The Man Among the Tombs

He lived among the tombs and no one could bind him though they had tried.  They had tried to bind him with chains but but he had wrenched the chains apart.  They had bound him with shackles but he had broken the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him yet they had tried. So night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones. He provoked fear, he provoked pity but did anyone really care about the storm that raged within him?  Did anyone really care about
the man who was free from chains and shackles yet deeply bound by the tormentors of his soul?

When the evening had come Jesus said to his disciples,  "Let's go across to the other side." A great windstorm arose. The winds howled the waves were breaking into the boat. All light seemed to be blotted out by the blackness of the storm. These were seasoned fishermen and they knew how deadly this storm was. But Jesus was not participating in their struggle in fact he was in the stern asleep on a cushion.

In their panic they screamed against the wind, "Don't you care that we're perishing? " When he awoke he rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still! " The wind ceased,  and there was a great calm. He said to them, "Why are you so afraid?  Have you still no faith? " The fear they felt in that great calm surpassed the fear they had felt in the storm. They looked at each other and asked,  "Who is this that even the wind and the sea obey him." But Jesus was about to show them that he was more than just the Lord of external storms.

The dark of night had come by the time they reached the other side of the sea but what they saw coming toward them would have provoked fear even in the brightest part of the day. Wild eyed, bruised and bloodied by self inflected wounds he came running to them from the direction of the tombs. The demons that had long ago taken possession of his voice screamed, "What have you to do with me,  Jesus,  Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God,  do not torment me." Jesus had come to still the storm that raged within the man who lived among the tombs.  He spoke the word and the demons had no choice but to obey the one who was Lord. Great fear came upon the town folk when they saw the demon possessed man sitting quietly at the feet of the one who had cared enough to come and still the storm within him.

Lord Jesus,  please forgive me for my lack of faith when I am more aware of the power of the storm than I am Your power and I dare to ask the question,  Do you care? Please forgive me when I see those around me who seem to be hopelessly lost and I forget that you cared enough to come and seek and save the lost.