Is fear more powerful than God? Jesus is able to heal the man living among the tombs yet he is unwelcome in the man's village. The people there are apparently
terrified of him and the miracles he performs. People are frightened wherever Jesus goes and miraculously proclaims the Gospel. What up? In Sunday's Gospel they clearly make it known that they want him to leave. Well, not everyone... the healed man yearns to remain at Jesus' feet. Fear was less powerful than God in his story. Jesus sent "Legion" home to "declare how much God has done for you."
It's truly remarkable to read and observe who Jesus heals and how people respond to such transformational moments. He forgives the sins of a woman of ill repute who graciously
bathes his feet with her tears. God's Living Word
touches the burial pall of a young man and gives him and his mother new, reborn life. How do the people who witness these events respond? Their are bewildered, angry, hesitant, and most of all, afraid.
Are we like those people who Jesus heals? Do we truly know what it's like to be a recipient of God's unconditional Love? Or, are we more like the people who witness the possibilities of being transformed and reject such life-giving events because of our own "stuff?" (comfort with the
devils we know) It seems crucial to me for all of us to remember and offer thanks for unexpected moments when
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Icon of Jesus Healing "Legion"
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God resurrects and renews us. This is also quite risky business. It means giving away or fear, our other priorities. It isn't necessarily easy to choose God's healing rather than our own demons. And yet.... think back...maybe a day, maybe many years to a moment when life was so seemingly over, finished. Then God showed up. In the presence of a friend. In a transcendent moment on your pilgrimage through life. Richard Rohr writes: "Memory creates a readiness for salvation, an emptiness to receive love and a fullness to enjoy it." You know such salvation. It comes with both suffering and joy; remember!
I pray that you will recall such (a) moment(s). I furthermore suggest that we all need to look for the people who are dwelling among the tombs. They are us and we are them. We need to encounter people who are literally the walking dead and join with Jesus in transforming their lives and our own. Maybe it won't be us who will offer healing. Probably we will receive Grace from them instead. God has given us so very much to be thankful for today. We are to be grateful rather than fearful witnesses of God's love.
Blessings Along The Way,
Jim+
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