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They were so savage that no one could travel by that road.
Jesus came to heal where no one else could. He always traveled a road no one else could. He would not abandon anyone to darkness and the shadow of death, not even the demoniacs that came from the tomb. To ourselves as well Jesus came by the same road which no one else could travel. He endured the full savagery of the cross in order to set us free from the tyranny of the devil. Without Jesus we too are enslaved by the devil, because "everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin" (see John 8:34). Sin brings the death in which these demoniacs dwelt, and gives rise to fear that controls those who are dominated by sin. It was from sin, death, and the devil, which Jesus came to set us free.
that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery (see Hebrews 2:14-15)
Jesus sets us free. By grace we must choose to live from this new self, this renewed nature he gives us. He put sin to death in baptism. If we still identify with it afterward we are acting more as the swine running to the sea than as former captives who now have freedom.
“If you drive us out, send us into the herd of swine.”
And he said to them, “Go then!”
They came out and entered the swine,
and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea
where they drowned.
Baptism drowns and destroys the old nature of sin and makes new life possible.
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life (see Romans 6:3-4).
There is such a profound transformation wrought by Jesus in those who turn to him that we are tempted to prefer even the role of the swine in our desperation preserve the status quo. When we do, we simply ignore the fact that we are living lives that our less than human, hurdling toward an end that is obviously bad. At the same time we beg Jesus to leave because we are too afraid to have our old lives upset. This temptation does not arise once only, but every time Jesus calls us to a new level of intimacy and obedience.
Jesus wants to reveal his saving power to us. He has shown that there is no road he won't take, no lost soul he won't seek in order to do so. In response, let us choose the new life he offers, and celebrate the healing he gives. What Jesus offers is definitely dangerous to the status quo. But what he offers is so much better.
To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
Let us not turn to Jesus only in an external way, trying to appease him as if he were merely a man concerned with appearances. In place of stone he offers us hearts of flesh, hearts capable of love. Receiving them is certainly dangerous to our old self, for it will be killed, and to the world, for we won't be content to see the world still enslaved. But love is actually finally the only thing that lasts, and in this sense, the only thing that rises above the dangers we fear.
But if you would offer me burnt offerings,
then let justice surge like water,
and goodness like an unfailing stream.
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