God's Taser of Hope

When their boat landed it was met by one man, a person so powerful that it seemed as if a crowd was screaming at them from the beach. The passengers, all strong men, hid behind the sails while trying to push back into the safety of the lake. All except one.

Jesus made eye contact with the shrieking enemy, stepped from the boat, and walked toward the Terror on the Beach.

The man, bloody, disfigured, and loud, tore toward Jesus with an obvious passion to kill.

That's the story as told by the disciples who were in the boat, hiding in fear.

But what might have been the man's story? Chances are he came from a fairly normal family where his mother and father worked too many hours and where the devil's distractions were too available. Though the parents were determined to have a deeply spiritual family and to raise their son to be a community leader, he chose the distractions instead. Small choices became big challenges in his life.

Anger overcame patience, sneers replaced smiles, curses supplanted compliments, and there was little time for family, and even less time for God. Busyness, mostly with good things, filled the family's life.

By the time he was a teenager, his life was so disconnected that he had become a Terror to the community, someone to be "put away" where he could cause harm only to himself and his kind. He was banished to the tombs beside the sea.

Then came Jesus, walking across the sand with a Taser of Hope.

The confrontation was shocking to everyone, except Jesus. The disciples watched, sneaking peeks from behind the safety of the sail. Pig herders watched from atop the bluff, wishing they could see better, but glad to be far away. And the Devil watched, terrified!

The Devil quails in terror whenever Jesus sets His heart on making someone whole. He knows that this is going to be a pitched battle, and that Jesus will prevail...if the human gives approval.

That day on the shore of Galilee, Jesus prevailed! God transformed the Terror's broken life, replacing the old with New and filling the cracks with Grace. For those in the boat and on the bluff, it was like watching Creation happen all over again, right there on the sand.

That was about 1,975 years ago. But, for any broken person you know, the same miracle could happen again today!

The story of The Terror is found in chapter 5 of the Gospel of Mark where the storyteller chose to end with these words: "And all the people were amazed!" One translation reads: "He was the talk of the town."

Dick Duerksen
Assistant Vice President
Mission development
Florida Hospital