That Crazy Guy in the Cemetary

Have you ever Baptized anyone? Made a disciple maybe? Surely, you’ve managed to teach the commandments of Jesus to a new convert. 

That’s the gist of Matthew 28, what the church commonly calls the great commission. Which were Jesus’s last instructions to the disciples before ascending to Heaven. He told them to go make disciples, baptize them, and teach them His commandments. 

It seems I’ve missed the boat on the entirety of the great commission. I’m batting 0 for 3. But honestly, I’m still working out how to be a good disciple, should I really be making them? And baptizing someone just seems way above my spiritual pay grade. And surely, I don’t need to explain His commandments since they are right there in the Bible. Besides, isn’t this what we have preachers for? 

Unfortunately, just when I’ve rationalized my entire spiritual commitment down to self-improvement and a little charity, in wanders that crazy guy from the cemetery. In the fifth chapter of Mark, Jesus runs across a fellow who was probably just an average guy like most of us before falling victim to a rather large demon infestation. You know the story; Jesus kicked the demons out and the guy returns to his normal sane self. But apparently that didn’t make him preacher material. He begged to come with Jesus, but the Lord gave him some instructions that trickle down to those of us for whom the great commission seems a stretch. 

Mark 5:19

“Go home to your people and tell them everything the Lord has done for you, and how merciful He has been.”

Telling never worked that well in prison. Once you walk in the door the story begins to unfold without you saying a word and your reputation started its incarceration long before you arrived. With the efficiency of an intelligence agency, everyone knows why you're there, who you were before, and how long you're staying. In some rooms, tattoos scream allegiance and talk determines hierarchy. In others, similar interests and backgrounds fit you into a slot. But one thing’s for sure, there’s no faking it. Too many people, living too close together to get away with faking it. So whatever peg you find yourself hammered into……it’s because of what you do, not what you say. Strangely, there’s a certain freedom in it. In a place with no freedoms and few friends you find little pressure to adapt. There are always pretenders but as a friend used to tell me, “Just do you bro.” 

But once Jesus grabbed hold of me, I only wanted to do Him. Maybe I didn’t preach to anyone or hand out pamphlets on the way to the chow hall, but I tried to make sure everyone knew where I stood.

It appalls me to say it, but things have changed since then. And incredibly, I didn’t even notice it happening. 

Recently a coworker was telling a group of us about his buck wild son-in-law who suddenly found Jesus and had just broke the news that he’s going to be a preacher. My co-worker is what I call a luke-warmer, he would definitely say he believes but you can’t see any evidence of it in his life. In fact, just the opposite. Yet he was amazed at the transformation in his son-in-law. As he was talking about it, I thought, “Yep, that's what happened to me too.”

Then the Holy Spirit quietly said, “But he doesn’t know that and neither does anyone else here.”

Stunned, I looked around the office like I’d never seen it before. One desk sporting a Dallas Cowboys keyboard, the next an Ole Miss mouse pad, both screaming worship, while my desk is clean and clear. Nothing to proclaim the one who saved me and who I claim is the cornerstone of my existence. And no one had heard my version of what Jesus can do if you give Him your life. It’s sobering for me when I consider that no one at work really knows about my Jesus. The one who is my cornerstone and who has changed my life. Man, the cares of this world will sneak up on you with a quickness. And it shook me. It’s so subtle how we can get assimilated into the world. The devil whispers that your peers won’t be interested anyway, and any public displays may derail that promotion. And that may well be true. Your friends may whisper about your Jesus infatuation and that promotion may never come, but in the end, it comes down to one thing….Who do you trust?  

Because what you do reveals what you believe!

Just like prison.

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