Gospel of 1 July 2020
Wednesday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Matthew 8:28-34
The Gadarene swine
When Jesus reached the country of the Gadarenes on the other side of the lake, two demoniacs came towards him out of the tombs – creatures so fierce that no one could pass that way. They stood there shouting, ‘What do you want with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torture us before the time?’ Now some distance away there was a large herd of pigs feeding, and the devils pleaded with Jesus, ‘If you cast us out, send us into the herd of pigs.’ And he said to them, ‘Go then’, and they came out and made for the pigs; and at that the whole herd charged down the cliff into the lake and perished in the water. The swineherds ran off and made for the town, where they told the whole story, including what had happened to the demoniacs. At this the whole town set out to meet Jesus; and as soon as they saw him they implored him to leave the neighbourhood.
Reflexion
Here we have a familiar story that is retold by St Matthew. Although St Mark and St Luke refers to a single demoniac, Matthew multiplies the afflicted person by two in his usual style. If one demoniac spells trouble, then two definitely means big trouble!
But what seems ironic in this story is this: the townspeople had tolerated these two demoniacs for years but when these two men were finally freed by the Lord from their demonic affliction, the townspeople’s tolerance seems to have expired. They took their frustration and intolerance out on the Lord and asked Him to leave. In other words, they had accepted the problem for years without any question. But now that they’ve finally found a solution, they want nothing to do with it.
Why did these people turn against our Lord? Some would offer the obvious reason - our Lord had destroyed the economic order of the village - their herd of swine.
But our Lord did more than that. Jesus has in fact, just annihilated the social order of the village. The entire village functioned by putting all the blame, “placing their demons”, on these two madmen. If they were no longer mad or possessed, the “glue” of the community is gone. The community cannot function without the madman to blame and to bear the wounds and demons of everybody else.
The Gadarene community did not welcome what Jesus has done. There is no doubt that these two men were feared, and regarded as dangerous and undesirable. But in truth, the community could not function without them. Ironically they were the source of peace and tranquility in their midst. Everyday the villagers would congratulate themselves that they were sane and righteous because they were not like those two. But, the truth is that the community of the Gadarene madmen was as sick and unrighteous as them. In fact, they were in a worse-off position than the two demoniacs. At least the two demoniacs knew that they had a problem. The villagers, on the other hand, didn’t.
In a way, our Lord now assumes the role played by the two demoniacs. He will be the scapegoat, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Rather than welcoming the One who can remit the penalty for our sins, the One who can offer us reconciliation with the Father, we have rejected Him and are equally culpable of killing Him. He took our sin, He took our madness, He took our blame to the Cross, and in return we offered Him our backs.
Today, we may delude ourselves into believing that we are living securely in our sane and orderly structured world. We distinguish ourselves from those whom we label mad and dysfunctional. But perhaps, the gospel reveals to us that there is little difference between us and them, between the sane and the mad, between the good and the bad. All are flawed, wounded, “possessed”, and therefore all are in need of healing, restoration and liberation. Though we may not personally see ourselves as needing any help, the truth is that, we do. What we need most of all is a Saviour and unless we recognise this, we might as well be like the pigs plunging cluelessly to our own self-wrought destruction.