They said he was mad, and to be quite honest he was, he'd been mad for years, not just a bit crazy in an amiable kind of way, but completely stark staring mad. I suspect that today he'd be on medication, possibly hospitalised, or worst case scenario he'd be in prison, where if he was lucky someone would notice that his rages were not only uncontrolled, but in fact they were controlling him.
But his story isn't a modern story, and his rages so terrified the towns folk where he lived that they had tried to control him with chains. Again and again he'd broken free, roamed the hills crying out his rage and his pain. He abandoned his clothes for they seemed to torment him as much as the chains had, and he no longer lived in the town, but slept fitfully amongst the tombs with only his ancestors for company
It was said that he was controlled and inhabited by an evil spirit. Perhaps he was….his life was certainly not his own.
That is how he was; at least that is how he was before the stranger came….
Afterwards he was sane, able to talk, and carry out a conversation. Sane and clothed, he no longer roamed the hills; his release from madness had left the townsfolk struck dumb, awed by the events that they had witnessed. A different fear accompanied them now, a fear created by the knowledge that something more powerful than rage had visited them.
The stranger arrived in a boat that had crossed the narrow sea. The mad man recognised the presence of power as soon he stepped ashore, but he wasn't looking for release then, at least the thing controlling him wasn't. At first glance there was nothing special about the stranger, he was an ordinary looking man, but in him there dwelt an extraordinary power….
He spoke to the controlling thing, the power or spirit that was holding the man, and demanded that it released him….
It responded by begging to be allowed to enter a herd of pigs, and on being given permission, all hell broke loose on the cliff top, as the herd of quietly feeding pigs flew into a frenzy and flung themselves to their death.
For a while all was noise and horror, as the squealing and screaming of the pigs was accompanied by a rush of a powerful wind, coming it seemed from nowhere. Then as suddenly as the commotion had started it stopped, and all eyes turned to the stranger and the madman who were chatting together like long time friends….
This is no fairy tale it is a true story of a powerful encounter, an encounter with the extraordinary stranger whose words and touch reaches down through the centuries to touch, to heal and to release.
I don't suppose there is anyone listening to this story who hasn't felt bound and controlled by something….
I don't suppose there is anyone listening who hasn't longed to be released in some way….
Perhaps what we need is the touch of the extraordinary, powerful stranger...
Optional ending: In its original telling, the story ends like this;
"So the man went away and began to tell ....how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed."
Recent Comments