Red Letters – When Pigs Fly – April 18

RED LETTERS
April 18, 2021

When Pigs Fly

Mark 5:9, ‘Then Jesus asked Him, “What is your name?”’

Today I wanted to spend a little bit of time at the tombs. Call me macabre but we all have heard his screams night and day. We have witnessed his angst and his wildness has scared the townspeople for ages. People detour the cemetery with a wide berth and children are not even allowed in its vicinity. The man is demented, possessed. He once wore ball and chain, but with supernatural strength, destroyed the strongholds. No one can come close enough to him to subdue his antics, nor medicate or capture him. He is crazy. It’s inhumane; I know. But you would run too if you saw him. Even the night is terrorized by him. The evil that envelopes him is darker than the night now so it hides from him. They say he tortures himself with stones and cuts himself with glass. He looks hideous, scarred and chewed up by life.
But I heard something happened yesterday so I had to come see for myself. I cannot fathom it. And there he rests, on the edge of life, surrounded by a crowd. He is dressed, looking like any other man with a sound mind; the life of disfigurement and blemish but a distant trace today. Everyone is murmuring and pointing, avidly waiting to hear him speak, patiently remaining until he finishes every word.
‘It was astonishing,’ an onlooker exclaims. ‘This prophet…the one who is causing such a stir—His name is Jesus; have you heard about Him?—never mind,’ he pauses for effect. ‘Well, this Jesus steps out of His boat and Crazy Abe goes stumbling toward Him.
‘You know,’ the man took a deep breath, and continued. ‘This crew that works together, we just shook our heads. This can’t be good, we all were thinking. I mean, this Jesus, they say is the Son of God! And Crazy Abe is owned by demons. We were waiting for a showdown. I was wondering if I’d have to step in; help out, ya know? But then I thought to myself, who would I help? Which one would need help? I mean, Crazy Abe is sc-ar-ee, right? But if this Jesus is God, what kind of a tangle could erupt? I didn’t know myself what I would do.’
He leaned in. Everyone gathered close, hanging on each word, not wanting to miss a tidbit of it. ‘It was unbelievable. Crazy Abe fell before this Jesus, like on his face, and it was if every spirit inside of him was begging for help. He literally cried out, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Don’t torture me. Please!” We were bewildered, I mean, what the heck?!’ He shook his head, glancing up at the ever-growing crowd, everyone pressing in for a glimpse.
‘Even demons seem to know Who this Jesus is!’ the man mumbled and quickly added, ‘So Jesus commanded those spirits to come out of Crazy Abe. He said, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!” Then He asked him his name. You know what he said? He said his name was Legion because there were many of them, and then all these demons pleaded not to be sent away. The noise was deafening!
‘Suddenly, and this is the craziest part—you should have seen it!’ the man covered his mouth with his hand like he almost couldn’t believe what he was about to say. ‘Suddenly Crazy Abe pointed to this herd of pigs grazing nearby and said send us into them. So He did! This Jesus granted the spirits’ requests, and at once, the pigs became uncontrollable! They raced to the cliff and over the edge into the water and they all drowned. It was preposterous!’ He mused, still nursing disbelief with a continual shake of his head. ‘It was ridiculous, really. I don’t know if I would believe my story if I hadn’t witnessed it with my own eyes!’ he exclaimed.
‘What about Crazy Abe? What happened then?’ someone in the crowd asked.
The man just pointed to the large crowd. ‘He’s in the middle of all those people, telling that crowd just like I told this crowd. He got up, brushed himself off, dressed in clothing, and began praising this Jesus for setting Him free. Relieved, relaxed, restored. Like a house that has been battered by a massive storm. It gets gutted and rebuilt, and in its place, stands a perfectly refurbished mansion. That’s Abe, gutted and deconstructed, renovated, recovered and reconstructed. Delivered! He will never be the same again!’

I’ve been reading RED LETTERS all my life, but never with my heart.
During the month of April, let’s JOURNEY where JESUS journeyed,
and listen with our hearts to all He came to proclaim.