Homily for Wednesday, 2 July 2014– Ferial

Wednesday of the 13th week in Ordinary Time 

Readings of the day: Amos 5:14-15; Psalm 50:7, 8-9, 10-11, 12-13, 16bc-17; Matthew 8:28-34

Have any of us experienced a time when all was going well in our lives? In those times when all is going well, are we mindful of and grateful for the presence of God in our lives; the God who is the beginning of all that is good? Or (hopefully this is not the case with anyone among us) do we sometimes forget about God in times of prosperity; when all is going well, and seek God only in times of crisis?

This is the prophet Amos’ criticism of the people of Israel in his day. Centuries before Israel would be overrun and many of its people exiled, this nation enjoyed a time of relative prosperity. Along comes Amos, who says to the people of Israel for whom all is going well that, if they do not begin to live according to God’s way of authentic goodness; if they continue to worship other gods; if they do not work for justice especially for those who least enjoy the nation’s prosperity; if they continue to bribe God with meaningless “feasts” and “solemnities” without the ethical conduct expected of a people in covenant relationship with God, then Israel will be brought to ruin.

The people of Israel do not want to hear Amos’ message. Eventually, if we continue to read the Book of Amos, the priest of Bethel where Amos prophesies expels Amos from the city.

In our Gospel reading today from Matthew, Jesus enters the non-Jewish territory of the Gadarenes, near the Sea of Galilee. Let us imagine Gadara, a small pagan town, happily and unsuspectingly going about its business. But chaos lurks just outside of Gadara: “two demoniacs” who were “so savage that no one could travel by that road” toward the town. Jesus casts the demons from the demoniacs into a “herd of swine” who then rush over a cliff “into the sea.”

How many of us, when we hear this story, think of it as a strange if graphic account of an exorcism and nothing more? Let us envision this story from the perspective of the people of Gadara. They are enjoying a peaceful day, going about their activities, when suddenly a demon-possessed herd of swine rushes through town! Understandably, once the Gadarenes know that Jesus was behind the demon-possessed swine (not to mention that the swineherds who had just lost their swine into the sea would not have been amused!), they plead with Jesus to leave their town.

Jesus had disturbed their peace and prosperity, much like Amos had disturbed the artificial peace and prosperity of the people of Israel of his time. How grateful are we to God in times of peace; in times of prosperity; in times when our prayer life is strong and fruitful; in times when God seems to be answering our prayers? And yet how open are we to the presence of God in our lives; a presence that is always authentically good, but a presence that may disturb our peace, so to speak, especially when, on the surface, all seems to be going well?