Gospel: Matthew 9: 32-38
In every instance where Jesus expels a demon from someone there exists a cohort of people who object to the action. In this particular story the complaint is that it is because Jesus himself is possessed by Satan that he can cast out devils, an absurd claim if ever there was one. But the hyperbole forces us to confront the very real fact that there are these constant objections to Jesus liberating people from their demons throughout the Gospels.
We human beings like to complain about our demons, but we do little to free ourselves from them. Even when such a possibility seems attainable we cling to our demons. We have grown comfortable with them. They are part of our landscape. What would we complain about if we did not have our demons? What would these industries that babysit our demons do? We love our wars and violence, our drugs, hared toward others, poverty...
Today we must decide whether we want our demons exorcised or whether we prefer things as they are. Jesus offers us healing and liberation; the crowd of cynics offers us more of the same. Put in these terms the choice seems simple, until we realize how attached we have become to our demons. Recovery is a hard road, as is the way of the cross, but it is the only path to true freedom and peace in our lives.
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