Luke 10:1-11,16-17
After this the LORD appointed 70 others and sent them on ahead of Him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. 2He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 3Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. 4Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. 5Whatever house you enter, first say “Peace to this house!” 6And if any one is there who shares in peace, your peace shall will rest on that person, but if not, it will return to you. 7Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. 8Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; 9cure the sick who are there, and say to them “The kingdom of God has come near to you”. 10But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into the streets and say 11”even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you.” Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.
16Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me. 17 The seventy returned with joy, saying “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
Perhaps some of you know the book, Marvin K Mooney, will you please go now- that I talked about with the children. In it, as you heard, Marvin K Mooney is to go—somewhere. We don’t quite know where- but the time for going is NOW-
In this section of the Gospel according to Luke , Jesus is sending some 70 people out—apparently for the, the time is now as well. These are 70, besides the 12 disciples. So the Jesus movement has grown. It’s sort of a mission trip writ large. The mission team went out earlier this morning, with 3 vans, and lots of people, and a huge list, and many, many months of planning and preparation. It was necessary, to do all that planning. With that many people, you need to make sure all the documents are in order, there is food enough, water enough, bathroom stops along the way, band aids, medicines, games for the car, Bibles, music- Kleenex, sunscreen, bugspray, Twizzlers, you name it, I’m sure it got brought along.
But when Jesus sends out the 70 (or 72, some versions say) they don’t have a packing list. They don’t have an itinerary. They don’t even have a map, or a gps, or a AAA trip-tik, or even a plan that we know of. Jesus seems to give them, in fact, a sort of anti-list- a list of what not to bring- no bags, no purse, no extra sandals. No money, no food, no juice boxes or water bottles. They are not to greet any one along the way. (meaning, they are not to hang out with friends, but are to get on their way, like Marvin K.) They are to make their way through Galilee, proclaiming “The kingdom of God has come near”
Would any of us travel like that? Suppose we started out- no extra gas, no cash, no credit card, no water or food, no toothbrush or spare socks….would we dare to do that? I sure wouldn’t. But that’s just what the disciples did-
In other places in the Gospels, we are told things like this. “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear…strive first for the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Same idea- no packing list. Just proclaiming “The kingdom of God has come near to you. Peace be to you. God’s grace is present among us”
And listen to the description- “I am sending you out as lambs among wolves…” Note that in that anti-list that Jesus gave the travelers, there are also no weapons for defense- not even a stick or a staff- Sounds great, huh? How many of you would sign up for that?
But that is just what you signed up for—every day of your life—or, rather, what your parents signed you up for—long ago, or not so long ago, in your baptism. In the waters of baptism, God claimed you as one of God’s own. And God called you- at that time, and every day since.
As part of my seminary education, I did an internship as a chaplain at Northside Hospital in Atlanta. I have never, ever, felt so unprepared for anything in my life—unless it was parenthood. And I have to say I was probably too dumb, 25 years ago, to realize what I was getting myself into. This time, I knew better- or at least I thought I did. I knew there would be death, and grief. I knew it would be hard to stand at someone’s bedside, to comfort the grieving families, to be the one who had to sit with the body, or help the husband work through a careplan to place his wife of 57 years in assisted living. I knew all that…I thought. But I gotta tell you, at times it felt like I was the lamb, and the whole system was the wolves- the death, the disease, the despair that has gotten into people, the system that conspires against people getting the medical help they really need, the poverty, the sin, the bad decisions and addictions that have landed people in the hospital--
And I tell you this not because I think my life is harder than any of yours-but because I know you all have times when you feel like the lamb…and the world looks like a circle of hungry wolves, about to pounce…maybe those wolves are illness, or unemployment, declining health and capabilities, or an estrangement in the family….maybe those wolves are the culture, grabbing at you to make choices and do things you don’t want to do-
But to go out, with no baggage or weapons, as a lamb before wolves- this is what Christ calls us to—Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who courageously stood up to Nazi Germany, wrote “When Christ calls a person, he bids that one come and die” Whoah…so its no wonder, then, that in this story it is not the calling of the 70, but the sending of the 70… I wonder about this story-
Did Jesus push them out the door? Did he give them a slap on the back, between the shoulder blades, to get the 70 going? Was he like the jump sergeant in the airplane to the airmen, yelling “Go, Go Go!” The story tells us Jesus sent them 70 ahead of Him. I have read this story many, many times, but that little bit jumped out at me- they were going,. .But Jesus was coming right behind them…
So when you are sent, you can rest in the assurance that Jesus is coming right behind you—wherever you are sent—to work, to school, to the gas station or the grocery store, to your ailing loved ones in the nursing home, to the mission fields of Pittsburgh, to the people down the street….
We also read that the 70 were to say “Peace” to everyone- to the ones who welcomed them, and to the ones who rejected them. They are not to make a judgment- that is God’s own doing. I have a friend, a fellow pastor, who says of people he meets in life “Love ‘em all- let God sort it out.” When we meet people, no matter how they treat us, we are to say “The kingdom of God has come near to you” That’s it—no threats, no frowny faces, no matter how they receive us and our news. Peace. We are to say to everyone, even the ones who reject us, “the kingdom of God has come near.” Earlier in the Gospel, Jesus was rejected- and the disciples want to call fire down upon the cities- but Jesus says the disciples are to say, even to them, “the kingdom of God has come near…”
And what do we read at the end of their journey? They returned – not with souvenirs, or an awesome tan, or calluses on their hands, but- with joy! Where do you have joy in your life? Where do other see joy in you? An old saying is that Joy means: putting Jesus first, Others next, yourself last—is that what these 70 did? Is that how they found their joy?
We don’t know if Marvin K Mooney experienced joy on his journey. What we do know is this: the time had come, so Marvin went. And, like the 70 Jesus sent, Marvin K Mooney had no packing list—no map, no extra sandals, no worrying about what to eat.
Later in the gospel of Luke, Jesus asks the disciples “When I sent you out without a purse, did you lack anything?” “No, not a thing,” the disciples answer. Sent out, not on a glamorous trip, not on a photo opportunity, news worthy mission trip, but as lambs before wolves. But look what these 70 carry- peace- and the great good news- “the kingdom of God has come near.” This is what the Christian life looks like. This is what we are all sent to do. May God strengthen us, and bless us in this journey. Amen
Psalm 46:1-7, 10-11
1God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
2Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
3though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult. Selah
4There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.
5God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved; God will help it when the morning dawns.
6The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts.
7The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
10“Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth.”
11The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
Monday, July 26, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
I, Legion Sermon July 18, 2010
Psalm 42
1As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God.
2My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God?
3My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me continually, “Where is your God?”
4These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I went with the throng, and led them in procession to the house of God, with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival.
5Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.
Luke 8:26-39
26Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. 28When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me”— 29for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) 30Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” He said, “Legion”; for many demons had entered him. 31They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss. 32Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. 33Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. 34When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. 35Then 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 were afraid. 36Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. 37Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. 38The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39“Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.
What’s in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. The writer of the Gospel of Luke is no Shakespeare, but he does tell quite a story, huh? A dramatic one, with demon possession, and pigs hurtling over a cliff, a healing and restoration- and also fear and suspicion and unbelief.
Just prior to this, Jesus and the disciples have been out on the lake of Galilee. A storm had come up, and Jesus had silenced the water and wind. The disciples were dumbfounded: they asked themselves “Who is this, that he commands even the winds and water, and they obey him?”
And then they all head over to the other side of the lake, the area known as the Decapolis- the 10 cities. This is Gentile territory. This is the only time in Luke that Jesus goes into Gentile territory. You know, the other guys, the unclean people, the “nations”. Now remember, the disciples have just asked the question “who is this” about Jesus.
But as soon as Jesus steps out of the boat, out onto that foreign shore, he is met by a man who knows who he is—or, at least, the demons possessing the man know- they call him Jesus, meaning “One who saves.” And they know who He is “Son of the Most High God”. In biblical times, and even now, to a certain extent, knowing someone’s name, and using it, was powerful- it meant you knew somebody, deeply—and it was also thought that if you knew someone’s name, you had power over them. This is part of what is going on in the commandment, “Thou shalt not use the Lord’s name in vain”- because using someone’s name, and especially Gods name, is serious, powerful business.
The man runs to Jesus, and bows down, and cries out in a great loud voice. We are told a very few details about this man- he has not worn clothes in years, he has been living among the tombs, he is possessed by demons. Jesus has stepped out of the boat, into the frying pan, it seems. The man is, in rabbinical law, about as unclean as one could get—not in his right mind, not wearing clothes, living among the dead—all taboos according to Levitical law—and a Gentile, an unclean foreigner to boot! What was Jesus even thinking, going to this side of the lake?
He was going there to heal—for we are told he commanded the demons to leave the man. And then Jesus asks the man’s name.
And this, I think, is one of the saddest things in this story. The man doesn’t answer his name, doesn’t even say “I am one possessed”, even “I used to be…”. When asked his name, what he answers is this: “Legion”. That is, a multitude.
What is so heartbreaking about this, is that the man is so bound by his ills, his demons, that he can’t even give his name. He has ceased being his self. It is as if Jesus had asked him “what’s wrong?” and the man had said “everything”. Or as if, one of us, meeting someone, would answer the question “who are you” with “I am cancer, or I am Multiple Sclerosis, or I am unemployed, or I am alcoholism.”
This is a story about identity. It is about who Jesus is. The demons know it, even if the disciples don’t get it. AND it is about the man’s identity—he has none—he is no one—he has stopped being himself. Jesus heals him, and saves him (because in Greek the two words are the same) and restores him to wholeness.
Ellen was a Christian, and an alcoholic. We like to think that the two are mutually exclusive. But that is not so. And Ellen began to live into sobriety. And she began going to AA meetings. And, as all AA meetings begin, hers began with the introductions. “Hi, My name is Ellen. I am an alcoholic.” And the group would respond “Hi, Ellen”. But as she grew in her sobriety, and in her faith journey, she began to see she was more than that. And so she began, timidly at first, to go to her meetings, and say “Hi. My name is Ellen, I am an alcoholic….and I am a child of God.”
In her journey towards health, Ellen knew that an alcoholic was not all that she was. She began to regain her true identity.
The man at the side of the lake, running out of the graveyard, is both saved and healed: he is restored to his right mind, he is clothed, and he is sitting at the feet of his Lord and Master, Jesus. He is not his possession, his demons, his illness. He has his rightful identity again. .He is a child of God.
But what is the reaction of his neighbors? There it is, in one small sentence: “they were afraid.” (v35) These were the people who had chained and bound him, tried to protect him, tried to take care of him. Surely, along the way, they had hoped for a cure for him, prayed for him to get better. But we also think, “better the devil you know than the devil you don’t”.
The text tells us the people are afraid—the swineherds who had seen the demons leave the man, had gone and told what they had seen. The neighbors, who have heard the report, go out by the lake, to see if what they had heard was true….and it was. The man is healed, he is saved, he is restored.
And they are afraid. So much so, that they want Jesus to leave. To get in his boat and get out of town. Pronto.
And we shouldn’t be surprised. This is how Jesus started his ministry- remember? When Jesus went to his hometown, Nazareth, and takes down the scroll, and reads and then teaches in the synagogue- his own home town people, want to throw him off a cliff.
Because change is scary. Change upsets the apple cart. We may not entirely like the way things are, but at least we’re used to it.
But the good news in Jesus Christ changes things—and it changes us. If you look in your bulletin, you will see some headings “We Hear The Word” and later, “We Respond to the Word”. Hearing the Word of God, we are called to respond—this life giving, this healing, this saving, is so amazing—what will we do?
The man in the story, healed, restored- knows what he wants to do- follow Jesus. He begs Jesus to be allowed to follow him. But Jesus gives him an even harder task.
So the man goes, proclaiming- preaching--. And the words here are very understated for a life healed and restored: just- “so he went.”
“So he went away, proclaiming how much Jesus had done for him”
Two weeks ago, we heard the text from Galatians: “For freedom Christ has set you free” and we talked about freedom FROM and Freedom FOR- the man in this story has been freed FROM his demons- what is he now FREE FOR?- what will he do with his freedom? There used to be a number of commercials on tv, asking the winners of the game “Now that you’ve won the Superbowl, what are you going to do? I’m going to Disneyworld! The winners would shout.
Now that you’ve been saved, been healed by Jesus, what are you going to do?
What are you going to do- what are we going to do, as a saved, forgiven, healed people? As a church called to tell of all the greatness of God?
Perhaps the people in the Decapolis need, not Jesus, but the living testimony of the man who has been healed and restored. Perhaps they need to see, to live with, the man who had been formerly known as “Legion”. If the man were to leave, how easy it would be for his neighbors to revert to the status quo. With the man constantly among them, renewed in body, mind and spirit, restored to his true identity, they must reckon with God’s determined action for health and life. Perhaps Jesus is bequeathing to him—and to them—the authority and responsibility to effect communal change to those in the community who have felt and witnessed Jesus’ presence and power
In her book, Christianity for the Rest of Us, Diana Butler Bass has looked at mainline churches that are alive and healthy and thriving. One of the congregations she studied was the Church of the Redeemer, in New Haven, Connecticut. In the shadow of Yale Divinity School, the church was a model of Yankee restraint and understatement. But an amazing thing began to happen when people began to give their testimony. Now, to many of us, THAT sounds scary. But the pastor, Rev. Lillian Daniels, says this: “Our church’s practice is giving testimony, having people talk about their experience of God. We didn’t invent it. It was in the early church” and the Rev Daniels goes on to say “Words are like an earthquake.”
In the seventeenth century, New England Puritans elevated testimony to dramatic democratic expression. They required anyone seeking church membership—a coveted status in New England Society—to be able to testify publicly to the works of God in his or her life. In those days, however, the Puritans used testimony as a way of fitting people into the roles that had already been decided for them. Now, testimony is, as Rev Daniels puts it “who we are and who we are becoming.”
If you look at your bulletin, you will notice that there is one more heading “We Bear the Word into the World.” We are called to bear the word into the world, and into our own corner of the world. In Lodi, we have been studying the 6 Great Ends of the Church- the very first one is “The Proclamation of the Gospel for the salvation (the healing) of humankind.”
This is our response- we are called to tell “how much Jesus has done for us,” to talk about who and what Jesus is calling us to be, as people and as a faith community, to live a life that bears witness to God’s intention for healing and wholeness for all. Now, I want us all to look back at the text again—in v 37, Jesus gets into the boat and returns. Returns to his home. So what we are asked to do is no different than what Jesus himself did—went back home, and talked about the goodness of God.
Now, perhaps that sounds scary—and, I admit, going back to your family, and your hometown, and the people who knew you before, is scary- telling them of Gods great love is hard. But when we are changed by the Gospel, people can’t help but notice. When we are saved and healed, restored to wholeness, people will not always be happy—they might be afraid. But it is what we are called to do, in word, and deed. Amen.
1As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God.
2My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God?
3My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me continually, “Where is your God?”
4These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I went with the throng, and led them in procession to the house of God, with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival.
5Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.
Luke 8:26-39
26Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. 28When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me”— 29for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) 30Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” He said, “Legion”; for many demons had entered him. 31They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss. 32Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. 33Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. 34When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. 35Then 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 were afraid. 36Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. 37Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. 38The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39“Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.
What’s in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. The writer of the Gospel of Luke is no Shakespeare, but he does tell quite a story, huh? A dramatic one, with demon possession, and pigs hurtling over a cliff, a healing and restoration- and also fear and suspicion and unbelief.
Just prior to this, Jesus and the disciples have been out on the lake of Galilee. A storm had come up, and Jesus had silenced the water and wind. The disciples were dumbfounded: they asked themselves “Who is this, that he commands even the winds and water, and they obey him?”
And then they all head over to the other side of the lake, the area known as the Decapolis- the 10 cities. This is Gentile territory. This is the only time in Luke that Jesus goes into Gentile territory. You know, the other guys, the unclean people, the “nations”. Now remember, the disciples have just asked the question “who is this” about Jesus.
But as soon as Jesus steps out of the boat, out onto that foreign shore, he is met by a man who knows who he is—or, at least, the demons possessing the man know- they call him Jesus, meaning “One who saves.” And they know who He is “Son of the Most High God”. In biblical times, and even now, to a certain extent, knowing someone’s name, and using it, was powerful- it meant you knew somebody, deeply—and it was also thought that if you knew someone’s name, you had power over them. This is part of what is going on in the commandment, “Thou shalt not use the Lord’s name in vain”- because using someone’s name, and especially Gods name, is serious, powerful business.
The man runs to Jesus, and bows down, and cries out in a great loud voice. We are told a very few details about this man- he has not worn clothes in years, he has been living among the tombs, he is possessed by demons. Jesus has stepped out of the boat, into the frying pan, it seems. The man is, in rabbinical law, about as unclean as one could get—not in his right mind, not wearing clothes, living among the dead—all taboos according to Levitical law—and a Gentile, an unclean foreigner to boot! What was Jesus even thinking, going to this side of the lake?
He was going there to heal—for we are told he commanded the demons to leave the man. And then Jesus asks the man’s name.
And this, I think, is one of the saddest things in this story. The man doesn’t answer his name, doesn’t even say “I am one possessed”, even “I used to be…”. When asked his name, what he answers is this: “Legion”. That is, a multitude.
What is so heartbreaking about this, is that the man is so bound by his ills, his demons, that he can’t even give his name. He has ceased being his self. It is as if Jesus had asked him “what’s wrong?” and the man had said “everything”. Or as if, one of us, meeting someone, would answer the question “who are you” with “I am cancer, or I am Multiple Sclerosis, or I am unemployed, or I am alcoholism.”
This is a story about identity. It is about who Jesus is. The demons know it, even if the disciples don’t get it. AND it is about the man’s identity—he has none—he is no one—he has stopped being himself. Jesus heals him, and saves him (because in Greek the two words are the same) and restores him to wholeness.
Ellen was a Christian, and an alcoholic. We like to think that the two are mutually exclusive. But that is not so. And Ellen began to live into sobriety. And she began going to AA meetings. And, as all AA meetings begin, hers began with the introductions. “Hi, My name is Ellen. I am an alcoholic.” And the group would respond “Hi, Ellen”. But as she grew in her sobriety, and in her faith journey, she began to see she was more than that. And so she began, timidly at first, to go to her meetings, and say “Hi. My name is Ellen, I am an alcoholic….and I am a child of God.”
In her journey towards health, Ellen knew that an alcoholic was not all that she was. She began to regain her true identity.
The man at the side of the lake, running out of the graveyard, is both saved and healed: he is restored to his right mind, he is clothed, and he is sitting at the feet of his Lord and Master, Jesus. He is not his possession, his demons, his illness. He has his rightful identity again. .He is a child of God.
But what is the reaction of his neighbors? There it is, in one small sentence: “they were afraid.” (v35) These were the people who had chained and bound him, tried to protect him, tried to take care of him. Surely, along the way, they had hoped for a cure for him, prayed for him to get better. But we also think, “better the devil you know than the devil you don’t”.
The text tells us the people are afraid—the swineherds who had seen the demons leave the man, had gone and told what they had seen. The neighbors, who have heard the report, go out by the lake, to see if what they had heard was true….and it was. The man is healed, he is saved, he is restored.
And they are afraid. So much so, that they want Jesus to leave. To get in his boat and get out of town. Pronto.
And we shouldn’t be surprised. This is how Jesus started his ministry- remember? When Jesus went to his hometown, Nazareth, and takes down the scroll, and reads and then teaches in the synagogue- his own home town people, want to throw him off a cliff.
Because change is scary. Change upsets the apple cart. We may not entirely like the way things are, but at least we’re used to it.
But the good news in Jesus Christ changes things—and it changes us. If you look in your bulletin, you will see some headings “We Hear The Word” and later, “We Respond to the Word”. Hearing the Word of God, we are called to respond—this life giving, this healing, this saving, is so amazing—what will we do?
The man in the story, healed, restored- knows what he wants to do- follow Jesus. He begs Jesus to be allowed to follow him. But Jesus gives him an even harder task.
So the man goes, proclaiming- preaching--. And the words here are very understated for a life healed and restored: just- “so he went.”
“So he went away, proclaiming how much Jesus had done for him”
Two weeks ago, we heard the text from Galatians: “For freedom Christ has set you free” and we talked about freedom FROM and Freedom FOR- the man in this story has been freed FROM his demons- what is he now FREE FOR?- what will he do with his freedom? There used to be a number of commercials on tv, asking the winners of the game “Now that you’ve won the Superbowl, what are you going to do? I’m going to Disneyworld! The winners would shout.
Now that you’ve been saved, been healed by Jesus, what are you going to do?
What are you going to do- what are we going to do, as a saved, forgiven, healed people? As a church called to tell of all the greatness of God?
Perhaps the people in the Decapolis need, not Jesus, but the living testimony of the man who has been healed and restored. Perhaps they need to see, to live with, the man who had been formerly known as “Legion”. If the man were to leave, how easy it would be for his neighbors to revert to the status quo. With the man constantly among them, renewed in body, mind and spirit, restored to his true identity, they must reckon with God’s determined action for health and life. Perhaps Jesus is bequeathing to him—and to them—the authority and responsibility to effect communal change to those in the community who have felt and witnessed Jesus’ presence and power
In her book, Christianity for the Rest of Us, Diana Butler Bass has looked at mainline churches that are alive and healthy and thriving. One of the congregations she studied was the Church of the Redeemer, in New Haven, Connecticut. In the shadow of Yale Divinity School, the church was a model of Yankee restraint and understatement. But an amazing thing began to happen when people began to give their testimony. Now, to many of us, THAT sounds scary. But the pastor, Rev. Lillian Daniels, says this: “Our church’s practice is giving testimony, having people talk about their experience of God. We didn’t invent it. It was in the early church” and the Rev Daniels goes on to say “Words are like an earthquake.”
In the seventeenth century, New England Puritans elevated testimony to dramatic democratic expression. They required anyone seeking church membership—a coveted status in New England Society—to be able to testify publicly to the works of God in his or her life. In those days, however, the Puritans used testimony as a way of fitting people into the roles that had already been decided for them. Now, testimony is, as Rev Daniels puts it “who we are and who we are becoming.”
If you look at your bulletin, you will notice that there is one more heading “We Bear the Word into the World.” We are called to bear the word into the world, and into our own corner of the world. In Lodi, we have been studying the 6 Great Ends of the Church- the very first one is “The Proclamation of the Gospel for the salvation (the healing) of humankind.”
This is our response- we are called to tell “how much Jesus has done for us,” to talk about who and what Jesus is calling us to be, as people and as a faith community, to live a life that bears witness to God’s intention for healing and wholeness for all. Now, I want us all to look back at the text again—in v 37, Jesus gets into the boat and returns. Returns to his home. So what we are asked to do is no different than what Jesus himself did—went back home, and talked about the goodness of God.
Now, perhaps that sounds scary—and, I admit, going back to your family, and your hometown, and the people who knew you before, is scary- telling them of Gods great love is hard. But when we are changed by the Gospel, people can’t help but notice. When we are saved and healed, restored to wholeness, people will not always be happy—they might be afraid. But it is what we are called to do, in word, and deed. Amen.
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