Luke 8:26-39
26Then [Jesus and his disciples] 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.
https://alaskabibleteacher.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/gerasene_demon_by_toonfed.jpg
Let the words of
my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock
and my redeemer.
Grace to you and
peace from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Please turn
to page 28 your blue hymnal.
[Sung: Kyrie Eleison, Lord have Mercy...]
Ever
wondered why we sing that at the beginning of worship? It is a strange, strange
thing to do from our 21st Century American perspective. To ask God for mercy. We would rather see God as the benevolent old
man, without any real power and that has so little expectation and no judgement,
so there is no need for mercy. And we
would rather see ourselves as the good people, who really don’t need mercy. We choose the good most of the time, right?
[Sung: Christe Eleison, Christ have Mercy...]
When we sing
these words with intention, they make us acutely aware of the shattered world
we live in. The world where we can, and
do, kill each other at 50+ rounds per minute.
The 49 lives in Orlando. The 9
lives in Charleston. The 26 lives in
Newtown. Kill each other with words that
fail to protect one another’s health and life, that encourage or allow anyone
to believe it is acceptable to kill another human being who is different enough
to be called “them.” Them who are Gay/LGBTQ, Them who are Latino/Latina or Black, Them who are Muslim, Them who are not Us.
[Sung: Kyrie Eleison, Lord have Mercy...]
The world
where our one human family has been torn apart into republicans and democrats,
the NRA Lobby and Gun-Control Advocates, Gay and Straight… the divisions are so
great it is no longer a matter of opinion or discussion, but has become
self-defining. We do not listen to
someone speaking on the other side, we do not want them to change our identity.
We make the boundaries between us as impermeable as possible. We build walls.
[Sung: Kyrie Eleison, Lord have Mercy...]
So we come
back, once again, to worship. And we
hear, once again, about Jesus, who casts out demons from a hurting and violent
man. We hear about Jesus loving the one
no one else could even imagine loving, as they tied him up with chains. We hear about the power of Jesus’ love for
the man, giving him back his community, giving him back his sanity, giving him
back his humanity… Jesus loved those demons to death. We are faced with a Jesus
who trades the people’s fear of the uncontrollable evil with a fear of the
uncontrollable love. We watch them
politely, but rapidly, excuse Jesus from their land in fear. And we wonder: can we live with this
Jesus? Can we live with the
uncontrollable love? It is not about
choosing to be a good person. It is
about remembering we are God’s people.
God, the uncontrollable love. God,
who is the uncontrollable creator, the loving father, the one who names and
claims us as his own. We are here together
to remember: We are God’s.
[Sung: Christe Eleison, Christ have Mercy...]
We are in
this together. Together we ask for
mercy. Together we pray for God to stop
the suffering, to heal us who are possessed with the demons of isolation and
scapegoating. Together we pray for God
to mercifully heal us of our divisions that give way to hate. Together we pray to God for us who are
getting killed and us who are doing the killing. We pray, God do your will
among us.
Presiding
Bishop Eaton wrote this in her letter this week,
“We are killing ourselves. We believe
that all people are created in God's image. All of humanity bears a family
resemblance. Those murdered in Orlando were not abstract "others,"
they are us… We live in an increasingly divided and polarized society. Too
often we sort ourselves into like-minded groups and sort others out. It is a
short distance from division to demonization.”
[Sung: Kyrie Eleison, Lord have Mercy...]
Do your will
among us, God! It is your will we long
for! It is your will we want to guide
our actions and our lives! It is your
gracious and merciful will that we want to shape us. God do your will among us.
Make us into
instruments of Peace (Prayer of St. Francisis of Assisi). Let our voice be
strong and clear for your love in the world.
Let our works of community building make us into the kind of Body you
intend. You weave us together here at
this meal, Lord. Bless us. But not because we want to be seen as the
“Good people.” Bless us. Because, as you promised to Abraham, we know
that the blessing is not for us to keep.
You have blessed us with mercy and love that we might be a blessing to
the world.
[Sung: Kyrie Eleison, Lord have Mercy...]
The hard
truth is that any one of us, fragile human beings, having lived with the demons
that he lived with, might have been the one who thought the best next move was
to kill. What is that old saying, “There,
but for the grace of God, go I”?
And because
God knows this about us, our God is gracious and merciful. Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast
love.
Because God
knows this about us, he has shown us that he has the power to cast out
demons. And God has given us the opportunity to be in community with
those who have been isolated and injured by demons. We are in this together. May God’s mercy
change each and every heart in this country, that we might find a way to love
the demons to death.
I borrow
this benediction from Bishop James Hazelwood of our New England Synod:
In the name of:
The one who most profoundly embodied that love,
The one who experienced a violent death,
The one who would not let hate be the final word,
The one whose love conquers all,
Jesus the Christ.
Amen.
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