God’s Word for You
Luke 8:38-39 tell how much God has done
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Friday, April 13, 2018
38 The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Return to your home and tell how much God has done for you.” So the man went away proclaiming all through the town how much Jesus had done for him.
Jesus said, “When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to myself” (John 12:32), and also, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:44). We are drawn to Jesus by God through the gospel of the forgiveness of sins. What a blessing to be drawn to Jesus!
Here in the Gerasenes, during his ministry, Jesus drew many people to himself, but some people refused the draw of Jesus. It seems as if only human beings in this lifetime are capable of rejecting him and turning away. Remember that the demons in the Gerasene man were even drawn to Jesus; terrified, but drawn. Only those who reject him in unbelief turn away from the Lord. The demons had no choice; they were drawn to him because they recognized his power despite their terror. The disciples were already with him in faith and simply followed after him—the very definition of a disciple.
Now the man, no longer possessed, wanted nothing else but to follow Jesus, too. Only the villagers and the pig herders wanted the Lord to go and didn’t want to go with him. They needed to be taught; to be shown the truth by an honest witness of the truth. That honest witness was the healed man. Jesus told him to go back home. This is the hint we have that the man did indeed have a family, for who would there be at home to tell the gospel to?
The man did even more. He went “all through the town” proclaiming the truth. God will work through you, too, as a witness to his word, his power, and his promises. Share what you know. Don’t be afraid to say it: “I know that my Redeemer lives!” Then, when someone asks, you can explain what all of those words mean: “to know” about him, what a Redeemer is, what it means that Jesus is “my” Redeemer, and what the Bible means by “lives.” You know all of that. Hold it out with love. Jesus’ words to the Gerasene man apply to you, too: “Return to your home and tell how much God has done for you.”
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.