30 January 2017 - unbound

 [ Today's Readings ]

Jesus wants to heal us all from the demons that afflict us. We are not possessed as is the man in today's Gospel reading. But we all have dark spirits working against us. Legions of issues afflict us from without even if they don't have total control over us. Jesus has the power to set us free. If we have been living in (or near) unclean circumstances these might not survive.

And he let them, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine.
The herd of about two thousand rushed down a steep bank into the sea,
where they were drowned.

If we let Jesus cast out the demons from our lives, demons that cause frustration, anxiety, anger, and suffering, demons that the world can't help us with and cannot subdue, we are changed deep inside of ourselves.
As he was getting into the boat,
the man who had been possessed pleaded to remain with him.

We are inspired to follow Jesus. But we must be attentive. We may not be called to leave all we know behind and follow him in the most explicit ways. His mission for us may be to remain in our former circumstances as a witness to the grace he shows us. We have to listen to his plans for us and then put the grace of conversion to work in following his word.
Jesus wants to inspire faith in ourselves and in those to whom we bear witness. The victories of the kingdom come from faith are elicit faith. It is faith that makes us truly powerful. It is faith that turns the tide of the struggle with the principalities and powers and the rulers of this present darkness. Whereas without faith the demons cannot be restrained, with faith they can be conquered. Without faith their is no victory. With faith the promises are obtained. This is how Jesus can say that he has already overcome the world even before he is crucified.

Let us look, then, at the power of Jesus as he heals the demoniac. Let us look at his power at work in the history of his people. Their perfection might seem a distant ideal, but it is not truly apart from our own, as we are all meant to be one in Christ.

Yet all these, though approved because of their faith,
did not receive what had been promised.
God had foreseen something better for us,
so that without us they should not be made perfect.

In our pride we are no better than a demon thrashing against his chains. But in faith we are truly free. We are one with the saints of whom the world is not worthy.

The LORD keeps those who are constant,
but more than requites those who act proudly.