Our Scripture for Sunday's Sermon is Luke 8:26-29
Who will celebrate their faith in Christ Jesus more than a man who has been liberated from not just one but from an entire legion of demons?
But before
we even get to this man and his situation, the whole set up for this gospel
story is rather unique. Were Jesus and
company were washed ashore here by “accident”?
In the verses leading up to this, verses 22-25, Jesus silences a windstorm
that had the disciples in fear for their lives.
The storm was quieted by the Lord, and perhaps they landed here to check
for damage?
In addition,
the crowds are absent. Elsewhere, the
gospel records Jesus getting into a boat to escape the crowds and the crowds
walking around the lakeshore to follow him.
And after this encounter, the gospel records “Now when Jesus returned,
the crowds welcomed him…”
This time, it’s a naked man who
lives among the tombs came out to meet him, a man possessed of demons. And he is not welcoming, “What have you to do
with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?”
Sounds like Legion is talking through the man’s voice.
That makes
this man a highly dangerous individual, as Luke goes on to record that, when Legion
took control, his strength became preternatural, that he was able to break
chains and shackles, that he would flee into the wild.
We are also
not in Jewish territory anymore. The
swineherd is the most obvious clue. Pigs
are forbidden in the law of Moses. What
we know is that the land of the Gerasenes is part of the Decapolis, a Greek region
known as the ‘ten cities’ that existed in what is now the border region between
Israel and Syria, focused in the area of we now call the Golan Heights.
So, it’s a Greek
region, where the only one who seems to be able to identify Jesus on sight is
the demon, and, what does this Holy Guy from the other side of the lake
do? He does not banish demons into the
abyss but allows them to transfer residence into the pigs. Then the entire herd destroys itself, running
headlong into the lake. And if this were
modern times, the owner of the herd would probably have insurance. But would this not invoke the ‘act of God’
clause to invalidate the claim?
Is it any
wonder that the people of the region reacted with fear? At best, they might have heard of this Holy Guy
surrounded by crowds on the other side of the lake. But they have no history with Jesus or his
ministry, they have no history with Jesus’ bible, no common religious and
educational links to place Jesus into the context of redemptive history. And the evidence of their own senses?
1. The
demon reacted with anguish and torment at the appearance of this Holy Guy. The supernatural tormentor is now being
tormented!
2. The
demon named this Holy Guy who is NOT connected to any of the gods that are
worshipped by the Greeks in the time of Christ.
3. The
demon names the Most High God, naming this God as more powerful than theirs.
4. The
Holy Guy demonstrates some pretty specific powers:
a. He
can order the demonic beings back to the abyss.
b. He
can be bargained with by demonic beings.
i. That’s
a flip from the typical bargain a human makes with a demon at the cost of their
soul.
c. He
can apparently destroy their sources of food and livelihood in this exchange.
5. There
is the crazy guy, the dangerous guy, the demon possessed guy, the guy they
could not tie down, the guy who’d once been just like them (so who might be
possessed next?)
So all the people gather together,
bound by their fear of this unknown Holy Guy, so afraid of Jesus as some new
God-level force outside their experience, that their panicked response to His
miracle is a meek, “Please go.” Which Jesus
does.
And this man, despite his pleas, is given his marching
orders by Jesus. “Return to your home,
and declare how much God has done for you.”
Which, according to verse 39, is precisely what he did.
He’s got his marching orders, we
have ours. We call it our Sending
Statement. It’s on the bulletin. A Statement of Sending is an interpretation from
Jesus’ words in John, “Peace be with you, as the Father has sent me so I send
you.” This Sending statement, that we
have been calling the Mission Statement, also often called a Vision Statement,
it is the product of the work that a congregation does between pastors. Who knows this community better than its
residents? Who are those working and
worshipping in Christ in this place?
A Sending Statement essentially fulfills
the command from Jesus. “Peace be with
you, as the Father has sent me so I send you…so we, as FPC Merchantville, establish
that this is how we shape our ministry in this time and in this place as those
sent by Jesus.
The opening words of our Sending
Statement are “We are a people who encourage one another to celebrate our life
in Christ.” And in today’s Scripture, it
is illustrated in the life of a formerly demon possessed man who “happened”-and
I put that in quotes, because nothing ever just happens with God-he just “happened”
to see boat blown off course arrive on his side of the Sea of Galilee.
In the end,
the man celebrates. There is a deep
truth to understand that celebration is the appropriate response to our Lord
Jesus when He sends us out into the world.
What we see in the renewed life of this man freed from the legion of demons
is only an illustration of the whole plan of God set in motion for the renewal
of all creation. We have come through
the seasons of celebrating all that Jesus has done for us. The cornerstone event is that Jesus died for
us and rose again for us, our sins forgiven and a new life in salvation there,
literally, for the asking. It is eternal
life, offered freely. What greater
celebration might we seek?
I believe
it is especially appropriate that we are sharing the installation and
ordination of our members of Session and the Board of Deacons today. This is a celebration in the life of the
church, looking forward to the gifts and stories and love that the new classes
of elders and deacons are bringing to the leadership of the church.
But while
we have reason to celebrate as we live into the whole Plan of God fulfilled in
Jesus Christ, while we have reason to celebrate in the raising up of leaders to
help us set the path and reach forward to do the Lord’s work as a congregation,
there is another, more personal, level that is our cause to celebrate. It is what Jesus has done for each of us, in
our own lives. Our bible story is illustrative
of that.
This is one
event that happened in the life of this man.
Just one. For him, it was a huge
display of Jesus’ power. But for Jesus,
it is almost an afterthought that Luke tells us Jesus was in the process of
evicting Legion. It is an act of creation,
Jesus speaks and it happens. Such is the
power of Jesus at any level, in any moment of our lives. This loving power overcomes everything. When we are attentive, we can see Jesus’
loving power intervening for us again and again and again all through our
lives. In our eyes, it can be as big as a
demon hoard being exorcised. But it can
be as “small”, and I put that word in quotes, as a new insight into God’s Holy
Word. It can be as small as the right
word spoken in a moment of despair.
Here’s an
example from disaster response. A
Chaplain moves through emergency housing for disaster victims, shocked and
barely able to function. They have
words, but they also have bottles of water.
Put a bottle of water into somebody’s hands. Seems tiny, maybe insignificant. But accepting a bottle of water may be the
first decision in the power of the victim since the disaster. Maybe it’s a tiny sign that ‘normal’ actually
exists. It can be the first in the chain
of decisions that need to be made to move from victim to survivor, from
survivor to someone who can thrive once again, someone who can even celebrate
once again?
The
language of encouraging one another to celebrate our life in Christ is
inspired. Because how soon do we
forget? Or how easy is it to miss the
active hand of God in our daily lives?
Or how often do we find out that the cogs of life out of our sight and
beyond our capacity have somehow come together (somehow…yah, Jesus) to
accomplish something we were convinced was impossible (despite that Scripture
teaches otherwise).
I opened this sermon with the
question, “Who will celebrate their faith in Christ Jesus more than a man who
has been liberated from not just one but from an entire legion of demons?” But if we are encouraging one another to
celebrate. If the place where our heart
is set to touch the lives of people in this community is in celebration. If we have responded to Jesus when he says, “I
am sending you” by turning our eyes to the light of Christ in joyful
celebration, maybe the question should be asked, “Who won’t celebrate their
faith in Christ Jesus more?”
Amen
Rev. Peter Hofstra
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