Free from Fear - Redeemer Episcopal Church

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.

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If you would like to hear a recording of this sermon (which infusions from the Spirit), you can find the recording by clicking this link.

God of freedom, we ask that you break open our shackles of fear of the other so that we might go forth to declare how much God has done for us, risking the work of freeing all people, because they are your children and they are worthy of grace, and mercy, and justice. Amen. 

There is a lot happening in the gospel text this morning. And I could preach on about six different things here, so it’s a shame we only hear this story once every three years. It is rich with the very meaning of God’s incarnation in Christ Jesus. I spent my internship year in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and there, people were more accustomed to two or three hour worship services. So on a Sunday like today, I might say, "sit back, get comfortable, because this is going to be a long one." 

But I don't think you will let me preach for an hour or so, so I had to pick something, just one thing to preach about. 

So this morning, I want to focus on something different, something sort of on the outside of this text. I want to focus on the community around the man we call the Gerasene demoniac, the man with a legion of demons, the man with no clothes who lives not in a house but in the tombs. I want to focus on the community around that man.

We don’t know much about the community, but I think we can safely extrapolate some things from the reading. Even though it never says that the man possessed by demons harmed anyone or even himself, he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles. I can only imagine that the community did this out of fear. Perhaps they were afraid that he might be too difficult to care for, a strain on the community, or a nuisance to the right order of things. Perhaps they were afraid that they, too, may become possessed by demons as if it were some communicable disease. As if they didn’t have demons of their own to deal with. But we do know they were a fearful people, because when they came back and saw that the man was in his right mind, when the demons had left him— they were afraid— seized with great fear. They remind me of the verses from Isaiah where God says, “I held out my hands all day long to a rebellious people who say, ‘Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am too holy for you’” (Isaiah 65:2,5). God has some words for people like that. 

Somehow, by some luck or coincidence, the community surrounding this man is full of people who are not possessed by demons. They believed they were free. Yet instead of intervening on behalf of this man, instead of trying to work toward his wholeness and healing, they have cast him out to live among the dead. They have decided, as a community, that he is unworthy of being cared for because of circumstances that he cannot control. 

And I don’t want to assume too much about this community, because you know what they say about people who assume. So maybe they did attempt other paths before resorting to chaining him up and guarding him. Perhaps this is the only way they knew how to deal with this man. We don’t know the whole story, but it seemed like this man’s bondage worked for the community. They were okay with him being chained up, they were comfortable with it even. But it does not work for Jesus, God is not comfortable with God’s child being shackled and chained. 

At this point in his journey, Jesus has made a habit out of seeking out the people who have been discarded by their community and left for dead. And that’s exactly what he does in this story. He crosses the sea into an unclean land that is Gerasene, to an unclean place that is the tombs, to an unclean man who is possessed by demons. There is something about God incarnate in Christ that is like a magnet to the people who are outcast and discarded. Because this man, like us, like every person on this earth, is God’s child and is worthy of grace, and mercy, and justice not because of who he is or what he has done, but because of whose he is as God’s child. 

And grace upon grace that God is, Jesus not only casts out the demons, but grants their plea and does not send them into the abyss. And most importantly the man is healed. He is restored and clothed and freed. 

So, too, are we restored and clothed and freed in our baptism. So, too, are we restored and clothed and freed and fed in this holy meal. 

After the man was freed from his shackles and chains, he begged to go with Jesus, to be safe by his side, away from any more demons that may be lurking. But Jesus sets him on a different path— a more difficult path. He is to return home, declaring how much God had done for him. He was to go and spread the gospel. He was to go and help his own community break the chains of fear that they held so close to themselves even now, even after they witnessed Jesus’ incredible power to heal and restore. 

This, too, is our call. We have been freed from our shackles of sin and we are called to proclaim what Christ has done for us. We are called to proclaim our freedom. We get to be a part of God’s work of freeing others. We have been freed like this man to go and tell others what God has done by actively working to break down the boundaries and walls and fences that we have build up against one another. And that is holy work for the sake of God’s reign in this world.

But it is not easy work. There will be people who are afraid of God’s power. There will be people who resist the gospel. Afraid that the gospel says, in no unclear words that in God’s kingdom: there is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female, there is no longer black and white, there is no longer conservative or liberal, there is no longer migrant or citizen, there is no longer undocumented or documented. 

There will be people who are afraid to accept that we are all made in Christ’s image, we are all one in Christ, belonging to Christ, and freed in Christ. All of us. Every single one of us. And every single one of them. You know you I am talking about. The people who we consider them— maybe they are those who are in prison, those who are across any border, those who are openly wrestling with demons. All of them in detention centers and mental hospital wings and on the street or facing their court date. Every single one of them is made in the image of God, is a child of God. 

We may even be those frightened people, the ones who don’t want to accept that truth, every once in a while. Or maybe even most of the time. Because it is also risky work. Doing the work of the kingdom is why Jesus was arrested, tried, and murdered by the state. So what are we to do? 

We do as Jesus says, we declare how much God has done for us. And we hope. Unrelentingly, we hope. 

Because we have been welcomed into a new community. And the opposite of a community surrounded by fear is a community fully entrenched in hope. Hope for a new day, hope for a new creation, hope for God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Hope for all people all people to be unshackled and safe and clothed at Christ’s feet. 

Amen. 

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I preached this sermon at Redeemer Episcopal Church in Jacksonville, Florida on June 23, 2019. 

Getting it Right - Redeemer Episcopal Church

Luke 19:28-40

²⁸After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.²⁹When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, ³⁰saying, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ³¹If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it.’” ³²So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. ³³As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”³⁴They said, “The Lord needs it.” ³⁵Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. ³⁶As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. ³⁷As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, ³⁸saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!” ³⁹Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” ⁴⁰He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”

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To listen to this sermon (with the Spirit's infusions), click on this link.

“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!” Amen. 

Thus begins Holy Week. 

Interestingly enough, this year, Holy Week is also the last week of school for many college students. 

As I was chatting with our campus ministry students this past week, I was struck by how much pressure they are under as they begin exam week. I’m sure parents feel it, too, as their children begin testing in school. But there is something to be said about the pressure to perform, feeling like your own self-worth depends on it.  Young people are constantly inundated with the narrative that they are not good enough.

We fall right into step with it, too. It seems that it is so much easier for us to focus on the negative aspects of ourselves and our work. In my first interview for seminary, I was asked about my weaknesses and was able to rattle off a half a dozen of my character flaws in rapid succession. Then they asked about my strengths and we sat in silence for what felt like minutes while I tried to think of anything to say. And I don’t believe that it is totally about humility, either. I think we are conditioned to focus more on the things we get wrong so that we can constantly be improving ourselves, working harder, getting better. 

That’s why I want to focus on the processional reading instead of the passion narrative this morning. We have spent much of the Lenten season being reflective, penitent, and focusing on things that need to be pruned in our lives and ministry. Most preachers around town this morning will probably be preaching about how fickle we are as God’s followers. How we are just like the disciples who shout “blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord” today and “crucify him” in less than a week. And that is true. There is no denying that. But what I don’t want to ignore is that the DO shout “blessed is the king!” The disciples, for this brief moment, seem to get things right. And we do too. 

The reading opens up with Jesus telling two disciples to go into the village, steal a colt, and bring it to him. And they do. They do exactly as Jesus tells them to without asking any questions or coming up with any excuses. Then they threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. And as Jesus rode the colt into Jerusalem, it says that the whole multitude of disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power they had seen. They praise Jesus as king. The king who comes in the name of the Lord. The king who was prophesied about in scripture. 

The crowds were finally praising God for all the miracles they had seen instead of accusing Jesus of being possessed by a demon. The disciples cried out loudly for all to hear— yelling what was considered heretical to the Pharisees— and even when the Pharisees told Jesus to silence them, they continued to shout. 

The people who had been following Jesus for years, who had seen these wonderful miracles firsthand— they were finally getting it right and praising Jesus as king and Lord as he so rightly deserved. 

There are many other times when the disciples really get things wrong. If you’ve ever read even on of the gospel accounts, you can point to several occasions in which the disciples— those closest to Jesus— just had no idea what was going on. We’ll have several opportunities to hear about those times during the next week— on Wednesday, Thursday, and twice on Friday. Including, like I said, less than a week from now when the cries of “blessed is the king” turn into the crowds screaming “crucify him!” 

But this morning, just for this brief time, I hope we can celebrate the times when they get it right and when we get it right. Even if we don’t get it right very often— maybe one day every few years for a few minutes each day. As people 2000 years removed from this passage, as people who maybe never experience Jesus’ healing touch or had our eyes physically opened by the Son of God— don’t you think we should celebrate when we get it right? When our faithfulness is pure and holy? When we look to God and to one another instead of ourselves? 

I see that here. I see glimpses of the Kingdom of God here in this community. 

Food pantry - feeds hundreds of people every month 

Our commitment to campus ministry 

Willingness to reach beyond the walls of this sanctuary 

Stephen Ministry - being a presence for those in need, truly being the body of Christ 

Even in the short time I have been here, I have had the privilege of witnessing the Spirit stir in this community. And it seems by some miracle, every once in a while, we get it right. And it beautiful. 

In this world, in a society, that focuses so much on our flaws and all the things we do wrong— it’s almost provocative, even divisive, to lift up one another’s gifts and our own gifts. It’s sort of revolutionary to say, “yes, today, with this ministry, with our hearts in this moment, we got it right.” 

And God celebrates with us. It pleases God when we get it right, even if it’s not very often. 

But even on the days that we get things so horribly wrong, when we refuse to listening to the calling of the Spirit, when we turn away from God and our neighbor, God is with us in that too. Unlike us, God does not have a fickle heart. God never wavers and is always faithful. God is always calling after us, chasing after us with arms wide open. As a shepherd looking for one lost sheep, as a father waiting for his son to return home, as a woman searching for a lost coin. God is calling out to us as God’s beloved children.

So let us not forget, that as our fickle and sinful hearts move so rapidly from screaming, “blessed is the king” to “crucify him,” God is loving and faithful— even to the point of death. Amen.

This sermon was preached by me Sarah Locke at Redeemer Episcopal Church on April 14, 2019. 

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