What have you to do with us?

"In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit; he cried out, 'What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?'"

Mark 1:23-24

 

The meditation on this reading in Pray-As-You-Go invites us to imagine the scene in the synagogue.  Imagine this disturbed man, screaming and calling out.  How would the people react? How would they feel, respond? Now, imagine Jesus stepping forward to do something about it.  The deranged man calls Jesus by name? He knows Jesus?  Whoa! My image of what the people would be feeling is fear.  It would be scary to have some wild guy in the quiet synagogue, shouting and carrying on, wouldn't it?  People would close in together and huddle up in fear.  But I also think there would some fear in observing Jesus' response and taking hold of the situation.  The scripture mentions that they were "astonished" at Jesus and his teaching (v. 22) But I wonder if they weren't a bit fearful of him, too.  He was just so different than what they were used to.  His teaching was different, his manner was different, and then here's this deal with the possessed man knowing Jesus by name.  We tend to fear what we do not understand and I just wonder...were they a bit fearful of Jesus?  Love, heidi