It is true that Christ can give us much, but He can also deprive us of much. How will we respond to this? Are we ready to lose something familiar so that in our soul light may replace darkness?

Let us consider today's story. Before us are Jesus, a possessed man, a legion, about 5,000, of demons, and the local residents. There is a clear conflict, a clash of desires.

Jesus wants to free the man from the power of the demons and drive them out of that region.

The possessed man: his whole being had been suppressed by an unclean power. If he had any awareness of himself at all, his desire could only have been one thing: to be freed from this nightmare as quickly as possible.

The demons plainly want to remain masters in that region. Apparently they lived comfortably in godless surroundings. They even dare to ask the Lord not to trouble them. Incidentally, they are the only ones who fully understood with whom they were dealing.

The local residents paid attention to Jesus only after they had lost their herd of pigs. And the normal condition of the man freed from demons inspired only fear. People are always afraid of what they do not understand, and Jesus, having brought such turmoil into their measured life, was not needed by them.

Does something similar not happen in our own lives? How do we react to the Lord's unexpected "invasion" of our little world? The demoniac, after coming to his right mind, wanted only one thing: to be with Christ and obey Him. His preaching about the Lord's miracle is the best gratitude to God for His mercy. Can you say that Jesus has freed you from what bound your soul? If so, are you grateful to Him for it?

Reading the Gospel, we often encounter situations where Jesus is not welcome. They are very different, and each of those who do not welcome Him usually has his own reasons for it. But they all have something in common: He is not welcome when people do not want change. Of course, not everyone admits to such motives behind his own unwillingness to see Jesus. Deeply religious and often in their own way sincere people, such as the Pharisees, for example, would never have admitted, not only to others but even to themselves, that they feared not for the people and not for the true faith, but for themselves, for their religiosity, which Jesus' testimony threatened to destroy.

But in the region of the Gadarenes there lived the most ordinary secular people, whom we are accustomed to call pagans, though one cannot speak of any special religiosity of theirs, even pagan religiosity. Simple people, and in their own way frank. They were frankly afraid and just as frankly sorry for the lost herd of swine.

And as simple people they were not ashamed to say directly and point-blank that they did not want to see Him to the One whom they truly did not want to see. Of course, they had witnessed a miracle. And of course they understood it quite correctly; it was simply impossible to understand it otherwise. But the point is that fallen man does not really need miracles. At least not those that cannot be controlled. And fallen man usually does not need God. Fallen man needs not God, but a genie from a magic Eastern tale. One who could do everything, but would require nothing from his master and, when not needed, would sit quietly in his bottle or magic lamp, in no way revealing his presence.

The people who witnessed the healing performed by Jesus, for all their simplicity, understood that this Wonderworker was not a genie. If He were allowed to stay, He would not limit Himself to one healing. And no one could say exactly what else He would do. The matter might well not end with the loss of one herd of swine. But the main thing was not even material damage. Intuitively, in the depth of his own subconscious, each person understood: if this Man is allowed to act, you will lose not only your herds, but your life.

He will take your life for Himself. Yes, of course, not for His own sake. Perhaps for the sake of that Kingdom of which He speaks. But your life will no longer be yours. And you yourself will no longer belong to yourself, but will belong to Him, the King of an unknown Kingdom. And this is always frightening. The only question is whether to overcome this fear for the sake of the Kingdom or to step back. Into outer darkness. To one's herds, to one's life. And to one's death.

Before us is another story of Jesus' victory over the dark forces ruling on earth. At the same time, this story tells us much about ourselves, about the greatness and damaged state of the human being. The spirits of darkness try to destroy the possessed man, but even a legion of demons is able only to torment the unfortunate man, while once they find themselves in a herd of pigs, the demons immediately drag their "hosts" into the abyss.

In this one can see the extraordinary importance of human resolve, of human will. The person himself is not able to free himself from unclean spirits; he cannot heal himself. But with those remaining parts of the will that have not yet been damaged by the evil demonic will, he is able to do the most important thing: to come to Jesus and bow down to Him. In fact, this fully corresponds to the way our salvation takes place. Which of us can independently cast off his sinful inclinations, be healed of laziness, despondency, vanity, and other diseases of the spirit? But one thing we can do, for this region of the spirit is not subject to Satan: we have the freedom to come and bow down before the Lord, who alone has the power to heal and save us.