“Meddle with
Us, Jesus!”
July 2, 2014,
13th Wk in Ordinary Time
Readings:
Amos 5:14-15, 21-24; Ps
50:7,8-9,10-11,12-13,16-17;Mt 8:28-34.
In the course of the days after Pentecost Sunday, we
had been hearing a lot from the gospel of Matthew. We heard of Jesus and his
preaching and healing ministry. We heard of his powerful words and deeds that
have healed the wounded soul and spirit. We heard from the gospel yesterday a
very dramatic episode wherein Jesus calmed the violent storm that the apostles
met on the lake. Today we hear about Jesus encountering two demons who were
terrified upon seeing him. The demoniacs might have been [quote-unquote]
‘at peace’ in the tombs, but suddenly, they met Jesus, and that was not at all a
‘peaceful’ experience for them.
I propose that we reflect on the reactions of the gospel
characters towards Jesus. First is the reaction of the demons upon seeing Jesus
and second is the reaction of the Gadarenes to what Jesus did. I believe we can
mirror these reactions in our experiences here in the community.
The first reaction, “Why meddle with us, Son of
God?” In our daily lives here in the seminary, we are caught up with many
tasks; paper works, our office and extra – curricular activities inside and
outside of the seminary. We are too caught up with them that sometimes we
forget there are other more important things to do like sitting down having
quiet time to reflect and be immersed in God’s presence in prayer. Like the
demons, sometimes trying to settle down and see Jesus is a disturbance of our busy routine because we
need to beat the deadlines. Jesus disturbs the [quote-unquote] ‘peace’ that we
find in busying ourselves up because of work and too much work. We sometimes
wrongly convince ourselves that “my work is my prayer”. We become uncomfortable
when we have nothing to do or when we are put into silence. My brothers, do we
come to a point in saying “Why meddle with ME, Son of God in my busy schedule?”
Second reaction, the Gadarenes begged Jesus to
leave. We strive to be a community of those chosen to live as Christ did. Our
activities are always geared towards the configuration of our hearts to the heart
of Jesus. When taking the extra mile is for my greater glory, when appraising
our brothers because of jealousy or pride becomes a show of hasty undiscerned
judgment and when praying and faithfully following the newly revised seminary
handbook becomes a show of self-preservation and self-righteousness, we have
taken the wrong path towards configuration to the heart of Jesus. Sometimes
little do we know it, our unconscious takes over our conscious self. When
selfish motivations take over, the configuration will be temporarily halted or
much worse, permanently halted. When we
allow this to happen, it is like making Jesus leave our hearts. We set Him
aside. The worth of our work becomes weightier than that of Jesus’ worth in our
lives. Our formation becomes futile because we become those little monsters
that give Pope Francis the goosebumps.
Where do these reactions lead us? It leads us to our
destruction. Soon enough, if we find Jesus to be a disturbance to us, we
trigger the destruction of the self, of our relationship with others in the
community, and most of all, of our relationship with God. But my dear brothers,
if we allow ourselves to be disturbed by Christ, we allow Him to come to us. We
recognize the need for Him in our lives. It should lead us more to Christ who
is the prince of peace. Being disturbed by God is not something negative. What
matters is our response to it. Let us allow Christ to meddle with our affairs
so that we can always discern if we are on the right track and be disturbed if
we are already doing things on our own or when our personal issues take over.
It takes a lot of humility and acceptance to allow God through Jesus to come in
and be at peace with Him. Let us ask for the grace of inner peace that only God
can provide.
Weng Pelingon
