Mark 5:19 But Jesus said, "No, go home to your family, and tell them everything the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been." New Living Translation (NLT)
After what has already been a long week, this afternoon I will head home where I will be for Christmas. Like many others we will have a house full with great grandparent, grand parents (Jean and I), children and grandchildren under one roof. It will be the first time that we've seen everyone in a long time. This verse should help remind us to focus not on "stuff" and the gifts that have been purchased for each other, but on what the Lord has done for us and our extended family through the year.
In this passage, the demoniac had been healed and he desired to follow Jesus where he would go. Instead, Jesus sent him home to tell what God had done for him. If you read the verse that follows (below), he didn't stop with his immediate family but went to Decapolis which was actually a grouping of 10 cities.
As we head home or have relatives "heading home" for Christmas as we travel, while we're "home" with our family, and as we head back to our own individual homes may we spread the news about what God has done for us this past year, this season or even this day. May our lives touch others with blessing.
John MacDuff writes, "Wherever a Christian goes--his life ought to be an inspiration. Our silent influence ought to touch other lives with blessing. People ought to feel stronger, happier, and more uplifted--after meeting us. Our very faces ought to shed light, shining like holy lamps into sad, weary hearts. Our lives ought to be blessings to repair human sorrow and need all around us."
Mark 5:18-20 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
18 As He was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed kept begging Him to be with Him. 19 But He would not let him; instead, He told him, "Go back home to your own people, and report to them how much the Lord has done for you and how He has had mercy on you." 20 So he went out and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and they were all amazed.
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