Get Outta Here
We seem to see so many demoniacs these days – on street corners, or public transit, in our neighbourhoods and in our workplaces. Perhaps, at times, we sense them in ourselves because, if we are being honest, they lurk in every human heart.
The demoniacs Jesus encounters in today’s Gospel use the word “torment”. That’s a term loaded for bear. The dictionary definition of torment is not just your basic pain and suffering, but extremely or greatly so. It also suggests it is not a one and done feeling, but something prolonged, unforgiving, excruciating. If one is in torment, a scented candle in a darkened room will not help you.
Yet even these tormented souls recognize Jesus’ superior power. The demons within ask to be cast out into a nearby herd of swine. All Jesus says is “Go” and the herd flies off a steep bank only to drown in the water below. Would that it be that easy for the rest of us.
We may certainly struggle – perhaps for longer, and more intensely, than the demoniacs in today’s story – but can our way out possibly be found in what they said to Jesus, “if you cast us out”, not “can” you? In other words, through faith in the power of the One who knows the human heart, and its demons when He sees them?