But the man out of whom the demons had gone besought him that he might be with him. But he sent him away, saying,
Two requests came to Jesus on that shore: a whole countryside asked Him to leave, and the man He had just set free asked to come with Him. Only one of them got what he wanted, and it was not the man.
The plea is remarkable because of who made it. Satan had held this man completely, yet once free he wanted only to be near the One who freed him.
He begged Jesus that he might be with Him, and so he stood in moral contrast with the whole crowd that begged Him to leave them. He had been in far more terrible circumstances than they had. But such is the power of God's grace. It creates and forms what we ought to be. Judging by his background, this demon-possessed man was the last person you would expect to come near Jesus. Satan had led him captive completely, at his own will. Yet Christ set him free, and so perfectly from the first hour that his one desire was to be with Jesus. This was the first-fruit of the Spirit's work in a man whom grace had delivered — the untaught instinct of the new man to enjoy the presence of Jesus. The simplest soul born of God has this wish.
Put the two prayers side by side and see who ended up happy.
And now two more requests came to the Lord, this time from men. He granted the first and refused the second. All the people of the country of the Gerasenes asked Him to depart from them. So He left them. The delivered one begged Him that he might be with Him. The man was happy in the Lord's presence. The people of the country were miserable. He granted their prayer. He refused his, because the man was to work for Christ in the very place where Christ had set him free.
The wish Jesus refused is the one He guarantees.
In due time his desire will have a glorious answer. We know that Christ died for believers so that we should live together with Him. Very soon we shall be forever with the Lord. In the meantime we have the privilege of being for Him in a scene from which He has been rejected.
The refusal had a purpose. The Lord had a use for this man where he stood.
He shows that, no matter how true and right and fitting this feeling of grace in the delivered man's heart might be, there is still a work to be done. Those who are delivered are themselves to be deliverers. Such is the kind and generous character and aim of the ministry of Jesus. Jesus does His work. He breaks the power of Satan that no one else can touch. But He does not do it merely so that the delivered one should have his heart with Him and at once want to go and be with Him. Jesus did not please Himself. He came to serve God here below. So this man's place of service is where he could tell others the great things done for him.
He is sent home, to the people who had watched him at his worst.
He will have his desire later. For now, "Return to your home." This is precious to the Lord: to show God's wonderful works not merely to strangers, but to one's own household. People like these would know best the shame, sorrow, and degradation to which he had been reduced. So Jesus says, "Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you." The man in faith bows and understands. Whatever his heart's desire might be, he is now to do the good, holy, and acceptable will of the Lord.
The Lord told him to speak of God. He spoke of Jesus.
Notice, it is of Jesus he speaks. Jesus wanted him to tell what God had done; and God wanted him to tell what Jesus had done. This could not be so unless Jesus Himself was the Son of God.
The Lord did not keep the man as payment for the miracle.
Never in a single instance, as I believe, did He claim either the person or the service of those He restored and delivered. He never made the deliverance He worked a claim to service. Jesus loved, healed, and saved, looking for nothing in return. He would not let this freed man of Gadara be with Him.
- Grace creates the wish. Wanting to be with Jesus was not this man's own nature. It was the first sign of God's work in him, and the simplest believer shares it.
- Grace divides the shore. The crowd begged Him to leave, and He went. The man begged to stay, and He said no. The answered prayer was the poorer one.
- Grace delays the wish. Being with Him is only postponed, not cancelled. Meanwhile the believer lives for Him in a world that rejected Him.
- Grace gives an errand. The delivered become deliverers, sent first to their own household — to the people who knew the worst.
- Grace demands no fee. He never turned a rescue into a claim on the rescued. He gave, and looked for nothing back.
Return to thine house and relate how great things God has done for thee. And he went away through the whole city, publishing how great things Jesus had done for him.
The Gadara story ends with one man's assignment. The person who wanted to leave with Jesus is the one told to stay. Why did the Lord say no to him? And why did he then speak of Jesus, when he had been told to speak of God?
Two requests came to Jesus that day. The crowd and the healed man asked for opposite things, and the Lord answered each in the opposite way.
Now two more requests came to the Lord, this time from men. He granted the first and refused the second. All the people of the country of the Gerasenes asked Him to leave them. So He left them. The man who had been set free begged that he might be with Him. Having received divine grace, he wanted to go with his deliverer. The man was happy in the Lord's presence. The people of the country were miserable. The Lord granted their prayer. He refused his, because he was to work for Christ in the place where he had been set free.
The refusal was not a rebuke. One writer points to what the crowd was protecting, and to where the man was sent.
The world begs Jesus to leave. It wants its own comfort, and that comfort is disturbed more by the presence and power of God than by a legion of demons. He goes away. The man who was healed would gladly be with Him. But the Lord sends him back — into the world that He Himself had left — to be a witness of the grace and power he had received.
Jesus sent him home first. The people who had watched him at his worst knew best what he had been.
The Lord values this: showing God's wonderful works not just to strangers, but to one's own household. Those at home would know best the shame, sorrow, and degradation he had been reduced to.
That same nearness is what makes the task hard, and one writer traces the timidity to its root.
Why is it often so hard to speak to our friends? Why are people who are bold with strangers so timid in front of their own household and relatives? … We shrink from the comparison our friends are so quick and certain to make. They test our words — however clear, and good, and sweet — by what they can so easily see in our daily lives. An inconsistent walk makes a coward, at least, before "our friends."
The swap in this verse is easy to miss. The command names God; the report names Jesus. Commentators do not treat this as disobedience.
The man in faith bows and understands. Whatever his heart's desire might be, he is now to do the good, holy, and acceptable will of the Lord. "And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him." Notice, it is of Jesus he speaks. Jesus would have him tell what God had done; and God would have him tell what Jesus had done. This could not have been had Jesus not been the Son of God Himself. Though the lowliest servant of God, He was none the less also God. The man was right. He was not going against the will of God, nor breaking the command of Jesus. He kept its spirit all the more, even if the words themselves sound different. God is honoured best when Jesus is most shown forth.
Elsewhere Jesus told healed people to say nothing. One writer explains what made this case different.
This was different from some other cases, where the Lord told people to tell no one… In those cases the Lord stayed in the area where He was. Human advertising tended to get in the way of His work, because it stirred up people who came only for the miracles. In Gadara, however, this man bore striking witness to the whole city. The Man they had refused was the One who held the power of God over the cruelty of evil spirits. Some people may be tempted to exaggerate how great a change has taken place in them. In this case the change was so great it could hardly be exaggerated.
- Refused — The one prayer Jesus turned down came from the healed man. He wanted Jesus' company; Jesus gave him work instead.
- Returned — The Lord left the country, and left this man in it. Where Christ is unwanted, His witness stays behind.
- Home — The job starts with the people who knew the shame. They can measure the change, and that is why they are the hardest to face.
- Transposed — Told to publish what God had done, he published what Jesus had done. Commentators read the swap not as disobedience but as evidence of who Jesus is.
- Witnessed — A whole city heard about the Man it had begged to leave. The proof was not argument but a life too changed to explain away.