The moment you told Jesus to go away

Have you ever told Jesus to leave? For most of us, we would not dare say we told Jesus to do anything - muchless to leave. However, if we are honest, most of us probably have never told Jesus verbally that we wanted Him to leave. We likely have never told Him in prayer to leave us alone.

But, our actions could have been telling a different story and sending a much different message.

In Matthew Chapter 8, Jesus has just finished healing a bunch of people and casting out demons. Jesus has gone through the towns and the people. He has walked among them and fed them. He has talked with them and healed them. He has looked at them and cast out demons.

But, right after Jesus shows His authority by casting out a bunch of demons and sending them into a herd of swine, the people tell Jesus to go away.

"The swine herds ran away, and wen they came to the town they reported everything, including what had happened to the demoniacs. Thereupon the whole town came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him they begged him to leave their district." (Matthew 8:33-34)

Why did they tell Jesus to leave? Although we can't know for sure the heart of each person, it is likely out of fear that they told Jesus to go away. The herds were the way many families were able to survive and by Jesus sending the demons in the herd of swine, it caused an entire herd to be lost to a family.  The fear that Jesus might cost them earthly wealth, possessions, and a livelihood is one explanation.

Jesus also showcases His authority and power. It is easy to dismiss the teachings of Jesus when we minimize Him to just a good teacher, a prophet, or a great life lesson. It is another to see the power of God at work in and through Jesus because it makes it harder for us to dismiss him.

When you tell Jesus to leave- If we are all willing to take a review of our life, we have to admit that there have been plenty of times we have told Jesus to leave us alone because we didn't want Jesus to threaten what we had. We didn't want Jesus to tell us we had to go to Mass rather than spending the gorgeous summer day on the boat at the river. We didn't want Jesus to tell us we had to give money to the tithe rather than spending it on more material thngs. We didn't want Jesus telling us we had to spend time in His Word, in prayer, and in the things of God rather than in reading secular magazines, scrolling social media, or working more hours than we spend with loved ones.

The truth is the things Jesus asks us to sacrifice, most of the time, are trivial in the big scheme of eternity. Jesus just wants a little bit of our time each day, yet we tell Him to go away because we don't have time.

He wants a little bit of our money for His Church and the work of sharing the Gospel, yet we tell Him to go away because we want a newer boat, the latest iPhone, or a larger vacation.

He just wants a little bit of our love by spending time with Him at Mass, yet we remind Him that it is football season and the NFL is on TV on Sunday.

You may not want to admit it, but we have all told Jesus to go away.

The Question now: Will you continue to keep Jesus away or will you allow Him to draw closer to you, even if it means sacrificing some things and giving up sin for holiness, selfishness for obedience, and resources for the kingdom.