Putting People First

By Richard

In Mark 5 Jesus travels across the lake to the land of the Gerasenes. He has a showdown with a man who is possessed by a “legion” of demons. The demons beg Jesus to spare them, and plead to be allowed to enter a herd of pigs. The demonised pigs, crazed, run like a herd of lemmings into the lake and drown. We read that when the locals showed up they were at first “in awe” at finding the previously sick man well but that in the next breath they got “upset over the drowned pigs” and “demanded that Jesus leave and not come back”.

I am reminded that people matter more to God than possessions. I heard about a pastor who faced an elder board who were complaining that bare footed hippies were dirtying the carpets in the church. So he left the meeting and started to rip out the carpets. He did not want anything to stop people coming to Jesus. Question: Do we put people before our possessions?