I just wrote about the man who was naked and wounded. I didn’t mention that he was also a beggar. Beggar in a sense that he was spiritually dead beat. The account of Jesus’ visit at Gerasenes tells an interesting story about three sets of beggars including this dude.
1st Beggar—Demons
Mark records that the moment Jesus and his disciples stepped out of the boat, this guy came running to his direction and he fell flat on his face (Mk.5:2,6). And here’s what he has to say to Jesus: “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you by God, do not torment me.”
The tormentor (Demon) begs not to be tormented. This account tells us of the greater power Jesus has over the devil. This shows the demons’ submission to Jesus.
At that same time out of desperation and fear, they (the demons) begged him two more times acknowledging their inferiority to Jesus’ supreme authority. They begged him not send them out of the country (Mk.5:10) and they begged him to send them to the pigs instead (Mk.5:12).
When Jesus would roam around, people would always marvel at the authority that he had. Friends, do you know that that same authority is the authority given to you as a believer? Let sickness, poverty, and any torment flee at your command.
2nd Beggar—The Townspeople
The next set of beggars are the townspeople. Bible says when they saw that the demon possessed man was clothed and was in his right mind they got afraid and verse 17 says: they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region.
This is sour. You got a man healed and you beg for his healer to leave. These people can not marvel at the thought of this miracle simply because they just lost a livelihood. Two thousand drowned pigs is an economic melt down.
This gives us a picture of how potentially dangerous material things are. When they come in competition with Jesus, it becomes a struggle.
This is the reason why so many people find it hard to fully surrender their lives to the Lord. It’s because they are not willing to count the cost. They are yet to realize that Jesus’ presence in their lives far outweighs any pleasure this world has to offer.
3rd Beggar—The Healed Man
As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. Mk.5:18
Simple: Collide with Jesus and you’ll beg for more of Jesus.
A man who has truly been changed by God will forever beg for more of God. You simply want more fellowship with him.
I hope we become like the third beggar. When he was changed by God he begged to be with God. He was given an assignment—to preach the gospel in the Decapolis. The Decapolis means ten cities, it was a metro. Bible says, And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled. (Mk.5:20) The later works of the apostles in the decapolis was well accepted probably because someone went ahead of them preaching about a man who healed him.
We have been reconciled to God through the ministry of reconciliation and we have with us the message of reconciliation. A third type of beggar would always beg to be with God and they would always preach about God.
Which kind of beggar are you?
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