Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year C 19th June 2022
Lectionary Readings: Isaiah 65 v1-9; Psalm 22 v19-28; Galatians 3 v23-29; Luke 8 v26-39.
‘But the people were terrified’ (Luke 8 v35d)
In the gospel reading for today we read of Jesus healing a man possessed by ‘many demons’. This poor man had been living as an outcast in a cemetery, he was feared and reviled by the people of the nearby town because of his physical strength and his mental instability. When Jesus encountered the man, the demons within him recognised Jesus as the Son of God and begged not to be punished but to be relocated. Jesus healed the man and restored him to sanity. Later, when the townsfolk found the man sitting at the feet of Jesus, fully clothed and in his right mind they were terrified.
Why were the people terrified? Was it because they had ‘written off’ the man as incurable? That Jesus, a Jew and a stranger to their area, had healed the man? That they had lost their pigs in such strange circumstances? That they were afraid the ‘demons’ would ‘relocate’ to inhabit one of them? Or were they afraid of the God of the Jews? Luke doesn’t tell us why, he only notes that they asked Jesus to leave the area and return to the other side of the lake. The healed man begged Jesus to be allowed to go with him, but Jesus asked the man to stay and tell others about what God had done for him. The unnamed man obeyed Jesus. Luke doesn’t tell us any more about him. I wonder if he was ever accepted back into his community?
How would you react to God healing someone who lived on the fringe of your community?
The prophet Isaiah was fearless enough to tell the people of Israel that the Lord had said, ‘I the Lord was ready to answer even those who were not asking and to be found by those who were not searching. To a nation that refused to worship me, I said “Here I am!” (Isaiah 65 v1)
In today’s Psalm the writer seems convinced that ‘Everyone on earth will remember you Lord. People all over the world will turn and worship you, because you are in control, the ruler of all nations.’ (Psalm 22 v27)
Is Luke’s story an example of God’s call to people of other nations? Or a challenge to people to recognise God at work in their midst?
Hymn writer Ruth Duck writes of the nature and mystery of God. (Singing the Faith No 7 v1, 3, 4)
God, who made the stars of heaven, God who spread the earth,
breath of every living being, fount of life and birth,
you have formed a servant people, led us by your hand.
Light of nations, shine in us; brighten every land.
Spirit God, equip your people, all with gifts to share:
messengers to speak the gospel, ministers of care.
So may valleys rise to greatness, mountains be a plain.
Come surprise us; change our lives; heal each heart in pain.
So may nations praise your greatness, do your will on earth,
free the captives from their prisons, treat the poor with worth.
So may desert, coast and village sing new songs to you.
Light of nations, fill the world, making all things new.
Bible quotations are taken from the Contemporary English version.