When Jesus Commanded: Don't Follow Me

To Matthew, to Phillip, to the rich young man, and to most random folk He encountered, Jesus said "follow me."

But to the "man of the tombs," the demoniac of the Gerasenes in Mark 5, Jesus not only did not bid him follow Him, but refused him when he begged to go with Him. Instead He told him "Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you."

This man's changed presence among the people who knew him would itself be the testimony, the evidence of Christ. I wonder if this gigantic grace took the rest of this man's life to just start to realize. Telling the story 5, 10, 50, 500, 5,000 times would cause the healing and transformation to continue and would enable people to encounter the power of God. When I get to heaven, I want to meet him and hear the rest of the story.

The people of Israel were commanded to retell the story of the Exodus each year, and to remember the mighty deeds God had done for them. As we tell the stories of God's grace working in our lives, we experience these graces again, and so can others.