Coffee With God

Reflection: Mark 5:1-20

The herd of about 2000 swine could not stand the number of evil spirits that had possessed one man of the territory of Gerasenes. When Jesus drove out the legion from this possessed man, they went into the herd of swine, but those animals opted to die than to be possessed by the legion. The herd of swine prefer death to a life of being possessed. A person living in sin is under the possession of the evil forces. And he /she is not even aware of how bad his/her condition is. But Jesus takes the initiative to come in search of this person to set him free. The only thing Jesus could do in this region was to heal this person from the legion, and then he was forced to leave their shores. It appeared as if his only purpose of crossing over the sea was to save this one man from the demons. Do we not see here the image of a shepherd who goes in search of his one lost sheep and once he finds it, he returns home? After the Ascension of Jesus, the disciples travelled to far off places, bringing the message of Jesus, fighting the forces of evil. The reaction of the townsfolks in today’s gospel represents reaction of people to the Message of Jesus. People were furious at their financial loss and cared little about the healing of the possessed man. Even today, for a lot of people, even among our Catholic friends, it is difficult to choose between financial gains or personal benefits and matters of faith. How often do we make the excuses for failing to take care of our spiritual life because we have something more important to do. We are not any different from the people of Gerasenes. Saving one lost sheep was good enough for the continuation of the mission. The man who got cured, went around the whole regions of the Ten Cities – the Decapolis – and proclaimed what Jesus had done for him. God has his own ways of reaching his people, because after all, it is his Mission. If you feel God is calling you for his mission, do not look for excuses! Do not be disheartened when faced with absence of response or rejection from the people. Efficacy of the Mission is not measured according to the number of baptisms! – go in search of the lost sheep, even if only one was lost. There are hundreds of sick people or homeless people around us. Do not be disheartened by the magnitude of the problem and your helplessness. Instead, let us show our attention to all of them.