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Pastor's Blog January 7, 2021
"Jesus Is the Son of God II"
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Last week we looked at how the wilderness temptation of Jesus in Matthew 4 shows the Savior to be the Son of God. This week we're taking a look at another interaction Jesus has with a demonic power in Matthew 8: the story of Jesus healing the Gadarene demoniacs.
Jesus arrives in "the country of the Gadarenes" and is immediately confronted by two tomb-dwelling men who are possessed by demons (verse 28). When he gets there, Jesus is peppered with questions and statements by the demons. They ask him a two-punch question: "What business do we have with each other, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?" (verse 29). If you think about it, these two questions are incredibly odd - and very revealing for who the demons perceive Jesus to be.
The demons address him as "Son of God"; apparently, Jesus' divine identity from his wilderness temptation has gotten around in the demonic realm. And yet, they ask about what their relationship to Jesus is (their literal statement is, "What is to us and to you," which is a Hebrew way of asking what two parties have to do with each other) - and then immediately show that they know what their relationship is to Jesus by asking whether or not they are to face judgment now rather than in the future!
Jesus either doesn't engage in this conversation or the demons don't give him any time to respond, because the next line is again made by the demons: "If You are going to cast us out, send us into the herd of swine" (verse 31). They know God has designated pigs as unclean, and they would rather keep company with unclean things than stay in Jesus' presence. So Jesus tells them to go - and the demons kill the pigs by drowning them in the Sea of Galilee (verse 32).
The response by the onlooking people is troubling, however. The herdsmen run away and tell the surrounding villages what Jesus has done (verse 33). You'd think people would rejoice, but instead they decide that the problem is Jesus, not the demons - so they beg Jesus to leave the area (verse 34).
Friends, Jesus' treatment of the demon-possessed men shows he's the Son of God. The question for you is, What would you like to do with Jesus: stay with the Son of God or fear him and run away from him?
God bless,
Pastor Nathaniel Gamble
