I. The way in which God formerly presented himself to men.
II. The way in which he does so now.
III. The way in which men decline His presence. (E. M. Goulburn.)
God’s goodness and man’s ingratitude
The Gadarenes, in return for Christ’s works of love, majesty, and mercy, besought Him to depart. They eared more for the swine which the devils had destroyed than for the poor man Christ had restored. (A. Jones.)
Man’s dislike and dread of Christ
Still the same in our own day! Let us mark
I. The coming. It was a universal movement, and a most interesting one. A whole city flocking out to meet Jesus! How seldom had such a thing been seen, or is seen now.
II. The seeing. They did not remain afar off, but came nigh-they saw for themselves, and that aggravated their guilt.
III. The refusing. An awful request in many ways. Was there ever a request so sad, so fatal? Why was this? There was something in Jesus that drew them; but there was more that they disliked. They would like Him as the physician of the body, but not of the soul. His company seemed dangerous and terrible. So they besought Him to depart. Their “ depart from us” is the foreboding of His “depart from Me” (Mat_25:41).
1. How near salvation they were.
2. How they wronged the Saviour.
3. How they wronged themselves. (H. Bonar, D. D.)
The case of the Gergesenes
That the rejection of Christ sometimes arises from imperfect knowledge of Hint; and that deeper knowledge wilt frequently lead to deeper love. I try to place myself in the position of these people.
1. I observe that almost the whole knowledge which they had of our Lord was confined to the miracle of the destruction of the swine. Can we wonder that they wished to get rid of a visitor at once so powerful and destructive? True, they had another chapter of evidences, the healed men to bear witness to the healing and restoring character of Him who had destroyed the swine. There was a problem of loss and gain; some palliation of their error.
2. If these Gergesenes, instead of the last seven verses, had had the whole of this chapter before them, would they have asked Him to leave their coasts? I doubt it.
3. If they had heard His teaching contained in the Sermon on the Mount, would they have acted so? Think of the goodness and gentleness pervading it.
4. The magnitude of the responsibility of rejecting Christ-intellectually and speculatively, or rejecting Him virtually by despising and forgetting His precepts-depends upon the knowledge which we have of Him, and in spite of which we reject Him. Those who have, as it were, a casual visit from Christ may not be much better or worse for it; it is otherwise with those who have the whole picture of His life before them. (Bishop of Carlisle.)
The conduct of the Gergesenes explained
Whythe Saviour is not welcome.
1. Because the need of Him is not felt.
2. They look upon Christ as questionable Benefactor. He will take notice of everything unlawful and unholy. We like the aids of religion in domestic government, but not its restrictions.
3. The time will come when the Son of man will be admitted. Who may abide the day of His coming? He will not be shut out then. (T. E. Headline on, M. A.)
Rejecting salvation
To me it is specially appalling that a man should perish through wilfully rejecting the Divine salvation. A drowning man throwing away the life-belt, a poisoned man pouring the antidote upon the floor, a wounded man tearing open his wounds, any one of these is a sad sight; but what shall we say of a soul putting from it the Redeemer and choosing its own destruction? (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Christ should be welcomed
If you do but hear when the king is on his road to your town, you raise your bells to ring him in, and stay not till lie be entered the gates. The birds they rise betimes in the morning, and are saluting the rising sun with their sweet notes in the air. Thus should we strike up our harps in praising God at the appearance of a mercy. (Gurnall.)
