“The other side of the lake”

Jesus in the territory of Gerasenes

 

   “            "Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” Mk 4.35. Jesus leaves the security, the popularity, the acceptance of this side and crosses the lake for the persecution, opposition, screaming and shouting of the other side. On this side of the lake crowds follow him, he is beginning to be understood and accepted. Just when everything looked favourable, he says,  “let us go to the other side.”

The decision looked a poor discernment. The timing too seemed to go wrong. The journey across the lake was stormy. The waves and the winds nearly drowned them. On the other side there are only crowds of swine. Just one man comes running to him and that too from the midst of tombs, not to welcome him but to scream and shout and demand that Jesus leave his territory and back off.  

 Jesus doe not oblige him. He knows the man is possessed, a captive, chained and in shackles. Jesus knows it is the devil speaking through him.  In the shouting and screaming, Jesus hears the cry for freedom.  A little earlier Jesus had stated his vision of life, “to proclaim liberty to captives.” So rather than obey the voice of the devil, he commands the devil to leave the man.

The good shepherd goes in search of the one lost sheep. Jesus comes risking the waves and winds,  rejection and opposition in search of this one man.

The situation of every mission land is like that of Gerasenes. The reaction to the one who brings the good news is often opposition, rejection and persecution. People think the good news is a torment and an oppression. So they come individually and in a delegation to demand that we back off.

We are so often so quick to obey them. We fear persecution and even imprisonment. We are not prepared for the risk involved in the journey. We are surrounded by angry mobs and unfriendly authorities. We are not ready to sail far and risk our life for just one or two individuals.

Every person, every land that rejects the good news is a captive, bound in social, economic, ethnic, religious and caste chains. Others are held captive by poisoned ideologies, corrupt political systems, poverty, sickness and hunger. Selfish leaders exploit the ignorance, caste and superstition of the crowds to make their way to the top. 

   The scream and shout of the crowd is a cry for help and compassion. The persecution the leaders unleash and the oppressive laws they pass are meant  to keep the people bound in chains.  

  Jesus refused to listen to the voice of the devil.  Can the evangeliser of the good news restate their vision and mission once more and stand up for the truth than fear a lie? Even at the cost of rejection and persecution we are invited to set people free. They may kill you but the man whom you set free will continue your work.  You may succeed to free only just one individual but he in his turn will bring the ‘whole town’.

Lord give us a sensitive ear to hear in the screams and shouts of those bound in chains, the cry for compassion and help.  Give us the courage to launch out from the familiar and the usual, to new territories, to break new grounds, willing to sail, even if it is for just one lost sheep, “ to the other side of the lake.”