30She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.”
I can’t imagine what that woman felt. He daughter was under the attack of the enemy – an evil spirit was in her. The mother found Jesus and fell at his feet begging for her daughter. I have seen a mom in my office unable to talk from crying because she could not provide for her family. I have seen the hurt and the pain that comes when a mother cares and her heart is broken because of something that has happened.
A few minutes in the presence of Jesus can make a world of difference. She went home. Saw her daughter lying there in her right mind and with out the devil attacking her.
That is a great piece of history and the account takes my breath away. Our needs are great. God’s power is unbelievable. Jesus really does care. BUT the story is couched in a litany of religious stories. Here is group of religious people who care more about how you look and the way you act than living in the power of Grace. Grace arrived on the scene. Religion did nothing for those who needed freedom and forgiveness. People with needs and cares are abused as the demands of religion add to their guilt and despair.
I know that you all think I am some sort of weirdo, but every now and then I run into a lyric in a song that makes me want to jump. It’s not in our Baptist Hymnal and I understand that you cannot find the song in the old shaped note Broadman Hymnal. I know that John Wesley didn’t write the lyrics and I am certain that they will never sing this as a call to worship at First Baptist Bible Belt Baptist Church – but I thought it was “spot on”… The title of this spiritual giant is “I catch ’em, God cleans ’em”. One verse in the middle of that (and I didn’t even have to translate it from the Latin version) –
Yeah, it didn’t take long for him to catch my attention
He was long on Grace and short on religion
He said a prayer and that was all she wrote
He said, “Amen!”, and God as my witness
I fell in that big ole net of forgiveness
And before I knew it we were all in the same old boat.
If you want to hear it for some reason click here.
He was long on grace and short on religion – now there’s you a line and a half. Jesus was long on grace. He held children, touched lepers, paid attention to moms that fell at his feet and begged, was sensitive to a woman who had been caught in adultery and loved on her with his grace, talked to a woman at the well, helped a man in a grave yard to never be the same again, and the stories could go on and on and on. These are people that your average “religious person” would almost get the chills to have to mess with. Yet those hurting and wounded people found such comfort and hope in the presence of Jesus.
He has freed me from religion and helped me to enjoy His grace. He has helped me to take the agony of not matching up to the rules and cast them away. I cannot meet the demands of the rules. I needed one who did and I found HIM. Now the rule keeper lives in me. I am free from all that. He allows me to be real with who I am and helped me to hear His voice to enjoy all the freedom that grace affords.
Amazing, ain’t it!