Daily Devotional for February 26

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February 26                                                         Mark 5:1-20

                           "And they came to Jesus,
                    and saw the demoniac sitting there,
                       clothed and in his right mind, ...
                              and they were afraid."

How strange that fear should be the reaction to the healing
Christ brings. When I look at the world, I begin to see the
reason for this fear. Many people have become used to living
among the tombs, outside of society, taunted for being dif-
ferent, not fitting in. They have begun to understand and define
themselves by their difference. They accept not fitting in, they
learn to play the role of victims.

The rest of the world has also grown comfortable with the
victim's place in it. As long as people who play the victim's
role remain on the outer fringes as objects of derision, they
serve a certain purpose in the balance of things. These people
are not taken seriously, not dealt with.

Into these fragmented lives Christ comes to restore the broken
spirit. When the people saw the crazy man made whole, they
were afraid. Now they had to change their way of behaving
toward him. Now he would no longer inhabit the tombs. He
could even come into the town, where they lived and did their
business. Jesus Christ changes people and restores their
relationships to wholeness.

We may be so accustomed to the way we have lived with each
other that we fear the changes Christ brings. Christ nonetheless
offers us the opportunity to depart from our limited lives and
to live more fully. The love Christ brings with this newness
will also dispel the fear we may experience at first. You or
I may be one of the outcasts now included, or we may be one
of those asked to embrace the stranger. In either case, Christ
comes to dispel our fears and to include us all in the family
of God.

       Yes, Jesus, you can change me. The change you
  bring is better than anything I've been used to. Come to
                   me, touch me, make me whole.

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From The Road to Emmaus - An inclusive devotional Edited by Joseph W. Houle

Emmaus House of Prayer - Washington D.C.1989