WHAT KIND OF TEACHER IS THIS

In the great Metropolis of Capernaum, Jesus enters Sacred Space (synagogue) and Sacred Time (sabbath) and Teaches.  He is claiming His right to understand and interpret Sacred Texts (scripture). But it is not clear yet what He is teaching.
His encounter with the man possessed makes it clear.  It has to do with purity codes, a favourite topic of the Pharisee and Scribe.  People and buildings can be contaminated by contact with 'unclean spirits'.  So they teach 'avoidance'.  For the Pharisee, people are holy to the degree that they avoid what is unholy. Certain actions, foods and people are to be excluded.

The unclean spirit is counting on this teaching, and is shocked to find that the Holy One of God is not only staying away but moving closer.  Jesus trespasses and does not respect purity boundaries. He brings the higher Authority of Love to bear on the mans suffering.

The teaching is clear.  Don't avoid impurity.  Bring your purity to bear on it.  The Higher Spirit of God who descended on Him at His Baptism will not allow lesser beings to harm those whom God Loves.  He commands them to "Get Out and Shut Up!" And they do, taking all the pain they have caused with them.

So while it is true that we all need boundaries, we need more to cross those Boundaries which cause division and lead to exclusion.  Jesus, in the name of a Holiness that we have to grow into, draws in what others would push away. He traces the Pathways of Love in a community that is torn by division. And you just know He will smile at the walls we build around ourselves, and step right through them.
 
The wonderful poem by Robert Frost, 'Mending Wall' captures some of this.  He meets his neighbour to mend a wall that has been broken.  In his mind he says,

Why do walls make good neighbours? Isn't it where there are cows?
But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What am I walling in or walling out.
And to whom I was likely to give offence?