30/01/2023

The scribes and Pharisees knew of the nearness of God from their sacred scriptures. Paul lists the "saints" of whom he was aware but whose great deeds of Faith were nothing in comparison with Jesus who fulfills all that God has promised. I like Paul's style of clumping the deeds done by these faithful Jews all together giving an impression that  wonders were an everyday occurrence in  Palestine. This was true of the 33 years of  Jesus pre-resurrection life, however, and thus true Holiness again was given to the Holy land. Paul was, of course, a Resurrection Christian whose knowledge of the Jesus' mission on Earth had been learned from the eyewitnesses in the same way that ours has. 

Jesus preached not only to Jews but also to the mixed communities of the Decapolis and to the people of Lebanon around Tyre and Sidon. I cannot imagine how a herd of five-thousand head of pigs could ever have been controlled and was even needed as the population was not solely pagan. The numbers used in the New Testament to describe crowds are not to be relied on as literal truth but are of the nature of estimates, embellished for literary effect. Even the Evangelists not withstanding their guidance by the Holy Spirit are only humans recollecting their experiences of previous years.

The people who followed the man who had been restored to humanity to see Jesus were both afraid of and amazed by the wandering Rabbi who had restored this man, whom they knew as a violently dangerous maniac, to rationality. I wonder, did the cured one continue to spread the news of Jesus' power and authority? Was he present at the Crucifixion? 

On a different level I ask myself how I would  have felt if it had been my herd that had been driven over a cliff.

Dear Lord the psalm for today's reading was undoubtedly known and possibly sung by you during a Sabbath worship in a Synagogue. In it there is again another warning against pride. Truly self-love is the source of most that troubles our world at all times. Let me become true to your teaching and let the selflessness with which Mary responded to Gabriel's message and thus revealing Father, Son and Holy Spirit be the example that I must follow and the support that I need.