The gospel about the healing of the possessed man in the Gerasene territory has such an edge to it. And today I find myself reading it under many different lenses. The "legion" of demons that held the poor man in bondage and pain could be understood in an individual sense as our own disordered attachments or false goals, preventing us from living fully in the present moment. Sometimes it "costs too much" to change. I'm thinking of my city, which was possessed by demons of all sorts, and lacerated by Hurricane Katrina. The federal government thinks it "costs too much" to liberate this city, and would like the problem to stay, like the possessed man, in the ruins and the tombs, nursing its own wounds. There is a legion of places on earth where the atrocities of war and inhuman violence dominate daily life--but peace is not in the economic interest of the powerful.
When Jesus met the man possessed by Legion, he had pity on him and healed him. But that healing had an economic impact on the region, and Jesus himself was sent away.
This is the Jesus who wants to live in us. Truly a sign of contradiction.
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