Word to the Wise
Monday, January 30, 2012 - Monday in the 4th Week in Ordinary Time
[2 Sam 15:13-14, 30; 16:5-13 and Mark 5:1-20]Go home to your family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has done for you!
One can imagine that the demoniac would want to "remain with" Jesus after all Jesus did for him. The story is really a very colorful one. The possessed man can break strong chains because of the evil spirit that dwells in him, and lives among the tombs! Jesus engages in a fascinating dialog with the demon which turns out to be a multiple reality. Then there is that herd of pigs that becomes the new home of the demon(s) and runs off a cliff into the sea. The pig shepherds run away. The local population is scared to death and begs Jesus to go away! The demoniac has the opposite reaction. He wants to stay with Jesus, but Jesus wants him to go and preach to his family!
In the "agenda" of the Gospel of Mark, this is one more demonstration of Jesus' power. Yet, there are those who are threatened by it! By contrast, the man who has been freed goes beyond his family to tell the whole region about what Jesus has done for him. The region is not a strongly Jewish one, so this story has a more "universal" reach. I cannot help but wonder if many folks are afraid of the power of God in their life. We have the expression, "the devil you know." Do we prefer that devil over the power of Jesus in our life? The man who has been freed is so happy that he proclaims the news. Are we disturbed by Jesus' possible power to change us? AMEN