Spiritual Hiccups - Collateral Damage from the Kingdom

When Jesus heals a Gerasene demoniac, there is some significant collateral damage.  As he prepares to cast out the demons, Jesus honors their request to be sent into a herd of pigs rather than "into the abyss."  But the pigs immediately charge headlong down the bank into the lake and are drowned.  And while Jews might not have much use for pigs, I'm sure the pigs owners were none too happy about this.  When the swineherds run and tell everyone what happened, all the folks come out to see.  Finding the former demoniac in his right mind, they are afraid and ask Jesus to leave.  Presumably the power of Jesus causes fear, but I wonder if economics figure in at all.  Who else's pigs or livelihood are in danger because of Jesus?

This isn't the only time this sort of thing happens in the Bible.  The book of Acts reports two different times where Paul is charged with causing economic harm.  One time he casts out a "spirit of divination" from a slave girl, costing her owners the money they made from her fortune-telling.  Another time the silversmiths at Ephesus riot, fearing a shrinking income from "shrines of Artemis" because of Paul's converting people to the Way.  I suppose in these two cases, the damage is done to folks who are, in some way, working at cross purposes to God.  But the pigs, their owners, and the folks employed as swineherds truly seem to be collateral damage.

Apparently the Kingdom is threatening to the status quo, even when the status quo looks fairly benign. The people of the Gerasene region seem to realize this and ask Jesus to leave.  But the Church seems to have forgotten this. Despite those other passages in Luke that say God "has brought down the powerful..." and "sent the rich away empty..."  Despite Jesus saying "Woe to you who are rich... who are full now... who are laughing now..." and "when all speak well of you..." we generally view the Kingdom as no threat at all.  And if there is any danger, it is only on a personal, salvation level.

Not so for Gerasene pig farmers.  And I can't help but wonder what parts of our world, that seem perfectly acceptable to us, are likely candidates for collateral damage from God's Kingdom.

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