Our gospel passage today is actually meant to indicate humor as well as to bring home an important message. The source of the humor is the pigs that are standing nearby as the interchange between Jesus and the demoniacs takes place. That they "happened to be in the vicinity" introduces the element of humor as a way of making a point!
To the Israelites pigs were not only unclean, they were also funny! To the Gentiles – that the Jewish people had such an aversion to and horror of pigs – seemed very funny and a matter of mocking and laughter and ridicule!
But the point of the story is that Jesus had power to expel demons: the spirit of evil as it roams the world, surfacing from time to time in various individuals. And so there can be a connection made between the unclean spirits, unclean animals, unclean objects and unclean people: people who have evil and sin in their lives.
Jesus has the power to dismiss such spirits, to make objects clean and to forgive sin. This all is demonstrated by his simple act of granting the spirits' request to be sent into the herd of swine, who then sent themselves hurling off a cliff and into the sea! It was then both a comical and very serious sight at the same time!
Before they went, these spirits: in front of those present: acknowledged Jesus as Son of God who was waiting for the "right time" to deal with them all, forcefully and fearfully! This is a very comforting thing for us to know!
There will be a time when all of evil will be destroyed and there will be only goodness for those who love God, trust in him and try to live a clean and sinless life now!
And so, the episode with the pigs reveals three things: THE GOSPEL MESSAGE CAN EVEN BE HUMOROUS AT TIMES; JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD! and THE SWINE truly were as unclean AS THE DEMONS WERE THEMELVES!
But at one point soon, Jesus would change the rules about cleanness – for he had power over that too. He would say "it is not what goes into the mouth that makes a person unclean (certain types of food), but what comes out of the mouth: evil words, words of unkindness, uncharity, unfriendliness, gossip, lies, deceptions, cheating, tearing other's down!
There is nothing funny about that at all.
May we cling to Jesus words for life!
The Father will to give us birth by the word of truth
that we may be a kind of firstfruits of his creation.
No comments:
Post a Comment