People, Pigs, and Priorities

On one occasion, two individuals approached Jesus and declared they would follow Him wherever He went.

But Jesus’ response to them indicated that their hearts were more devoted to comfort and family than to Him (Matt. 8:19-22). After Jesus and His disciples sailed east across the Sea of Galilee, they landed at modern Kursi in “the country of the Gadarenes” (Matt. 8:28).

Mark and Luke use a more general location in describing the place, citing “the country of the Gerasenes” (Mark 5:1; Luke 8:26), referring to the city of Gerasa (modern Jerash), a large, Greco-Roman city some miles away from the eastern shore.

After landing in this Gentile territory, Jesus immediately encountered two men possessed by a legion of demons and cast them out of the men and into a herd of swine. When the pigs plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned, the entire town “implored Him to leave their region” (Matt. 8:34).

The people felt more concern over the loss of their livelihood than the restoration of the men who were possessed. Like the Jews across the lake, these Gentiles held other things as more important than following Jesus.

While we probably would never admit to having a higher priority in pigs than in people, our commitments to comfort and even to our family often betray a devotion that sinks to the same level (see Luke 14:26).

To love the Lord with all our hearts means that Christ should have no rivals in our life. So as we follow Christ today, let us commit to nothing before our devotion to Him— whether creature comforts, livelihood, fear, or even family ties.

Discipleship is anything that causes what is believed in the heart to have demonstrable consequences in our daily life. —Eugene Peterson

Adapted from Wayne Stiles, Going Places with God: A Devotional Journey Through the Lands of the Bible (Ventura, CA: Regal, 2006), 37. Used by permission. Photos courtesy of BiblePlaces.com.