Luke 8:35,37 – Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they became frightened. Then the whole throng of people … asked Jesus to leave them, for they were seized with great fear. (NRSV)

As a biology professor at a Christian university, I had the experience on a few occasions of a colleague feeling uncomfortable with my support for a literal interpretation of Scripture. They were particularly puzzled that, as a publishing scientist, I did not believe in evolution. As a scientist, though, I see this complex issue quite differently from how they understand it. I had my training in a public, secular university, and I expected to be given the opportunity to discuss and debate my literal views on Scripture with my Christian colleagues. I was somewhat surprised that many biblical topics were considered to be too controversial to discuss.

I found this negative attitude towards discussing facets of Scripture among some Christian academics disappointing, until another person with a similar experience pointed out to me that these people are well-meaning, dedicated Christians, but they are not prepared to leave their spiritual comfort zones. Reading some passages of Scripture as metaphors, rather than discussing what literally happened, lets them stay in their spiritual comfort zone.

In today's Scripture, the people who came out to see the commotion at the seaside had a spiritual comfort zone. They were comfortable to believe that demons had overtaken this man, and keeping him isolated in the tombs away from them was how they could deal with it. But here he was — all cleaned up and in his right mind, sitting next to the person Who had freed him from the demons. Could a mere human actually cast demons out of a person? This was more than they could handle. It went beyond their spiritual comfort zone, and they pushed Jesus away. Having the swine drown themselves in the sea didn't help much either, but as the gospel writer states, they were afraid when they saw the man clothed and in his right mind.

As we think about this account, we should consider our own spiritual comfort zones. Could they be limiting our relationship with the God Who made our universe and all that is in it? Saul required a meeting with Jesus on the road to Damascus to force him to expand his spiritual comfort zone. Being firmly embedded in our own traditions, some of us, including myself, might need an even stronger push!

Prayer: Dear Lord, You have given so much to us, and You want to give us more. If we need to, help us to expand our spiritual comfort zones to accept Your gifts and to use them to help ourselves and others. Amen.