Saturday, March 7
Scripture: Matthew 8:28-34
And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way. And behold, they cried out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” Now a herd of many pigs was feeding at some distance from them. And the demons begged him, saying, “If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs.” And he said to them, “Go.” So they came out and went into the pigs, and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters. The herdsmen fled, and going into the city they told everything, especially what had happened to the demon-possessed men. And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their region.

RADICAL INTERVENTION

The disciples had just been with Jesus on a boat in a massive storm that caused them to fear for their lives, while Jesus peacefully slept through their nightmare. When they woke him, Jesus rebuked the wind and the waves and calmed the storm with his words. As they marveled about this they asked each other who he was, that he could command nature and it would obey him. The answer to their question is found in Matthew 8:29 when Jesus is proclaimed the Son of God. But it’s not the disciples who come to this conclusion in this passage. The answer comes from an unlikely source: demons. Two men, possessed by demons so fierce that none but Jesus could pass their way, came out to meet Jesus and his disciples. Knowing who Jesus was and fearing judgment and punishment, they asked to be cast out into a nearby herd of pigs. And with one word, one small word, “Go,” Jesus demonstrated that he had already overcome evil and had authority and power over darkness. The pigs rushed to their demise over the cliff and the herdsman fled to the city to give report to the people. The local people, choosing to see the circumstance of the pigs as a tragedy rather than these men’s deliverance from bondage, beg Jesus to go away and leave them alone.

How often we do this very same thing! We overlook the unseen victory and focus our eyes on our inconvenient, uncomfortable, and unwanted circumstances. Do we rejoice over the ways Jesus overcomes darkness, or do we respond with unbelief, begging Jesus to go away? Do we truly believe that Jesus has power over darkness and sin? Do we trust his radical intervention in our lives?

The gospel needs to inform our every day living. We all are the Gadarene men of the tombs and we desperately need Christ’s radical intervention to free us.

My chains are gone
I've been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy reigns
Unending love, amazing grace.

Jesus has radically intervened in my life. Jesus found me when I was young and marked me by grace as his own.

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.

My life has been woven with that grace and his radical intervention ever since.  Although recently, that grace looked to me very much like Briton Riviere’s painting of pigs hurtling over a cliff. 14 years and 5 kids into marriage, my godly, faithful, 34 year old servant of a husband was given the gift of leukemia. Geoff accepted this gift without asking for a return receipt and never wasted his cancer throughout his months long hospital stays, crazy cancer drugs and stem cell transplant. We had hoped that radical intervention would come for us in the form of Geoff being healed either through science and medicine or by God’s hand directly. But intervention came instead through Geoff’s eternal healing as he breathed his last earthly breath. The finality of life as my kids and I had known it was inescapable. Through the months following his death I was amazed that though the waves of grief and sorrow were overwhelming, I keenly felt God’s abiding love for me in a way I had never experienced so deeply. The gospel and redemption and grace were as inescapable as my sorrow. Grace began to have a cauterizing effect on my bleeding heart as I was daily reminded that Jesus is more than enough for me. My deepest needs had already been met the day He found me and set me free, and He would sustain me. My circumstances were not the ultimate tragedy.

The Lord has promised good to me
His word my hope secures
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures.

And then, when I least expected it, through His tender care for me and my children, God radically intervened and brought a modern day Boaz into my life. A man among men, who had been waiting for me his entire life. Today, March 7, 2015 is our wedding day! As I enter into this covenant relationship, this living picture of Christ and His church, I am reminded and overwhelmed by the fact that I am not my own but belong to the One who gave Himself to redeem me. This indeed is intervention of the most radical kind.

PRAYER
Jesus, may we never beg you to leave. Please give us eyes to see our sin as the tragedy rather than point our fingers at our circumstances. May we be quick to proclaim your power over darkness and trust your radical intervention in our lives. May we walk confidently in your grace and extend it to others with the same extravagance that has been given freely to us. Amen

Leah (Dykstra) Peterson, Alumna, Biola University