He Was Worth More

I don’t know if I was the only one that wondered why Jesus sent the devils in the Gadarene ex-demoniac into a herd of swine. I mean, I always felt some sorta pity for the owners of those swine. I often wondered, “Couldn’t Jesus have sent the demons straight out into the sea, or into some ants, or into a bunch of insignificant animal whose loss wouldn’t hurt people? Why did He have to allow the loss of the source of some people’s livelihood just to set one man free?” I’m hoping I’m not the only one who’s reasoned like this.

Recently, at an event, while waiting for the organizers to get started, I pulled out my little Bible and opened to Mark 5 – the same story. As I read, I began again pondering on why Jesus had to let such waste happen. This time, rather than subtly judging my glorious King, who’s always right and is blessed forever… amen, I pondered to get answers. As faithful as He always is, He answered and said, “His soul was worth more.” I realized at that moment that Jesus allowed that to happen because He needed to make a point. If you look closely at verse 13, after it was mentioned that the swine “ran violently” into the sea, the Bible was careful to add in parenthesis that the herd of swine was about two thousand. That information wasn’t relevant, we would think; except that it was. If you think about it, two thousand pigs aren’t cheap today. Then imagine that they would have been even more expensive 2000+ years ago. The loss of those pigs was a lot of money gone down the drain. That day, Jesus had a number of onlookers around Him, and what He did proved to them that not only did He have authority over demons, but also that that supposed mad man was treasure to Him and Jesus would give anything to have him delivered from Satan’s grip. Jesus and His disciples were chased out of town, but the man was free and saved.

I don’t know if you’ve ever wondered what it took Jesus to save you. We all know of His ultimate sacrifice for all men. That was a great sacrifice and cannot be compared to any other. But what extra thing did it take Jesus to “bring you out” from that grip of sin and Satan. Some of us quickly forget, and so toy with sin or take Him for granted, or refuse to share His love with others.

One day, in College Station TX, I went out evangelizing on campus with a wonderful woman of God. (I’ll call her Anna for the sake of anonymity). We got into a building and encountered a young lady like us who was relaxing in a common room. As we spoke to her about our faith, we mentioned that it is only in Jesus that one can find salvation. She seemed puzzled, and maybe, upset at what we had said, and honestly, we couldn’t get through to her beyond that, but if I remember well enough, we got her number. As we left, Anna said, “I’ve told her the truth and it’s a pity she doesn’t like it, but her salvation is more important to me than my friendship with her.” Of course, that struck me. Many times, we try to protect our friendships, try to not-offend anybody, try to not be overbearing, or as someone called me, a nuisance to people of other beliefs. We pat ourselves on the back hoping God understands: “you know, I’ve been friends with such and such for years, it’ll be wrong for me to just throw my beliefs in his/her face… yadiyadiyah.” If we’d allow God to speak, I think He’ll ask a question, “So, is it better he/she ends up in hell?”

To Jesus, like that ex-demoniac, you are worth more than anything else in the world. That’s why He left His glory high up in Heaven and came down to this dilapidated earth to die for you and I. If you think about it very well, it probably cost you the loss of a friendship, a job, family ties, etc. to be free from sin and Satan. You may not know but it probably cost some people around you abstinence from food and lots of prayers before you saw the light. I heard about a woman who fasted and prayed every Friday for seven years so that an Islamic chief in her neighborhood would see the light and come to Jesus. Thankfully, he eventually did. Different people, different story…

The point, however, is in view of these great and practical demonstrations of God’s love, what is your response? You see, God still depends on you to show His love to the unsaved. We are His hands and feet on this earth. We are all He has on this earth. Will you continue to ignore that lost soul that you meet every day or will you proclaim and expound God’s care and loving-kindness to that friend, relative, work colleague, neighbor or boss? At times, just one more word is needed for a man to believe in Jesus. We all know that some unbelievers test God in prayer, wanting God to do something physical before they believe. My dear friends, we are the physical witnesses to the Invisible God. Let us go show the world that Jesus – man’s One and only Savior is alive and that they are worth more to Him than anything else in the world.