The people of that time were astonished at what Jesus did and spoke.
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I remember nights at home when I was a kid. Whether I was lying down, playing, or watching TV. Upon hearing dad’s truck pull up to the house, I would immediately stop what I was doing and wait for dad to come in to greet him, hug him and ask him if we were going to do anything that night.
When I lived and ministered in Mexico, we lived in the parsonage that was built on top of the temple.
There are many stories and experiences that we could tell or discuss about what happens in this passage. But the main point or focus is not the demons or the bad spirits. No!
I remember my father as a very active person in prayer and it was something he practiced daily, mostly morning and evening.
Father Barry Foster, a priest in Dublin, Ireland, parked his car on a rather steep slope close to his church. His little cairn terrier was lying on the rear seat and could not be seen by anyone outside the vehicle. Father Foster got out of the car and turned to lock the door with his usual parting command to the dog. “Stay!” he ordered loudly, to an apparently empty car. “Stay!”
When I was in Junior High School in Dover, Ohio, a Billy Graham film came to town, and I got three free tickets from a Bible study class I attended at the public library across from the school. My mother wanted to go. She was the one in our family who took us to church and taught us about the faith.
The words of 2 Timothy 2:22-23 are both appropriate and challenging for our time.
“It’s for your own good.” Those words make me shudder. How about you? It takes me back to childhood.
Psalm 126 is one of the fifteen “Songs of Ascent,” including Psalms 120-134, that were sung by worshipers as they made the journey up to Jerusalem for the annual feasts.