Have you come here to torment us?

When Jesus calmed the storm in the Sea of Galilee, his disciples who were with him in the boat wondered, “What sort of man is this, whom even the winds and the sea obey?” (Mt 8:27).

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Jesus is not just a healer or a miracle worker. He is like God in the Old Testament who rules the raging sea, and stills its swelling waves (Ps 89:10). The Gadarene demoniacs address him as “Son of God.” This is not a confession of Jesus’ divinity but an attempt of the demons to control Jesus by recognizing his “name.” But Jesus is the “stronger man” who binds the strong man (Satan or Beelzebul) and plunders his property (Mt 12:29). He drowns the demons into the sea. The pagan population of Gadara think Jesus is another “demon” or one of the gods, albeit a more powerful one, and so they beg him to leave their district. Better the “old demons” they are familiar with than this mysterious one. But Jesus has come to deliver human beings from what oppresses them, and evil spirits are humans’ foremost tormentors. Jesus has power over evil spirits and will share this power to his disciples.

First Reading - Gn 21:5, 8-20a