At today's Holy Liturgy in the Church of St. Nicholas in the Old Town, on the fifth Sunday after Pentecost, when we celebrate the Holy Hieromartyr Eusebius, a quote was read from the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 8:29-30) which describes the moment when Jesus heals two possessed people in the Gergesene region. The demons who were tormenting those people recognize Jesus, fear Him, aware that their power over man will come to an end.
“And when Jesus came to the other side, into the country of the Gergesenes, two demon-possessed men met him, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly wicked, so that no one could pass that way. And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither before the time to torment us? And a great herd of swine was feeding at a distance from them. And the demons besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go into the herd of swine. And he said unto them, Go. And they came out of the men, and went into the herd of swine. And, behold, the whole herd of swine rushed down the steep place into the sea, and were choked in the waters. And the herdsmen fled; and they went into the city, and told everything, including the demon-possessed men. And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts. And he entered into a ship, and went over, and came into his own city.” is written in the Gospel.
In his speech to the faithful, the hierarchal vicar of Kotor-Tivat, the parish priest of Kotor, proteress - stavrophor Nemanja Krivokapić pointed out that this Holy Gospel describes another of the many miracles performed by the Lord Jesus Christ, Who comes to save people, especially describing human nature, which, when it puts material things in the foreground, becomes more important to it than the miracles of God themselves.
"God is omnipotent, He is the Lord of all laws, but He loves us above all. And everything He does, He does for our salvation. His very coming to earth was precisely for this reason to save us humans. We know this and we have heard this in many Gospels, but today's reminds us to think about our relationship with such and such a God Who loves us so much and does good for us. The Gospel describes an event when Christ comes to a certain place and performs a specific miracle. Namely, He encounters helpless people, possessed by demons, whom no one could help, but He, as omnipotent, performs a miracle, heals them, drives out demons and those people become healthy. But He let those demons enter the pigs and those pigs drowned. Of course, the Lord could have driven out demons and helped the man without the harm that occurred. But He did it deliberately in order to see the reaction of the people. And what is happening? These people, who were visited by the Lord God the Savior himself, before whom he performed a concrete miracle - the sick whom no one could help, He heals in an hour. However, they are driving Him away because He has harmed them. They were much more bothered by the fact that those pigs perished than by the fact that their fellow citizens were healed. And they are driving Him away from their region,” said Fr. Nemanja.
When asked who these people are and why this event from 2,000 years ago, which we hear about in today’s Gospel, is significant, he emphasizes that everything refers precisely to today’s man who often drives Christ away.
"We force the Lord, Who works miracles for us, Who comes to us, to save us, whenever we put the material in the foreground, as these people did, for whom pigs were more important than miracles. We do the same thing whenever we put the material, the transient, in the foreground in relation to what is eternal and salvific. God comes to us and God visits us constantly. Someone will say, well, God came to them, they saw him. And He comes to us every day, whenever we serve the Holy Liturgy. In this Holy Cup that we offer, there is God Himself - the body and blood of Christ. Even today, a miracle happens every time we serve the Liturgy. We put ordinary wine and ordinary bread, prepare it for the Liturgy, and during the Liturgy it becomes the body and blood of Christ. Here is a miracle - God gives Himself to us. Why? For our salvation. And therefore, every time we have something more important than communion, when we put "If we put anything material in the foreground, we become like those strange people from that place. Of course, we have to work, we have to earn, we have to earn some money to live, but we must never put that before what gives us eternal life. Because, no matter how long this life lasts, another life will come that is eternal, and it must be earned through good deeds and a proper life, and that is life with the Lord Who is constantly given to us. This Holy Gospel reminds us of this, and may the Lord God grant that we may become wise and think about the eternal, about the good things that God has prepared for us, to whom be glory forever, amen," said Father Nemanja.