vv 1-20. After calming the storm the disciples and Jesus arrive on the Southeast shore of Galilee, a Gentile area. Jesus sends the demons possessing a crazy man into a herd of pigs. The pigs stampede down the hillside into the water and are drowned. The healed man begs to go with Jesus but Jesus instead commissions him to be a missionary with his own family and town.
The Pigs. Jesus allows the pigs to be possessed and drowned. Though this seems cruel both to the pigs and to their herders, it demonstrates His priorities: humans are a distinct species, set aside as special among all living things. No price is too high to pay for the salvation of even one soul.
Great leaders leave tangible reminders of the mission to inspire their followers. This no doubt sent a strong message to the disciples with regard to the value of seeing the Kingdom radically transform a life. For the disciples also, this scene came directly after the calming of the storm where Jesus demonstrated His power over the physical world. Now He has vividly shown His power over the Spiritual realm.
The Man's Request. It might seem cruel of Jesus to not allow this man to accompany Him. After all, this man has been estranged from his people, and now is linked to the destruction of valuable property! Jesus, however, demonstrates incredible wisdom in leadership by instead commissioning this man.
- Jesus' personal mission is to the Jews and these are Gentiles. God's full mission is to all people, however. And so Jesus takes the opportunity to multiply His leadership into an area where He is not personally called by partnering with this man. If this man came with Jesus how would those in his village ever hear? What amazement it surely was to see this man in his right mind and to hear his story!
- Discerning the "good" from the "best" in priorities. As a general leadership observation, Jesus does not give in to every request of His followers. It can be so easy for leaders, especially those in the church, to bend until breaking trying to be available for everyone. Pastors burn out from being unable to say "no". It is especially hard when all the requests coming their way are "good" things, like helping people! How flattering to have someone want to follow after you? But Jesus is able to tell the "good" from the "best," and this is key to staying on mission. To do this first means clearly knowing our mission, and Jesus surely did. With this confidence He is able to in the moment know what to do with this man's request. This is a great challenge to me know my mission from God, because there's a lot of good out there, but there's only a little "best" that is God ordained for my ministry.
vv 21-43. After returning from the Gerasenes, Jesus is again teaching by the lake when a synagogue ruler petitions Jesus to lay hands on his ailing 12 year old daughter. Jesus immediately goes with him and on the way is approached by sick woman in the crowd. As He is walking, she grabs His robe and is healed. Jesus somehow notices and calls her out, praising her faith. Continuing on, the little girl has died, but Jesus assures all that she is just asleep. After being laughed at, Jesus raises her from the dead and warns the people not to spread this story.
The Woman. Jesus, in one sense, is always "on mission." He was on His way to heal the little girl when approached by this woman, showing that He is not too busy to discern opportunities for ministry in any surrounding. For me this means making every interaction count. If I'm buying groceries I can encourage the checkout clerks. When walking around the neighborhood I can engage with my neighbors in discussion. When running in the park I can look for the lonely people. Of course there are numerous possibilities for unforeseen ministry opportunities. Will I be aware of them?
Jairus' Daughter. Clearly Jesus had to have said "no" to many requests for ministry, judging by the crowds that continually pressed Him. Why did He agree to drop everything and go with this man? It doesn't seem fair to everyone else does it? Maybe this is what good leaders do...they do for one what they can't do for all, aka "symbolic leadership"*. It would be a mistake to fulfill every request as a leader would burn out. At the same time, it would be wrong to never help, saying, "well I can't do it for all so it wouldn't be fair to do it for this one." Fairness shouldn't have much to do with it. This is a huge challenge, though, that takes great confidence and awareness of the leader to know their limits. I also wonder if Jesus strategically chose this opportunity because of the impact resultant from helping a synagogue ruler. Who knows? My "fairness" alarm is going off if this the case, "what about all the poor then?" But maybe helping this man, a man of influence, would result in the poor being served.
Jesus' confidence in the whole matter is also to be commended. In v36 Jesus "ignores" those who brought the bad news of the girl's death, instead encouraging them to "believe, and fear not." Even in the face of their laughter he questions their mourning. This shows His great trust in the authority given to Him by the Father. We have also been commissioned to ministry; do we trust God to show up in unlikely circumstances?
Finally, Jesus allows only Peter, James, and John to accompany Him to the healing room. Even within His core of 12, Jesus has chosen 3 to more deeply invest in. Three seems manageable! I am encouraged to look for opportunities to bring others along, sharing in the experience of ministry and encouraging others to lead.
*Thanks to Andy Stanley for this term
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