Read and Believe in Jesus.

“Teacher, I will follow you wherever You go.” Matthew 8:19.

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REVIEW –

The Sermon on the Mount revealed that no one could enter into Jesus’ kingdom of heaven by being “good” or doing “good works.” All of them (and we) are sinners, and no matter our attempts and desires to live righteous lives, we can’t. Not even the uber-pious religious leaders could. There must be another way. The desperate leper and the important Centurion pointed to it. It is by faith in Jesus.

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Matthew 8: 18-22.

From His descent down the mountain until late that night, Jesus had been non-stop meeting the needs of the sick, disabled, and demon-possessed, with only a short meal break that Peter’s mother-in-law made.

Early the next morning, Jesus hoped to escape the crowd for some quiet time with His disciples and headed to the boatyard with them. But the masses followed him, with outstretched hands and loud pleas. As Jesus stepped into one of the boats (possibly Zebedee’s), a man called out.

“Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”

Perhaps the man even followed them toward the boat. But Jesus stopped and said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

Whoa! The man must have hesitated and thought about that. Did he really want to give up his nice home on the hill beside the Sea, with the wonderful view? Did he want to give up his daily meals and nightly bed? Um… nope. He turned back.

Jesus hesitated again when another man ran up and said to Him, “Let me first go and bury my father!”

“Follow me … and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”

Wow, that sounds harsh. But in this case, the man’s father wasn’t even dead yet. He probably was still in good health. What the phrase “bury my father” meant was that the man wanted to go home and make sure he got his inheritance when his father did die. THEN, with his inheritance settled, he’d go find Jesus… Or maybe not.

Jesus was asking which was more important to the man. His “stuff” or Himself.

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Matthew 8:23-27.

Jesus finally climbed into the boat with the others, and maybe John and James pushed off before jumping in too. They began rowing out of the harbor into the blue Sea of Galilee. The peace and quietness was wonderful.

Maybe Jesus commented on the things He’d just said to the would-be followers. Maybe He commended these men for leaving “all” to follow Him.

Eventually, Jesus’ exhaustion took over, and He lay down on the bench at the back of the boat. The men rowed on, talking in low voices so as not to disturb Him.

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And then the storm arrived. That deceptive Sea!! A bit of wind and then a gale. A ruffle on the water, and then it was pouring over the sides. They rowed hard and bucketed out the Sea. And the Sea began to win!!

“SAVE US, LORD! WE ARE PERISHING!” they screamed over the noise of wind and water.

Jesus woke up. (By their calls, not by the storm.)

As the wind whipped His hair and robe, and the water drenched Him, He called, “Why are you afraid, O ye of little faith?”

Then He turned and spoke to His creation, perhaps scolding it as He would a child. “Stop it, now!” Instant obedience. “Yes, Master.” And there was a great calm.

Of course the disciples were “totally wowed!” “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey Him?”

They were about to learn a bit more about the power in His Words.

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Matthew 8:28-34.

Eventually they pulled ashore in the country of the Gadarenes, at the South-Eastern side of the Sea of Galilee. The people of Gadara were Greek-influenced Gentiles (hence the pigs, later). The land in that area was mountainous and came sharply down to the sea. Archaeologists have found several graveyards there.

They had barely had time to pull the boat onto the land and secure it when a pair of demon-crazed men came running and screaming towards them out of the tombs.

WHOA!! The disciples probably wanted nothing more than to get back into the boat and push away… facing a storm rather than these crazies!!

(NOTE: Mark and Luke mentioned only one demoniac. He was probably more aggressive than the other.)

Jesus stood firm. He was the Son of God; who or what did He fear? The super-aggressive demoniac slid to a stop bare inches from Jesus, squirming and contorting and growling.

Finally he shouted, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?”

He writhed and twisted but finally screamed out, “If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs.”

“GO!” said the Lord of the Universe.

The Legion of demons (between 4,000 and 6,000) left the tortured men, clamored into the pigs, and promptly drove them down the steep hill and into the deep end of the Sea.

The disciples stood aghast, the boat’s rope still in their hands.

The herdsmen yelled with fear, threw down their staffs, and fled into the city, returning with a crowd. The crowd had heard all that Jesus had done from the shepherds, ESPECIALLY what happened to the demon-possessed men.

They begged Jesus to — no, not to stay and teach & heal them — but to LEAVE!

And so He did, returning to Capernaum. (Matt. 9:1)

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Jesus had come all that way to minister to two men. Just two. But in the other Gospel accounts, we know that the miracle was both seen and told throughout the region by those two. TWO devil-possessed men, converted by the power of Jesus’ word, evangelized a REGION. (Read Mark 5:18-22)

Compare these two men with the wannabe followers who had earlier turned back. (Vss.19-22)

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