Squirrel! And with that realization, my arm was within seconds of being pulled out of its shoulder socket. I had to act fast to gain control of my chocolate lab, Bailey. He loved to chase anything that crossed his path, especially squirrels.
Squirrel chasing comes to my mind as I read this story in Mark’s Gospel. The richness of its many details zigs and zags past me. Eyewitness accounts so often provide this imagery. Colorful details can be distractions. All of them are interesting in their own right, but any single one can easily lead us down the wrong path.
Take for example the situation of the man Jesus meets. He is demon-possessed. Our 21st century minds, unused to such descriptors, might naturally chase after this situation. Indeed, we would be wise to deal with it. Because we come across Jesus and demons so often in the Gospels, I will write about it next, but for the moment, let’s focus on the rest.
For me, there are two main points in this dramatic scene. First is that personal engagement with Jesus is the only way we come to faith. Second, once we have come, then we are sent.
Faith in Jesus only happens when we personally engage Him.
Those who know the previously demon-possessed man well, the people of the town, who have seen with their own eyes his deliverance, you would think would believe in Jesus. Instead they ask Jesus to leave. Mark could hardly spell out more clearly his conviction that even the most powerful of healing miracles cannot, do not, of themselves induce faith or provide a foundation for it, in others.
This man’s old self has literally died. While Jesus has not yet been crucified and risen, there is still a real sense that this man is a creation.
Now comes an interesting turn. The man who had been Legion is sent home to preach the Good News. Note in Mark’s Gospel he is sent before the disciples.
The disciples will soon be sent. Yet, rather than a lightning bolt experience, Jesus has them on a three-year program.
Returning to the first point, that personal engagement with Jesus is the only way to come to faith in him, brings my mind back to this issue of distractions.
Do you have a “legion of voices” seeking to distract you? Understand their goal is not distraction, but ownership—of you!
There are the structural voices of our society, our politics, our social-economic situation, all clamoring away at us for one purpose. To establish their position in our lives. Then there are cultural, family, and our individual voices, all vying for our attention.
Personal engagement with Jesus casts out those voices. It is Jesus’ power that
heals this man because of his concern for him each of us.
It is Jesus’ voice, personally penetrating deep into our heart which then leads us to respond. We are never the same. The effect is one of total commitment of life, trusting ourselves to God in Jesus Christ.
For some that might mean going off to far away places with a new vocation. For most it will mean staying home so that all who have known us are shocked at the transformation in us. For ALL it is a daily process.
When we are daily, even hourly, engaged by Jesus, then our witness, our newness, is the raw reality that shines through the legion of distractions which seek to own others.
Does Jesus show through me? Does he show through you