The Journey 25: Transformation In My Community
Read: Mark 5: 1-20
The city of Philadelphia has been witnessing in the last two months, incidents of brutal attacks on the elderly, or on young teens all leading to death. This has been recurring almost once or twice a week. The mayor of Philadelphia Michel Nutter has expressed his deep concern as why the city of Philadelphia is moving in this dangerous direction where human life has no value and people tend to get agitated for most silly and slightest reason. The Mayor added that if the city has to move forward, human life needs to be valued and that people need to know how to respect the needs of others. I believe what he say is right. If a city has to move forward, the community that dwells in the city needs to value human beings and life as a whole.
In our meditation that we do on Wednesday’s we are meditating on the transformation that Jesus brings in the life of the demon possessed man. By deliberately entering into a relationship with the demon possessed man, Jesus bring healing to Legion . Legion is now come back to his normal state of health and he is sitting with his right state of mind. That is when the pig owners come there and see contrasting sight. One sight is the sight of the demon possessed man healed and perfectly normal and on the other hand sees that the pigs that they had owned had died because they ran over to the cliff. The sight of the demon possessed man healed does not bring them joy, but on the contrary they are agitated that their pigs are dead. They ask Jesus to leave their land and go to some other place. What a strange request. How narrow was their perspective. What mattered to them more was that they lost their pigs, and not that the demon possessed man was healed. For them the value of pigs was more than the demon possessed man. I think it was because the pigs had a more material value than the man. This man was useless and had no intrinsic nor an extrinsic value. But the pigs though had no intrinsic value had a high extrinsic value because of the financial benefits that it used to offer to its owners. Today we all are evaluated on the basis of our exterior value, how much can we help others in raking up their profits, helping them to earn more profits in business. Top industrial houses employ MBA graduates with this motive in mind. It does not matter what happens to the community, what matters to us is only reaping the financial benefits. Jesus teaches us the opposite. Community can be transformed only if human being are evaluated on their intrinsic value and not just on their extrinsic value. When life is all about ones extrinsic value then community life breaks down.
The city of Philadelphia has been witnessing in the last two months, incidents of brutal attacks on the elderly, or on young teens all leading to death. This has been recurring almost once or twice a week. The mayor of Philadelphia Michel Nutter has expressed his deep concern as why the city of Philadelphia is moving in this dangerous direction where human life has no value and people tend to get agitated for most silly and slightest reason. The Mayor added that if the city has to move forward, human life needs to be valued and that people need to know how to respect the needs of others. I believe what he say is right. If a city has to move forward, the community that dwells in the city needs to value human beings and life as a whole.
In our meditation that we do on Wednesday’s we are meditating on the transformation that Jesus brings in the life of the demon possessed man. By deliberately entering into a relationship with the demon possessed man, Jesus bring healing to Legion . Legion is now come back to his normal state of health and he is sitting with his right state of mind. That is when the pig owners come there and see contrasting sight. One sight is the sight of the demon possessed man healed and perfectly normal and on the other hand sees that the pigs that they had owned had died because they ran over to the cliff. The sight of the demon possessed man healed does not bring them joy, but on the contrary they are agitated that their pigs are dead. They ask Jesus to leave their land and go to some other place. What a strange request. How narrow was their perspective. What mattered to them more was that they lost their pigs, and not that the demon possessed man was healed. For them the value of pigs was more than the demon possessed man. I think it was because the pigs had a more material value than the man. This man was useless and had no intrinsic nor an extrinsic value. But the pigs though had no intrinsic value had a high extrinsic value because of the financial benefits that it used to offer to its owners. Today we all are evaluated on the basis of our exterior value, how much can we help others in raking up their profits, helping them to earn more profits in business. Top industrial houses employ MBA graduates with this motive in mind. It does not matter what happens to the community, what matters to us is only reaping the financial benefits. Jesus teaches us the opposite. Community can be transformed only if human being are evaluated on their intrinsic value and not just on their extrinsic value. When life is all about ones extrinsic value then community life breaks down.
Let us as believers bring about transformation in our community by emphasizing on the intrinsic value of each of the human beings rather than extrinsic value, that tends to view human life on the basis of ones academic degree earned and the extent to which these degrees help the organization that they work, to move up the financial ladder.
We all are created in the image of God, that is our greatest value. [Genesis 1:26-27]
Let us Pray:
O God thank you for the gift of human life. Help us to cherish the life that you have given so that we value life more than the material things that we see on earth. Amen
We all are created in the image of God, that is our greatest value. [Genesis 1:26-27]
For further study:Genesis 18: 16-33,John 6
Let us Pray:
O God thank you for the gift of human life. Help us to cherish the life that you have given so that we value life more than the material things that we see on earth. Amen