesus gets to the other side of the Sea of Galilee after calming the storm.  It simply says, "when Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon possessed man from the town.  For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs."

Here's what got me, Jesus is sailing across the lake and on the other side is this naked man acting like my dog when I come home.  I just pictured him running up and down the beach screaming and flailing his arms and jumping around.   My guess is that Jesus saw him long before He reached the shore.  The man had to be there waiting because Luke specifically says, "when Jesus stepped ashore..."  This crazy man was the only one waiting for Him.  Anticipating Jesus arrival.  And what does he say when Jesus finally gets out of the boat?  "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?  I beg you don't torture me!"

Why was the man there? No one apparently knew Jesus was coming that day.  No one else was there when He got to shore.  Perhaps the demon possessed man was down by the water when he noticed a storm, and then no storm.  Maybe he just knew that the only one who could calm a storm was in that boat.  Whatever the reason he was there it is a beautiful picture of the craziness of life and the freedom found in Jesus.

I want to be the one waiting for Jesus when no one else is around because I know when Jesus gets here, lives are going to be changed.