The Gospel lectionary text for today is Mark 5:1-20. It's the story of Jesus healing the demoniac who is possed by "Legion" -- many evil spirits. Jesus sends the evil spirits into the nearby herd of swine, who then charge into the lake and drown themselves. At this surprising display of power, the residents don’t give thanks for the healed man but are rather terrified by Jesus and ask him to leave.

There are a variety of ways to explain why the residents ask Jesus to leave. Were they just distraught over the loss of their possessions, their swine? Was this unleashing of spiritual power too much to handle, perhaps fearing what Jesus might do to or require of them? Calvin remarks that their fearful request for Jesus to leave reflects the basic quality of their present relationship with God:

"for his face is terrible, so long as they contemplate him as a Judge, and not as a Father. The consequence is that the gospel, which is more delightful than any thing that can be conceived, is everywhere considered to be so dismal and severe, that a good part of the world would wish that it were buried....

Hence we learn how wide is the difference between the knowledge of the goodness, and the knowledge of the power of God. Power strikes men with terror, makes them fly from the presence of God, and drives them to a distance from him: but goodness draws them gently, and makes them feel that nothing is more desirable than to be united to God."

If we recognize God's goodness and his love for us in Jesus Christ, we can joyfully surrender ourselves to him and be delighted by his power and his presence, which can heal and transform us just as the demoniac was healed and transformed. But when we refuse to trust the goodness of God, we flee from him, we find his presence threatening, and his power terrifying.