week 42

Scripture Reading:

ACTS 19:1–22

The Face of Jesus

I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,… nor any powers,… nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

ROMANS 8:38–39

STEVE GETZ HAD DABBLED with drugs since eighth grade, but the summer he turned sixteen he was using heavily. An hour before coming to the market, he had taken a mixture of illegal drugs, and suddenly the walls of the market seemed to be melting and the fruit and vegetables had turned into large bloblike substances that were coming toward him.

“Help!” he screamed. Then he began running full speed through the store, up one aisle and down another, until the store manager and a customer forced him to the ground. Steve struggled to break free. The hallucinations were worse than ever.

Steve closed his eyes but when he opened them, he screamed in terror. Horrible, dark demons were coming toward him. They had fierce expressions and fangs that dripped with blood. There were small demons floating near his face and laughing at him, and there were monstrous demons circling him. It was utter evil, a death and destruction he was powerless to escape.

The customer, who had been holding Steve’s arms, leaned in closer to him. “You’re going to be okay.”

“Help me!” Steve shouted.

“Open your eyes, Steve.” The man’s voice was soothing and clear. With all the concentration he could muster, Steve forced himself to listen above the noise of the gathering crowd. “Steve, you can trust me.”

Steve opened his eyes slowly. As the picture cleared, the demons were still there but were retreating. And in the center of the picture was what appeared to be the face of Jesus Christ. It was the same face he’d seen in his Bible storybook from church. Awestruck, Steven stopped twisting and struggling and grew calm. As he stared, the Christlike face began to speak: “Do you want to be free from the demons, Steve?”

Suddenly, Steve began to cry. “Yes,” he spoke softly. He had to get free from the drugs… before it was too late. “Please help me.”

The man in the picture smiled. “No more drugs, Steve. With them come the demons. It is your choice.”

“No, I can’t do it by myself!” Steve screamed and started to struggle again. But the man seemed to possess an inhuman strength. “Help me. Please.”

The demons were completely gone. Only the image of a pure and radiant Christ filled the center of his vision. “Steve, you won’t have to do this by yourself. If you want to be free, turn to me. I will always be right there to help you. Just call me and I will be with you.”

“Lord.” Steve whispered the word, not sure if he was still hallucinating, but savoring the peace he felt. Is that you, God? Are you really here, talking with me?

Slowly the image began to fade. But before it disappeared altogether, he heard the voice once more. “Yes, Steve, it is I. I will be here for you.”

Suddenly Steve felt extremely tired. He closed his eyes and his body went limp.

The customer who had been talking quietly to Steve turned to the store manager and said, “I think you can handle it now. The worst is over.”

“Thanks,” the manager said, shaking the customer’s hand. Then he reached over and pinned Steve’s arms down. When he looked around, the customer had vanished and the paramedics and police were arriving.

Before the police took him away, Steve found out the customer was already gone. “Please, tell me what he looked like, the man who talked to me.”

The manager said, “He had short blond hair, a muscular build, and… a real clean-shaven face. That’s all I can remember.”

Steve shook his head. “No, I mean the man who helped me. He had dark hair, a beard, and brown eyes.”

The manager shook his head. “Maybe it was the drugs, son. The guy who helped you was blond.”

After Steve was booked and released by the police, his mother took him home. Steve had been in and out of a rehabilitation center twice since his thirteenth birthday, and now this. His mother and father prayed for him every day, but it had been years since he’d talked about God. Where would he ever get the strength to leave the drugs behind?

Normally after he’d gotten into trouble because of drug use, Steve was defiant and angry. But as he described to his mother what had happened in detail, tears filled his eyes. When he told her the words he’d heard the man speak, she whispered, “Steve, that’s amazing.”

“I know that guy was sent by God to warn me. If I don’t accept God’s help now and change my life, the demons will get me.”

“Son,” his mother said, “it’s a miracle. You were given a message from God the same way people used to get them back in biblical times—from angels. Maybe the man who talked to you was an angel, telling you what the Lord wanted you to hear.”

Steve thought a moment. “I’ll never touch drugs again, Mom. I’m going to turn to God and give him my life. It’s going to change my life. I promise you that.”

Steve checked with the manager several times regarding the man who helped him. But though the man was never seen again, his work was not in vain.

Steve kept his word. For the next twenty years and to this day, Steve Getz has stayed away from all drugs. He has also maintained a dynamic relationship with God, one that began on a cold supermarket floor in the grasp of a man who was, perhaps, an angel.

When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.

MARK 5:15