The good Samaritan has become short hand for kindness to strangers, but what does it really mean? It's a parable taught by Jesus to a man full of self worth and self satisfaction who thinks he deserves to gain heaven by the measure of his own self importance. In reality he was a million miles away from God, The parable is a litmus test of the condition of a man's soul. Only those born again and born of God, new creatures by faith in Jesus have the capacity to truly reflect the love and compassion of God; a love which loves the unlovable and likes the unlikeable. The lawyer failed the test of reality. He had big religious aspirations but no spiritual transformation. The parable is also the story of the inevitable human tragedy; that at the end of a road that drops down, down, down; that sinks to record lows heading towards the Jericho of depravity, destruction and the curse we rarely strike gold at the bottom and more often draw from a well of deep grief and sorrow. Only Jesus can transform such a condition and such a person. 

It was a great meeting, only 7 attended and one of them was dead! 

It was the one who was dead that Jesus spoke to and it was the one who was dead who heard the voice of Jesus and even more remarkably she responded.

The crises of death often hits us right at the moment when death is imminent. Jarius was tremendously blessed in Luke chapter 8 although he did not realise it at the time. The crises of the death of his daughter, brought him to a crises of faith and a reality check. Neither he nor his religion could deal with death and the hereafter. He did what his love for his child demanded, he came in humility and faith to the feet of Jesus. Who cares what people think when we are seeking and finally find the secret of eternal life!

This man's soul was a window into the depths of hell itself. Nowhere out with hell would you find such a 'legion' of demons. They had used and abused the man of the Gadarenes; taken the clothes from off his back, the roof from over his head and friends and family had fled terrified from his presence. All he was left with was deep, desperate fear. Satan had taunted him with freedom; but it was merely the freedom to fear. His place now was the graveyard and his future that of joining the demonic in the depths of the abyss. His encounter with Jesus was a glimmer of glory, a light in the silky blackness of the death he called life. It is often just a tiny glimmer of light that begins to transform a life. The light that illuminates and kindles afresh the belief that life can be different, new and free. That light was a person, the Son of God able to deliver on that hope; with power to command the forces of hell, with authority to forgive sins and able to set a man in their right mind, a transformed, born again new creature in Christ. Having seen Jesus, cried to Jesus and fallen at the feet of Jesus; this man had one left step of faith to take; to abandon his fears to the depths of their own despair. Let the demons have the swine. Let despair drown into the depths of oblivion. I have found Jesus; let the demons now cry in despair. 

On the peripheries of society lie the nobodies, nameless outcasts, with no status and little significance. In the hands of Jesus:

• A shepherd becomes a sovereign 
• A plough man becomes a prophet
• A prisoner becomes a prince 
• A fisherman fishes for men

With Jesus the nobody becomes a somebody. 

No one is too far gone for the transforming grace of God's son. Even the slow decay of the leper, dying in his own life, decaying in his own corruption cannot impede the transforming power of Jesus. Jesus is the specialist at bringing life from the dead and transformation through faith. The soul dead in trespasses and sins becomes a new creature in Christ cleansed and renewed; reborn by the  transforming power of Jesus.