Every Disciple is a Missionary

When Jesus was in the country of the Gadarenes, he encountered a man with an unclean spirit whose name was Legion (Mark 5:1-20). Legion lived among tombs in a graveyard and was feared by all who knew him. He could not be restrained by chains because of his great strength. In desperation he cried and hollered throughout day and night and sometimes cut his own skin with stones. Legion’s human situation was horrific.

Jesus takes pity

It was this man that Jesus chose to heal with the dramatic words, “Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.” There follows an astounding statement describing the outcome of the miracle. People who knew Legion came “and saw him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind: and they were afraid.” Their fear is not a surprising response, for Legion was a man they knew to be dangerous. To now find him in a state of normalcy would immediately raise questions about his behavior and whether his healing was real and permanent. Related to this was the fact that 2,000 swine had run headlong down a steep place into the sea and drowned. The whole situation was shocking and unprecedented to all who witnessed the events.

Legion wants the company of Jesus

Not unexpectedly, Legion requested that he might stay with Jesus. His thankfulness and gratitude led to a devotion that made him want to remain in the company of the man who demonstrated such power, compassion, and personal healing. Jesus’s response is surprising. He said to Legion, “Go home to thy friends and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee” (Mark 5:19). This task was not as easy as it might at first seem. Legion was well known and feared by all who were familiar with his condition. There would be those who would still be afraid of him. Many who knew his past would want to distance themselves from him. Children would be taken from his company, and he would generally be unwelcome because of his previous unpredictable and violent behavior.

Legion becomes a missionary

However, Legion did exactly what the Lord commanded him to do. “And he de­parted and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel” (Mark 5:20). After his miraculous healing, Legion went back to his home, to the people who knew him well and to his friends. He declared what Jesus had done to change him from a man with serious mental instability to a calm, rational, stable individual. This would not have been easy to do, nor would it have been easy for his family and friends to hear. It took courage and persistence which sprang from Legion’s conviction in “Jesus, Son of the most high God” and in the God-given healing power of Jesus.

Legion became a missionary — a missionary to his own family and friends. He was not trained or unusually skilled for the task, yet he was very effective at it. “All men did marvel” at his exciting report. Through his convincing words and by the witness of his restored physical and mental abilities, Legion accomplished exactly what Jesus intended when he sent him back to his home and friends. His message and changed life demonstrated that Jesus was a man sent from God.

We are all missionaries

It is in this sense that we are all missionaries, even when we stay at home. We may never go to a distant land, but we all have a similar responsibility to “go home to thy friends and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.” God’s saving truth has touched our hearts and we have become new men and women, spared from a desperate and hopeless situation, now with new purpose, having experienced the compassion of the Lord. It is not always easy for us to go back to those we know best and who have known us in the past, to declare to them that we are a new person — that we are the Lord’s disciple. It takes courage and conviction as it did for Legion.

Preaching locally

The concept of preaching within our local circumstances is stated by Jesus in the simple declaration, “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel but on a candlestick and it giveth light to all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matt 6:14-16). What Jesus expresses here, in principle, was demonstrated in the actions of Legion.

So every disciple is a missionary. Some travel great distances to other countries. Some learn a new language to enable them to communicate with people in another tongue. Most of us need go no further than the house next door or the people living upstairs. Darkness is everywhere, and disciples have the opportunity and responsibility to share the light and love of the Lord. “The spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev 22:17).