ST. MARY'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH

FROM YOUR PRIEST:

"Fear of Healing"

Luke 8:26-39

It sounds crazy. Demons torment a man, but with the

permission of Jesus they enter a herd of swine and rush off

a cliff. What a story! The tormented man is healed and

restored. What is most astonishing, however, is the

reaction of the local folks who have seen the man

healed. They react with—no—they are “seized with great

fear.”  They want Jesus to get out of town. So he did. Why do

you suppose they were so afraid? What made it so hard for

them to consider what good he had done, even if it was

beyond their understanding? In our day, there are plenty of

crazy things that would have astonished the hearers of

Jesus’ day. Demons of many varieties torment the people and

society of our day. Are we just as guarded in our

willingness (even afraid) to open ourselves to that which

only God can do? Let’s take a moment to find ourselves in

this story, for it is more current than it may seem.