“Today’s Gospel makes no sense”? Any third-party observer would think the people crazy. And yet how often this is our life. What has Jesus come to offer us? From the perspective of eternal salvation what is a herd of swine? From the angle of heaven what are a few strips of bacon? What is lost is the ability of the people to admire greatness.
The action of Jesus that should have generated admiration in the heart of people, instead created resentment. The conditions of admiration engendered resentment. The great tragedy of today’s Gospel is the people ask Jesus to leave. He heals two demoniacs who were a source of fear for the people, to the degree that the people had not been able to travel down that road. Jesus removes the fear, changes people’s lives, and their response is they find themselves at odds with the man who has freely imparted grace. Admiration is for the childish, it’s not what learned and mature people do. The virtue had been lost to them. They feel threatened by a power that is beyond their own capabilities.
Blinded
Resentment blinded them to the goodness others do. They distrust the motives of Jesus. They are suspicious of Jesus’ actions. Skepticism and hard judgments make for the ideal disguise. The people don’t need to admire because they are “intelligent” enough to realize that there is nothing present to really marvel at.
It is a reality that pervades our world today from politics to living rooms. Resentment has invaded the human heart from the moment sin entered into this world, “the woman YOU gave me, she gave me the apple to eat.” Hard it will be to find the person who is not angry, bitter, feeling cheated, ignored, or treated unfairly. Needless to say, these feelings are not without their subjective justification.
Marvel
When Jesus was on the cross, he was crucified between two thieves. The bad thief was resentful, and most of all resentful of the power of Jesus. Telling Christ to save himself if he really is the Christ of the world, while he’s at it, to save him and other thief too. The bad thief was asking to be taken down when he should have asked to be taken up. The good thief admires who Jesus is. He knows that he is justly paying for his crimes, he recognizes who Jesus is. He moves beyond the superficial, marveling at who his fellow condemned was. Remember me when you come into your Kingdom, is his simple petition to Jesus. Jesus responds to his admiration. “Today you will be with me in paradise.”
How impoverished the soul that can’t open its heart to admire the goodness of reality that meets it face to face. Can I bring myself to admire another’s action? Can I move my heart to be thankful for another’s good will? When was the last time I recognized the greatness of another person and their gifts? Thomas Aquinas opined that it was a sin to withhold praise because that is the food a person needs to live on.
