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After making the crossing to the other side of the sea,
Jesus and his disciples came to land at Gennesaret
and tied up there.
When Jesus last left Gennesaret it was after Jesus healed a man possessed by a demon. That time the people were seized with fear and begged him to leave. Jesus left a community that at best was unable to welcome him and may have been actually hostile toward him because of the disruption to their economy caused by the death of the swine. Or they may even have taken that incident as some kind of statement of Jewish superiority over Gentiles, which would have been aggravating indeed whether or not it was intended to be such a statement. It was only natural that the formerly possessed man desired to follow Jesus rather than remain in a community like that. But Jesus "would not permit him but told him instead, "Go home to your family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has done for you" (see Mark 5:19). Given the reception Jesus received on this repeat visit we may infer that the man had been effective in this mission.
As they were leaving the boat, people immediately recognized him.
They scurried about the surrounding country
and began to bring in the sick on mats
to wherever they heard he was.
At first the sign of a possessed man in his right mind was jarring and the death of the swine was an economic disaster. But the longer he remained in their midst the more they were able to recognize the goodness of the transformation that occurred. The longer the time passed from the death of the pigs the more they were able to realize that such a loss was negligible if it meant that a human life, once oppressed by the devil, could thrive. But such a realization meant in some measure coming to terms with the presence of darkness in their midst. If it was good that this man was healed then it followed that pushing people in his former condition to the peripheries where they could be safely ignored was not a good option. Yet what other option did they have without the presence of Jesus? That may be why when Jesus did return it seemed as though the whole world was waiting for him and came to him.
Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered,
they laid the sick in the marketplaces
and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak;
and as many as touched it were healed.
The first reaction of the people to Jesus was fear. But that fear gave way to faith. They began to believe that what the Lord had done for the possessed man and for others through the healing power of Jesus might be done for them as well. Jesus coming to their region a second time gave them confidence that he had not abandoned or forgotten them. Indeed their expectant faith was so great that they came to believe that mere contact, even with the tassel of his cloak, would be enough to heal them. Just as it was for the hemorrhaging woman, so too for them, the touch of Jesus was sufficient.
When the priests left the holy place,
the cloud filled the temple of the LORD
so that the priests could no longer minister because of the cloud,
since the LORD's glory had filled the temple of the LORD.
Just as the glory of the Lord filled the temple when the ark was brought in and set in its place so too did his glory fill Gennesaret at the coming of Jesus. It was another instance when "the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light" (see Matthew 4:16). To us this may at first seem to have been a rare and exclusive privilege. But then we are called to remember that we touch not only the tassel of Jesus but his very body and blood every time we receive him in Holy Communion. With contact so close how can we regard any healing or transformation we need as impossible? The same glory cloud that fills the temple is meant to fill our souls as well. Let us welcome him with praise.
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