Sermon-Sunday-June 24, 2007
Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
"What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?” This is the question that Jesus is confronted with as He enters the town of Gerasene in today’s Gospel lesson. Jesus is approached by a man who had been taken captive by demons. These demons had taken such firm control of this man that it says that for a long time he wore no clothes and did not live in a house but in the tombs. It says that many times the demons had seized him, he was kept under guard and bound with shackles, and he would break the bonds and then the demon would drive him back into the wilds.
He had been so enslaved by these demons that he was no longer even seen as a man but as a demoniac. And when this man sees Jesus he is scared. The demoniac immediately begs Jesus not to torment him. Jesus commands the unclean spirit to come out of the man, and asks the unclean spirit his name. The Spirit says his name is Legion; for many demons had entered him. The word “legion” back then would have referred to a military unit consisting of 6000 soldiers. That’s a lot of voices to be contending with.
Jesus asks for the spirit’s name and the spirit immediately gives it to Jesus. It is believed that as soon as one can name an unclean spirit, they have power over them. Jesus doesn’t know the name initially but He simply demands the name and He receives it. Jesus immediately seizes control of the situation with His word. And the unclean spirit and all its demons are subdued, and the formerly demon-possessed man is brought back into his right mind.
And so now hear you sit, with all your demons that you wrestle with. Here you sit with all your doubts and jealousy and pride and envy and lust, and whatever other slings and arrows the devil might be throwing at you. Here you sit bound by your own unclean spirit with your own demons. Here you sit once again with Jesus coming toward you in His Word and all you can do is ask the question "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?”
All the while, the devil whispers in your ear, “He didn’t come for you.” “Not, you with all your petty insecurities and weakness and pride.” “Not with your repeated failures to love your neighbor as yourself.” And so you push Jesus away, and you say “Don’t torment me Jesus, not today I am not in the mood. I have work to do.”
Or maybe you’re like the townspeople, who also wanted nothing to do with Jesus even after seeing what He had done for the man who had been so enslaved by these demons. When they find the man clothed and in his right mind sitting at the foot of Jesus, do they praise God that this man had been rescued from these demons? No, they are afraid.
Jesus had come and He had upset the apple-cart of their lives. They were under the delusion that they were doing a fine job of keeping the demons at bay. They thought that they were the ones that had been able to keep this demon-possessed man away from them and in the tombs and the wild. They really had no interest in helping this man, they just wanted to keep him, with all his demons, away.
But now Jesus bursts upon the scene with the unthwartable power of His Word and He subdues the unclean spirit by demanding the spirit’s name and then simply gives the demons what they want by releasing them into the swine which were sitting nearby who proceeded to simply jump off the bank and into the lake where they drown.
And again, upon seeing this, the townspeople were not filled with great joy, they were scared, and they pushed Jesus away. But even still after all that, when Jesus would have been perfectly justified in leaving them in their delusions of grandeur, He does not leave them on their own.
It might appear as if He does, because He gets in the boat and leaves. But it was no matter, because He had left them with His Word as it would be proclaimed to them by this formerly demon-possessed man, who wanted to leave with Jesus. And who could blame him. After all that time, after all that that these people had put him through, now Jesus tells him to go back home and declare what God had done for him, to them. But it seems that he doesn’t really put up much resistance. He went throughout the city proclaiming what Jesus had done for him.
What the townspeople didn’t realize though, when they pushed Jesus away, was that Jesus had already made His claim on them just as He had made His claim on the formerly-possessed man. He had made His claim on them and now He would continue to come to them through this man’s testimony and proclamation. They had pushed Jesus away and He came back by sending them a disciple who would be a living, breathing testimony of both God’s grace, and their need for God’s grace.
What these people didn’t realize was that the more you push Jesus away the more surely and clearly He comes back to you. The more we try to get rid of Him the more He comes after us with His abundant and ever-flowing grace.
We tried to push Him away, we pushed Him all the way to the cross, we killed Him and then put Him in the tomb and sealed the tomb and then He came back three days later, having defeated sin, death, and the devil, and now we can’t ever get rid of Him.
But then as if that wasn’t enough He sends another one a comforter, an advocate and He promises that He will never leave us. You try to push Jesus away by placing yourself right back into bondage under the law. You push Jesus away by convincing yourself that you must play your part in your own redemption. You push Him away and He continues to keep coming back to you.
He comes back to you in His Word, and in the sacraments and in each other and reminds you that He has claimed you and there is nothing you can do about it. In our second lesson Paul writes that before Christ came the law served as our disciplinarian so that we might be justified by faith.
Well faith has arrived in Christ Jesus. Faith has arrived and you have been freed and you are no longer subject to a disciplinarian in the law. You are no longer subject to the devil or your own delusions of grandeur What has Jesus to do with you?? In baptism you have been clothed with Christ, you have been placed among Abraham’s offspring, an heir according to the promise. In baptism Jesus comes to free you from the legion of demons that the devil brings out to attack you.
And now the demons attack and all they see is Christ whom you have been clothed in. What is left for you, but to trust in the promise of Christ Jesus, to trust that the demons have been banished, to trust that you have been made an heir according to the promise, and to now go out and declare what Jesus has done for you. Tell your neighbor of the claim that Christ Jesus had made on them through you.
Amen
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
"What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?” This is the question that Jesus is confronted with as He enters the town of Gerasene in today’s Gospel lesson. Jesus is approached by a man who had been taken captive by demons. These demons had taken such firm control of this man that it says that for a long time he wore no clothes and did not live in a house but in the tombs. It says that many times the demons had seized him, he was kept under guard and bound with shackles, and he would break the bonds and then the demon would drive him back into the wilds.
He had been so enslaved by these demons that he was no longer even seen as a man but as a demoniac. And when this man sees Jesus he is scared. The demoniac immediately begs Jesus not to torment him. Jesus commands the unclean spirit to come out of the man, and asks the unclean spirit his name. The Spirit says his name is Legion; for many demons had entered him. The word “legion” back then would have referred to a military unit consisting of 6000 soldiers. That’s a lot of voices to be contending with.
Jesus asks for the spirit’s name and the spirit immediately gives it to Jesus. It is believed that as soon as one can name an unclean spirit, they have power over them. Jesus doesn’t know the name initially but He simply demands the name and He receives it. Jesus immediately seizes control of the situation with His word. And the unclean spirit and all its demons are subdued, and the formerly demon-possessed man is brought back into his right mind.
And so now hear you sit, with all your demons that you wrestle with. Here you sit with all your doubts and jealousy and pride and envy and lust, and whatever other slings and arrows the devil might be throwing at you. Here you sit bound by your own unclean spirit with your own demons. Here you sit once again with Jesus coming toward you in His Word and all you can do is ask the question "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?”
All the while, the devil whispers in your ear, “He didn’t come for you.” “Not, you with all your petty insecurities and weakness and pride.” “Not with your repeated failures to love your neighbor as yourself.” And so you push Jesus away, and you say “Don’t torment me Jesus, not today I am not in the mood. I have work to do.”
Or maybe you’re like the townspeople, who also wanted nothing to do with Jesus even after seeing what He had done for the man who had been so enslaved by these demons. When they find the man clothed and in his right mind sitting at the foot of Jesus, do they praise God that this man had been rescued from these demons? No, they are afraid.
Jesus had come and He had upset the apple-cart of their lives. They were under the delusion that they were doing a fine job of keeping the demons at bay. They thought that they were the ones that had been able to keep this demon-possessed man away from them and in the tombs and the wild. They really had no interest in helping this man, they just wanted to keep him, with all his demons, away.
But now Jesus bursts upon the scene with the unthwartable power of His Word and He subdues the unclean spirit by demanding the spirit’s name and then simply gives the demons what they want by releasing them into the swine which were sitting nearby who proceeded to simply jump off the bank and into the lake where they drown.
And again, upon seeing this, the townspeople were not filled with great joy, they were scared, and they pushed Jesus away. But even still after all that, when Jesus would have been perfectly justified in leaving them in their delusions of grandeur, He does not leave them on their own.
It might appear as if He does, because He gets in the boat and leaves. But it was no matter, because He had left them with His Word as it would be proclaimed to them by this formerly demon-possessed man, who wanted to leave with Jesus. And who could blame him. After all that time, after all that that these people had put him through, now Jesus tells him to go back home and declare what God had done for him, to them. But it seems that he doesn’t really put up much resistance. He went throughout the city proclaiming what Jesus had done for him.
What the townspeople didn’t realize though, when they pushed Jesus away, was that Jesus had already made His claim on them just as He had made His claim on the formerly-possessed man. He had made His claim on them and now He would continue to come to them through this man’s testimony and proclamation. They had pushed Jesus away and He came back by sending them a disciple who would be a living, breathing testimony of both God’s grace, and their need for God’s grace.
What these people didn’t realize was that the more you push Jesus away the more surely and clearly He comes back to you. The more we try to get rid of Him the more He comes after us with His abundant and ever-flowing grace.
We tried to push Him away, we pushed Him all the way to the cross, we killed Him and then put Him in the tomb and sealed the tomb and then He came back three days later, having defeated sin, death, and the devil, and now we can’t ever get rid of Him.
But then as if that wasn’t enough He sends another one a comforter, an advocate and He promises that He will never leave us. You try to push Jesus away by placing yourself right back into bondage under the law. You push Jesus away by convincing yourself that you must play your part in your own redemption. You push Him away and He continues to keep coming back to you.
He comes back to you in His Word, and in the sacraments and in each other and reminds you that He has claimed you and there is nothing you can do about it. In our second lesson Paul writes that before Christ came the law served as our disciplinarian so that we might be justified by faith.
Well faith has arrived in Christ Jesus. Faith has arrived and you have been freed and you are no longer subject to a disciplinarian in the law. You are no longer subject to the devil or your own delusions of grandeur What has Jesus to do with you?? In baptism you have been clothed with Christ, you have been placed among Abraham’s offspring, an heir according to the promise. In baptism Jesus comes to free you from the legion of demons that the devil brings out to attack you.
And now the demons attack and all they see is Christ whom you have been clothed in. What is left for you, but to trust in the promise of Christ Jesus, to trust that the demons have been banished, to trust that you have been made an heir according to the promise, and to now go out and declare what Jesus has done for you. Tell your neighbor of the claim that Christ Jesus had made on them through you.
Amen
posted by Steve at 7:01 PM
1 Comments:
It sounds as if you wrote this sermon after you have spent alot of time with someone who knows what they're talking about. Almost...a...Paulsonian sermon! :>)
Good job. I really liked it.
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