Proper 7 (C) + Explosion of grace + 6.19.16
M. Campbell-Langdell All Santos, Oxnard (1 Kings 19:1–4, (5–7), 8–15ª; Psalm 42; Galatians 3:23–29; Luke 8:26–39) The demoniac was a man of violence, from a violent place. Gerasa, an important city in Roman Arabia, was also a place with a history of violence, and it was captured at least once by Romans in ancient times. [1] Now, Jesus probably did not visit Gerasa proper but just the region, being that the city was 30 miles inland from the Sea of Galilee, but you get the feeling that the whole region was marked by violence. And you might say that this man encompassed all the violence and pain that this entire region had been through. He was suffering. And somehow, across the sea, Jesus felt it. He felt it so strongly that he crossed to the other side of the sea, withstood a dangerous storm on the water, and went to heal this one man. This action does not make any logical sense, doing all this for one man. But perhaps he felt the pain of a whole region in that man. Did Jes...