Scapepigs

 

If you have talked to me about religious stuff in the last month,

Then you have most likely heard my struggles with the pig sermon from

this past Sunday. 

I know that the point of the pig story is not supposed to be the pigs,

But I got hung up on the pigs and I couldn’t get past them.

$350,000 worth of pigs is a lot to lose!

2000 dead pig carcasses is a lot to clean up! 

People’s lives were drastically changed that day, 

All because Jesus let the demons go into the pigs before the pigs went into the abyss.

 

Was Jesus taken aback by the pig’s stampede? 

Did he feel bad for causing so many animals to perish? 

Were the pigs’ death an unintentional consequence of Jesus’s actions?

Could Jesus have done something different to not cause such an economic and environmental impact?

 

I want to believe that Jesus felt bad.

I want to believe that Jesus left Geresenes because he knew that the people were upset and could not hear anymore from him at the moment.  

I want to believe that he felt remorse.

Because if he didn’t,

If he just shrugged off 2000 pigs’ deaths because pigs were considered unclean in Jewish law, 

Then that raises a bigger question about the goodness of all of God‘s creation and how we should treat it. 

It raises an even bigger question about the goodness of God.

 

Don’t get me wrong.

I know that the healing of the Geresenes man was important. 

I know that it broke boundaries and demonstrated God’s power over evil. 

I just can’t help but think of,

More so than in so many other stories,

The consequences of Jesus’s actions to 

Disproportionately affect innocent lives. 

 

Every action has a reaction. 

And sometimes, 

Even our best intentions,

End up going awry. 

 

Oh God, 

Help us to make decisions that will negatively affect the least number of people possible. 

And when we do hurt others,

Intentionally or not,

Help us to know when to walk away and let time heal the hurt

Or when to stay and help pick up the pieces. 

 

Amen.