More Than a Therapeutic Christ

“And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell…” Mark 5:19
 
The town begged Jesus to leave. The delivered man begged Jesus to stay. Jesus sent out the one who wanted to stay, and He left the ones who wanted Him gone.

How about you?
 
The Gerasenes had just watched a herd of pigs rush into the sea. Their economy took a hit. A man they had chained and feared was sitting clothed and in his right mind. Mercy had come to their shore, and it cost them something they could count. So they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region.

The man who had lived among the tombs begged for the opposite. He had felt the power that broke the legion. He wanted to be with Jesus. That desire was not wrong. Mark has already told us what a disciple’s first calling is: “He appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach” (Mark 3:14). Being with Jesus comes first. Sending flows from it.

Jesus did not permit the man to get in the boat. He said, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”

In Jewish regions Jesus often charged people to say nothing. A frenzy of miracle reports would have painted Him as the political deliverer Israel wanted—the one who would throw off Rome and wear gold. He did not come the first time to crown Himself with gold. He came to be crowned with thorns. He came to deliver from sin, not from Caesar. Publicity in Galilee would have hindered that mission.

Here, on Gentile soil, the people were already asking Him to leave. There was no messianic uprising to manage. There was a man whose life was a billboard of mercy. Jesus made him a witness in the Decapolis and got in the boat.

He is not inconsistent. He is Lord of timing, place, and message. The application is not only ‘go and tell.’ It is which Jesus we tell.

Many today preach a therapeutic gospel. It is not always openly heretical. It often uses Jesus’ name. It sounds kind. It offers relief, self-understanding, inner peace, better relationships, a life that works. Sin is recast mainly as wound, shame, or dysfunction. The cross becomes a symbol that God is on your side in your pain. Salvation becomes God helping you become a healthier version of yourself.

The problem is not that Jesus cares about our wounds. He does. The problem is that a therapeutic gospel makes the self the center and Jesus the means. God exists to improve my life. Comfort is the fruit. Cost is optional. The result is consumers, not disciples—people who want a Jesus who makes this life more livable, not a King who calls them to die so that others might live.

That is why the town begged Him to leave. His presence threatened their pigs. His love is not first a guarantee that our earthly plans will be blessed. His love made Him willing to lay it all down so others could be saved. When we truly know that Jesus—and who we are in Him—we become willing for our witness to cost us something. If we are never compelled to go and tell, we may know more of a useful Jesus than a triumphant Lord.

The man’s request to stay was holy. Abiding is not optional. Troy Keaton insightfully pointed out in a devotional on John 15 that days before the cross Jesus did not say “abide with Me” as if He would remain visibly at their side. He said “abide in Me.” He had already promised the Spirit: “he dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14:17). After the resurrection and Pentecost, “being with Jesus” is not limited to the boat. The Spirit in every believer is how we remain in the Vine. From that union comes fruit, wisdom, and power. “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8).

So we must be with Him. If we are growing in the grace and knowledge of the real Jesus, we will not be able to keep Him a secret. His heart for the lost will become ours. We will pray as Paul asked the church to pray: “that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel” (Ephesians 6:19).

R. Larry Moyer said, “There are more unbelievers willing to listen than there are believers willing to talk.” The harvest is not mainly a shortage of ears. It is often a shortage of mouths that have been with the Lord who is.

Pray for open doors. Pray for open mouths. Pray for open hearts. Stay in the Vine.

Then go home—and tell how much the Lord has done, and how He has had mercy on you. That is not a therapeutic slogan. That is a sent life.