Pigs And People – Read Lk 8:26-39
Contemplation
We get to the other side of the lake. There’s a man who lives in the cemetery – over near the pig farms. Everyone stays away from him because he screams and hurts himself. He is in great pain. People don’t know what to do with him, and he frightens them – so they tie him up, but this doesn’t work either because he breaks the things they tie him up with. Here we are on the hillside with the sea roaring behind us at the bottom of a high cliff – the pigs are grunting in the background and the smell of pigs and slops – and the man’s fear. Jesus is not afraid and the man seems to stop long enough to notice him, he even bows in front of him – shaggy, naked, starved, bleeding, frightened. Whatever the things are that are causing the pain, there are a lot of them – and they don’t want to be there. Suddenly the man is calm and peaceful, and now it’s the pigs in the field that seem agitated. Squeals and the roar of hooves, and the pigs have run off the cliff into the lake. The people who herd the pigs run off, scared, to tell everyone what happened. Now there are people all around us. Now it’s villagers who are scared and the man who is calm. “Go away – please!” But the man is so grateful. “Please, let me come with you!” “No, it’s all right now. I am always near, and you have enough to do here. Look at all the people who need to hear what has happened!” He runs off in delight, telling everyone in the village how Jesus has healed him.
Talk to Jesus, the man and the villagers. What do they say, feel?
Are there things that keep me away from people – or people away from me?
Can Jesus help? If he has, am I grateful? Do I want to tell others?