People are weird

A while back there  was a show on tv I really enjoyed watching called Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. If you don’t know, Jamie Oliver is a well known chef from England. He began to be concerned about the food that was being served to children in English schools and so made it his personal mission to change it. He worked with the school lunch ladies, teachers, and school boards to implement healthy eating into the lives of these little ones. It was a big success.

When he read an article about a town in the US that showed it was one of the most obese and unhealthy places in America, he thought he would see if the program would work here too. So he left his family behind to help this town learn to eat healthily. Now – if Jamie Oliver came to my town offering to teach me how to cook great healthy food for me family, I would be ecstatic! BUT these people really were not! It was so weird. Even the people at the local hospital seemed to be more concerned that he would ruin the image of the town instead of jumping on board to change it! A local radio icon really seemed to make it his personal responsibility to tell Jamie they did not anyone telling them what they could or could not eat. WEIRD.

I was totally shocked that people would so utterly reject something so good for them, but then people have been rejecting good since the beginning. Matthew chapter 8 is such a good example of this. Jesus arrives at a town and is met by two demon possessed men who are soo dangerous that no one could even go near where they lived. Jesus casts the demons out and sends them into a herd of pigs nearby. Sadly for the pigs, they ran into the lake and drowned. the herdsmen went and told the people of the village what Jesus had done and the village came out to meet Jesus. You would think they would be filled with wonder over his miracle, but no – they “begged him to go away and leave them alone.”  REALLY? JESUS – LEAVE YOU ALONE? What were they thinking? They were thinking that he ruined a source of money I guess. Their focus on themselves blinded them to the miracle right before their eyes. They wanted no part in this great thing.

Before I end with thinking just those people are weird, I think about myself. How many times do I ignore what I know Jesus has told me to do. Because I think I know what is best for myself, I don’t want any part of the good that Jesus wants to do in my life. I guess I am weird too. Seeing it in this example just opened my eyes to how foolish it really is to ask Jesus to leave me alone instead of following him with my whole heart! I really don’t want to be that weird

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