Homily for 1 Feb 2016

1 Feb 2016

People don’t respond to Jesus (or Christianity) in the same way; that’s obvious.  Just go out into public and start talking about Jesus, and you’re probably going to get a nice variety of reactions.  Some people might just look at you weird, and keep walking by.  Others might stop and have a friendly conversation.  And for some people, it might set off an explosion of annoyance and disdain.  People don’t respond to Jesus in a uniform way.

And we see this in the gospel.  There’s Jesus, doing his thing, exorcising a demon from somebody, and then letting the demons possess a herd of swine instead, which ends up drowning in the sea.  Who could be bothered by that?  He’s doing a good thing. 

Of course, the owner of all those pigs might be annoyed.  And the people there in the countryside, living a relatively peaceful life, were suddenly disturbed.  They were “fearful” and, essentially, told Jesus to leave them alone—“Stop disturbing the peace!”  Even the person possessed by the demon might have been disappointed with Jesus.  After all, he begged Jesus to let him follow him.  And Jesus said no.

But, in the midst of all that, Jesus just keeps going.  And, with that, he gives us an example to follow.  When we stumble and sin, or when those demons of self-doubt and hopelessness creep in, we keep going—not by our own power, but by the power of the Lord.  He is, after all, the Lord of heaven and earth, the Lord of the skies and the sea . . . the Lord of all.