Matthew 8:26-34: a reflection

26He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then he got up, rebuked the wind and the sea, and there was a great calm. 27The men marveled, saying, “What kind of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” 28When he came to the other side, into the country of the Gergesenes, two people possessed by demons met him there, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that nobody could pass that way. 29Behold, they cried out, saying, “What do we have to do with you, Jesus, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” 30Now there was a herd of many pigs feeding far away from them. 31The demons begged him, saying, “If you cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of pigs.” 32He said to them, “Go!” They came out and went into the herd of pigs; and behold, the whole herd of pigs rushed down the cliff into the sea and died in the water. 33Those who fed them fled and went away into the city and told everything, including what happened to those who were possessed with demons. 34Behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus. When they saw him, they begged that he would depart from their borders.

Jesus has just done something wonderful: he freed two men who had been so tormented and violent that no one could go near them, restoring them to their right minds. You would expect the town to be thrilled. Instead, when the people of the region come out and see what has happened, and count the cost, a whole herd of pigs lost in the process, they beg Jesus to leave. They would rather have their undisturbed life and their livestock than the presence of the One who had transformed two broken men.

Notice the tragedy in that. Jesus' power had done nothing but good for the tormented men, but it had also upended the town's economy and unsettled their ordinary world, and that was enough for them to want him gone. They preferred the comfortable status quo, even with its lostness, to the upheaval that came with Jesus. So they asked him, in effect, to keep his distance.

That is a sobering mirror. We can do the same, welcoming Jesus in theory but, when his presence threatens to upend our comfortable arrangements, our finances, our habits, the way we have things settled, quietly wishing he would keep to the edges of our lives. The question this scene presses is uncomfortable: is there any way in which I, too, would rather Jesus not come too close, because he might change too much? Do not be like the town that asked him to leave. When his presence upends your comfortable world, do not beg him to depart. Let him stay, even at the cost of your pigs.

Lord Jesus, the town preferred their undisturbed life and their livestock to your transforming presence, and begged you to leave. Search my heart for where I do the same, welcoming you in theory but wishing you would not upend my comfortable arrangements. Do not let me ask you to keep your distance. Come close, and change what needs changing.