Demoniac!

Matthew 8:28-34

Wednesday of the Thirteenth Week of Ordinary Time

Gotta love a good ‘demoniac’ story!  So many wonderful details and so so many questions about interpretation!

#1  Why is it that the ‘mad’ are in on the secret of Jesus’ identity?  They recognize the Son of God.  Perhaps it isn’t the ‘mad’ part, but the fact of their place. Like others that live on the fringes of society they have a different point of reference.  Is one’s vision somehow clearer from the outside?

#2  Why are the townspeople bent on getting Jesus out of town?  One answer is that we (those of us comfortably in the center of community life) need those who are outside.  We need them to know who we are.  Not a flattering thought at all.  But any family system that includes a ‘black sheep’ is familiar with the truth of this.

#3  And why do they seem to be afraid?  Could it be that taking away that which constitutes their current righteousness means that someone else, is waiting to occupy that newly freed space?  And perhaps that someone might upend the status quo?

I am prey to demons of all kinds.  I get possessed periodically by wrong-headed desires for power, influence, status, adulation.  Possessed…it is a great word…being grasped by a powerful tug.  A great word…but I mustn’t ignore my own freedom. 

I will, however, ask for a little help.