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| “Exorcism at Gerasenes” by James Tissot, c. 1890’s |
Readings and Commentary:[3]
Reading 1: Hebrews 11:32-40
Brothers and sisters:
What more shall I say?
I have not time to tell of
Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah,
of David and Samuel and the
prophets,
who by faith conquered
kingdoms,
did what was righteous,
obtained the promises;
they closed the mouths of
lions, put out raging fires,
escaped the devouring sword;
out of weakness they were
made powerful, became strong in battle,
and turned back foreign
invaders.
Women received back their
dead through resurrection.
Some were tortured and would
not accept deliverance,
in order to obtain a better
resurrection.
Others endured mockery,
scourging, even chains and imprisonment.
They were stoned, sawed in
two, put to death at sword’s point;
they went about in skins of
sheep or goats,
needy, afflicted, tormented.
The world was not worthy of
them.
They wandered about in
deserts and on mountains,
in caves and in crevices in
the earth.
Yet all these, though
approved because of their faith,
did not receive what had been
promised.
God had foreseen something
better for us,
so that without us they
should not be made perfect.
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Commentary on Heb 11:32-40
The Pauline author considers his
theme of faith (Hebrews 11:1). He tells
his audience he did not come to proclaim the prophets, whom he describes as
righteous and brave while giving a short list of examples. He explains that,
while they did what was good in the eyes of God, they did not receive the
promise that is made to the followers of Christ. It is only through Christ that
resurrection and salvation may be achieved.
"In God's mysterious plan
those who belonged to the time of 'shadow' (Hebrews 10:1) and we
who belong to the time of fulfillment would be 'made perfect' together by the
one sacrifice of Christ (Hebrews 10:14). What
they had in anticipation we now have in reality. Yet Christians too walk
by faith, since we too still await the full consummation of the promise (Hebrews 10:36)" [4]
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Responsorial Psalm: Ps 31:20, 21,
22, 23, 24
R. (25) Let your hearts take comfort, all who hope
in the Lord.
How great is the goodness, O
LORD,
which you have in store for
those who fear you,
And which, toward those who
take refuge in you,
you show in the sight of the
children of men.
R. Let your hearts take comfort, all who hope in the
Lord.
You hide them in the shelter
of your presence
from the plottings of men;
You screen them within your
abode
from the strife of tongues.
R. Let your hearts take comfort, all who hope in the
Lord.
Blessed be the LORD whose
wondrous mercy
he has shown me in a
fortified city.
R. Let your hearts take comfort, all who hope in the
Lord.
Once I said in my anguish,
“I am cut off from your
sight”;
Yet you heard the sound of my
pleading
when I cried out to you.
R. Let your hearts take comfort, all who hope in the
Lord.
Love the LORD, all you his
faithful ones!
The LORD keeps those who are
constant,
but more than requites those
who act proudly.
R. Let your hearts take comfort, all who hope in the
Lord.
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Commentary on Ps 31:20, 21, 22, 23, 24
The complete psalm is an individual
lament. This selection is a song of thankfulness and praise for God whose mercy
is boundless and his forgiveness complete. We hear some of the pleading of the
psalmist who has endured hardship and thought this was due to God forsaking
him. But the Lord had not forgotten him
and returned to comfort him.
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Gospel: Mark
5:1-20
Jesus and his disciples came
to the other side of the sea,
to the territory of the
Gerasenes.
When he got out of the boat,
at once a man from the tombs
who had an unclean spirit met him.
The man had been dwelling
among the tombs,
and no one could restrain him
any longer, even with a chain.
In fact, he had frequently
been bound with shackles and chains,
but the chains had been pulled
apart by him and the shackles smashed,
and no one was strong enough
to subdue him.
Night and day among the tombs
and on the hillsides
he was always crying out and
bruising himself with stones.
Catching sight of Jesus from
a distance,
he ran up and prostrated
himself before him,
crying out in a loud voice,
“What have you to do with me,
Jesus, Son of the Most High God?
I adjure you by God, do not
torment me!”
(He had been saying to him,
“Unclean spirit, come out of the man!”)
He asked him, “What is your name?”
He replied, “Legion is my
name. There are many of us.”
And he pleaded earnestly with
him
not to drive them away from
that territory.
Now a large herd of swine was
feeding there on the hillside.
And they pleaded with him,
“Send us into the swine. Let
us enter them.”
And he let them, and the
unclean spirits came out and entered the swine.
The herd of about two
thousand rushed down a steep bank into the sea,
where they were drowned.
The swineherds ran away and
reported the incident in the town
and throughout the
countryside.
And people came out to see
what had happened.
As they approached Jesus,
they caught sight of the man
who had been possessed by Legion,
sitting there clothed and in
his right mind.
And they were seized with
fear.
Those who witnessed the
incident explained to them what had happened
to the possessed man and to
the swine.
Then they began to beg him to
leave their district.
As he was getting into the
boat,
the man who had been
possessed pleaded to remain with him.
But Jesus would not permit
him but told him instead,
“Go home to your family and
announce to them
all that the Lord in his pity
has done for you.”
Then the man went off and
began to proclaim in the Decapolis
what Jesus had done for him;
and all were amazed.
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Commentary on Mk
5:1-20
This is St. Mark’s version of Jesus
casting out the multitude of demons and sending them into the herd of swine.
Swine [pigs] are considered unclean animals under Hebrew dietary laws (Leviticus
11:7-8. This action not only reinforces Jesus’ universal mission,
but adds a dimension of symbolism. It is important to note that this is a pagan
region, so what the Lord is doing in helping the man with unclean spirits is
ministering to non-Hebrews, indicating the breadth of his mission. Also in this
story, the demon addresses him as “Jesus, Son of the Most High God,” a
title that identifies him clearly and without equivocation as the Messiah.
“Allegorically (St. Bede, In
Marcum): the demoniac represents the Gentile nations saved by Christ. As
pagans, they once lived apart from God amid the tombs of dead works, while
their sins were performed in service of demons. Through Christ the pagans are
at last cleansed and freed from Satan’s domination.” [5]
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Reflection:
Perhaps one of the most important
statements we are given today may seem anticlimactic. The man Jesus had cured asked, even pleaded,
with Jesus to stay with him. Rather than
accepting his offer, the Lord sent him back to his own people with the words: “Go home to your family and announce to them
all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.”
The message we can take from this
incident is that, what God does for us, he does out of his great love for
us. We do not earn his mercy or his
salvation; it is given to us because God has a special love for us. We can think of it as we think of what a good
parent does for his or her child. What
right do children have to expect all of the good things parents give them? What effort on the part of children causes
the parent to lavish their love upon them?
It is not some merit in the child that causes or entitles the child to
this love; rather it is the natural love the parent feels for the life that
they, with God’s help and grace, brought into the world.
We have seen children try to do things
that please their loving parents. They
are eager to please them, especially when they are young. Do we not act the same way toward God our
father? Are we not anxious to act in
ways that we feel should make that heavenly parent happy? But think of the reward God promises. It is not an allowance or a special treat, it
is the grace and peace of Christ; it is the resurrection on the last day. There is nothing we as human beings could do
to make ourselves worthy of so great a prize.
Today let us give thanks to God the
loving Father, who, through his great love for us, gave his only Son so that
we, who are totally unworthy, might enjoy an eternity with him.
Pax
[1]
The picture is “Exorcism at Gerasenes” by James Tissot, c. 1890’s
[3]
The readings are taken from the New
American Bible, with the exception of the psalm and its response which were
developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This
republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[4]
Hebrews, by Mary Healy © 2016, Baker Academic, Grand Rapids MI, p.255.
[5]
Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, © 2010, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, CA. p.74.
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