Today's Gospel

Something You Can’t Predict

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant. Today's reading is from the Gospel of Mark 5:1-20. They came to the other side of the sea to the country of the Gerasenes. And when he had come out of the boat, there met him out of the tombs, a man with an unclean spirit who lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, even with a chain, for he had often been bound with fetters and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart and the fetters he broke in pieces, and no one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains, he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones. And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped him. And crying out in a loud voice, he said, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, son of the most high? I adjure thee by God. Do not torment me." For he had said to him, "Come out of the man, you unclean spirit." And Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" He replied, "My name is Legion, for we are many." And he begged him eagerly not to send them out of the country. Now, a great herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him, "Send us into the swine. Let us enter them." So he gave them leave, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine. And the herd numbering about 2,000 rushed down the steep bank into the sea and were drowned in the sea.

The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. And they came to Jesus and saw the demoniac sitting there clothed and in his right mind, the man who had the legion and they were afraid. And those who had seen it told what had happened to the demoniac and to the swine. And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their neighborhood. And as he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. But he refused and said to him, "Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you." And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him and all men marveled.

It's a long reading today, but was there a word or a phrase or an idea that captured your attention? I had a strange idea reading it today. I got this image of these 2,000 sheep or swine, rather, rushing down this mountain and drowning in the ocean because this legion of demons have been sent into them. And I'm wondering whose sheep they were. Who owned the 2,000 sheep? And what did they think about this whole thing? Obviously, the herdsmen, they ran away. Maybe they owned them. Maybe they didn't own them. The other thing that struck me was that the people are telling Jesus, "Get out of our town," because they're afraid. And I think sometimes we get afraid when God is calling us to change. Sometimes we like our comfort. We like our old habits. And when God challenges us to change, we can be afraid of that, afraid of the uncertainty. And obviously, what Jesus was going to do was absolutely unpredictable. Nobody woke up that morning thinking, "Oh, Jesus is going to send a legion of demons into 2,000 swine and run them into the ocean today." And so the unpredictability of Jesus put people on edge, disrupted their comfort. And the unpredictability of what God wants to do in your life and my life, I think, puts us on edge sometimes and disrupts our comfort. But the reality is God wants to turn our life upside down. He wants to disrupt our comfort. And what he wants to do in our lives is unpredictable and beautiful and amazing and wonderful if we would just open ourselves up to it. Have a great day. And remember, don't just be yourself. Be the very-best-version-of-yourself, all that God created you to be.