Scripture: Luke 8:26-39
I’m sure we have all heard the saying, “You are what you eat.” Yeah I know it is a silly saying but it is a very true statement. Kids get this speech from their teachers in school, their parents at home, and their grandparents when they are supposed to be eating their broccoli. It is probably not a statement we expect to hear in church, at least not on a Sunday without a meal following worship.
The concept is filled with deep wisdom, because we consume multiple things. If we were to eat only a single type of food every day our bodies would rapidly deteriorate, we would be more susceptible to illnesses many of which could become fatal. To combat this nutritionists develop trendy ways to promote a balanced diet things like the food pyramid, the food groups, and various diet plans. I am not a nutritionist. If you would ask me what you should eat I would probably ask you how much money you had in your wallet and then suggest the nearest fast food restaurant. Consumption has many faces. We as humans consume not only food but also a whole host of products and services.
Consuming in and of itself is not wrong. Our nations economy is based on consuming. Without a constant demand for food, oil, transportation, and pretty much everything you can buy at our local retailers each of us would be impoverished. Yet again we are what we eat.
This passage is probably one of the most frightening passages in all of scripture. Just imagine for a moment how you would feel if you stepped off of a boat only to be greeted by a naked grim covered man. It is a situation that I would hope none of us would have to experience. Scripture tells us that an evil spirit, a concept that many of us may not be too comfortable, possessed this man. Our culture does one of two things with this, both being extreme. We either disregard the concept as being mental illness, something that today can easily be treated with various behavioral and pharmaceutical therapies. This idea totally negates the possibility of spiritual beings. The second concept is one that promotes evil spirits being behind every aspect of our lives, demons responsible for every vice we partake of. What then was wrong with this man?
There are several issues in this passage that can point the way too the roots of the issue. The first thing to remember is that the people of this community as well as this man, were all of the Jewish culture. Members of a culture have certain expectations. This community as a whole has fallen away from those cultural norms. For one they were raising swine. For us bacon lovers we tend to forget that producing bacon in a Jewish is about as wrong as growing Marijuana today. It is hard for us gentiles to consider bacon a drug, but the consumption of this substance was unlawful. This community has strayed from their roots. They as a community became focused on consumption and the profit that could be gained from it.
The community took a step away from their center. It is not unlikely that members of that community would begin to take more steps away. This man is living in the tombs, living with the dead. Death is unclean; those that spend time around death are not able to participate in the community. The community is marginalizing itself and within that community individuals have taken steps further.
We may not consider these little steps a big deal, but we are what we eat. With each step they consume more, their focus is reconfigured away from God and more on themselves. They become a consumer-based community. With each step they become more consumed by their own desires.
Consumption had taken hold of this man. He consumed until he lost his mind and his soul to the very things he sought to fulfill his desires. The ancient church gave a name to these activities calling them the seven deadly sins. The sins of wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony are consumer-based sins. Each of these sins is present in consumer-based communities, each of these are present in all consumption-based cultures. It does not matter if it is a free market or not if there is consumption these sins can creep into the lives of those in the culture.
The scripture focuses in on a single man, but there is much more to the story. The entire community was consumed by sin. The man cried out in the presence of Jesus because the spirits of evil consumed him, and Jesus did not say a word. All he did was take a single step off of a boat and it sent this man into a violent rage. The man was not the only one with a reaction to Jesus; the entire community was in fear of Jesus. Were they all possessed?
Let us bring this closer to home. Each of us are members of a consumer-based culture. We live to fulfill the desires and urges we have. I could mention a word and probably upset ever person in this room, we get upset because that one word is the sin that we ourselves are consumed with. Wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony everyone has a hold of some area of our lives. For the corporatist we can easily say they are ruled by greed, for the socialist envy each is consumed by sin. How do we feel? Is pride creeping in as we pat ourselves on the back for not being one of those?
“What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?” the man cried out. We too cry that out when we sense judgment, but where is the judgment coming from? We are uncomfortable around holiness, because it shows us that we fall short of the standards God has set before us. We cry out and scream for the righteous to stop their judgment, they do not even have to say a word and we demand for them to stop. Why do we do that? Because we have justified our actions in our own minds, we have built philosophies and theologies around our own sin and claimed that it is right. We then judge those around us through those eyes. I am greedy and those that wish to take what is mine are wrong. I envy so those that have what I want are evil. I lust and if I cannot have what I desire I demand that no one can have it. These are the very things that have caused every war, all of poverty, and probably every argument. We each fall to these because we are human, and when we let consumption take hold and rule our lives we become a slave to it.
Yes a slave to greed, envy, lust and all. I see it every day. I watch people consumed by these very things, I listen to their justifications of their actions, and I see the devastation of their lives when they devote all they have to fulfill their desire and their addictions. And yes I have to say that the stories of the demon possessed man could fit right along side the stories I have at work every day.
Jesus did not initiate the conflict. We initiate it. We have become consumed by ourselves and when Jesus takes a step into our community we demand that he leaves us alone. But how does Jesus respond to this possessed man? He asked for the name. He did not look at the man and demand that he stop doing what he was doing, he met him where he was and asked for the name. He wanted to know the man, to know the deepest essence of who this man was, but we cannot be known when we are hiding behind our sin. When we are consumed and possessed with our sinfulness and rebellion we cannot be know or build a relationship with God because to do so we would have to let go.
The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the swineherd and to be left alone. Jesus gave them permission to leave the man. And all the community was in fear, because not only did they lose their incomes, they too were exposed. This man who was gripped by every sinful desire was left redeemed, the community found him clothed and in his right mind. Yet the community was still in fear, not only of Jesus but this man as well. He now was able to expose them, because there he was restored.
We are all gripped by sin, we may not realize just how much or where that sin is affecting us, but we are gripped all the same. If we get upset at an idea that is different than our own we are being controlled by something other than the Spirit of God. This is why Friends have their queries, why the prayer of examine was developed by the religious orders, this is why the spiritual disciplines were explored by those that seek God. It is through participating in these things that we with the Spirit of God can release the grip of sin in our lives. But it is a process. We are what we eat. We must feast on the things of righteousness and practice the ways of Christ.
Jesus gave this man a new life. He gave him a life where sin did not rule, a life where the voices of the evil ones were quieted by the overpowering voice of the Spirit of God. The man wanted to follow Jesus wherever he went, but Jesus did a remarkable thing for this man, he told him to stay where he was. This man had experienced something, was changed, and Jesus told him that the greatest service that he could do for God is to stay right where he was to live and teach among the people of his own community. Yes some are called to travel to foreign lands to spread the Gospel of Christ, but more are called to spread the Gospel of the Kingdom right where they are.
We each have a story of redemption to tell, a story of hope to proclaim to those around us. Each of us have had struggles in our own ways with the evil desires that want to consume us as we consume and fall victim of them. But in Christ we can overcome the evil one. We overcome by consuming the holiness of God, by living a life of prayer, worship and service. We overcome by turning from sin and living a life loving God, embracing the Holy Spirit, and living the love of Christ with others. We can become victors if we confess our struggles to God and turn from them, by developing a disciplined life of prayer, of study of scripture, and through helping others along their own paths. We beat our bodies to make them a slave to righteousness instead of sin, we press on to the goal set before us, we take hold of that which Christ has taken hold of in us, and we proclaim loudly in word and deed, “to live is Christ and to die is gain!”
As we enter into a time of open worship and holy expectancy imagine this passage imagine what you would feel like if you were there, imagine what you would feel like if you were the man sitting naked possessed by the demons that haunt him. Examine if you dare your own life and explore with Christ where sin has a grip on you. And let us call on Christ to release us from those sins and let them run down into the sea, let us let God take them from us so that we can live among our community proclaiming how God has helped us along our path of life.
Scripture: Luke 7:36-8:3
Most of what I say on Sundays is to promote deeper thinking and contemplation. I know that at times that can cause us to be uncomfortable, mainly because the approach I take is probably different than what we are used to. That is actually a generational thing. The post-modern culture focuses more on the journey than the destination, they enjoy the process of finding the answer more then the answer themselves. That being said the post-modern culture does not reject truth they just like to find truth for themselves. This is a significant shift in our culture.
For those of us living at the time of the shift, we tend to be torn. We begin to think that everything we care about or have cared about has been overturned. We tend to think that what we hold dear is not cared about in this new world we live in, but one thing still remains. Love.
I speak quite often on cultural shifts because this is really what is going on in the first century Jewish culture. They are on the brink of a monumental change. They like everyone here are faced with holding fast to what they knew before or embracing something different or unknown.
Jesus, at this point in time, is a curiosity to the established people of the Jewish culture. He is a teacher that has taken an extreme view on things. It is not that they do not agree with what he is doing, they question how and when he does it. They are not sure how to explain it. The Pharisees were the ones with all the answers; they have volumes of research that has documented the answers. They know the right words to say in each and every situation. They have ways to pray for healing, ceremonies to facilitate the exorcism of demons, each technique documented and passed on to the next generation by learned scholars. But Jesus is different, he heals by saying a word, by spitting on the ground and rubbing the mud on the eyes of the blind, he can even raise the dead. They are curious because he is doing things that go beyond their traditions and understandings. To top this off his teachings come to the truth, many of the same truths that they themselves preach from a different perspective.
This is why this Pharisee invites Jesus to dine with him in his house. Jesus is a teacher within the community and the leaders want to determine if Jesus is an ally or opposition. Before the various groups can speak in support of Jesus they first have to determine if he is a supporter of their doctrine and theology.
Consider this for just a moment. Theology is the study of God. Theology is crowning glory of science especially in the ancient world. Yes I call it science. A science is an in-depth study of something, it is a continuous study, ever learning and growing. The curiosity of humanity drives us to discover and find answers. But there is a risk involved in this sort of study as well. Some disciplines of science get comfortable with what has already been proven, and they continue to repeat the same things again. These theories become laws, and the laws often times go unchallenged. Yet ever so often someone challenges the law, and things begin to get interesting. Einstein challenged Newton and as a result the study of Physics exploded with new studies trying to disprove or prove this new theory, and eventually even Einstein’s theories are disproved and replaced with a more advanced idea. It is these challenges that have given us the things we enjoy and require today.
This is where we find Jesus and the first century culture. They are lock into a debate about theology. There are a couple schools of thought in this area. One side of the debate is the old guard standing on tradition, then there is a new guard that has a different idea, but even these new ideas are being challenged.
Jesus is sitting at the table surely engaging in a deep discussion about the finer things of religion when suddenly there is a commotion at the door. A woman rushes in, falling at the feet of Jesus. She begins to weep, her tears fall onto Jesus’ feet and she begins to wipe them with her hair. This passage creates a very interesting scene, a scene of griping emotion and confusion.
Simon the Pharisee knows this woman (we do not know how he knows her but he knows her.), and he knows what kind of woman she is. In his worldview, in his lifestyle it is unfit for his class to associate with women like her. Any contact could soil his reputation. In his mind, under his understanding of theology, righteous people would and should not associate with this woman in any way. He begins to build a case against Jesus, because of this. “If he were a prophet he would know what kind of woman she is.”
Jesus does know who she is. He knows her more deeply than anyone else. He knows the emotional pain, the spiritual longing, and the hardship she has endured in this climate. He knows why she is in the position that she is in, the various decisions made to bring her to this point. She is there at his feet weeping, wiping, and anointing His feet. The greatest thing is that He lets her.
As the righteous people become more uncomfortable, Jesus begins to speak. “Simon, I have something to say to you.” He begins to tell a parable, comparing two debtors. One has a debt of 500 denarii, the other 50. Each cannot pay their debt. If you think about it how could they and survive? The denarius is a day’s wage, meaning the lower of the two debts would take over a month if not two to pay off, and the other over a year. This is a time before Dave Ramsey could teach them how to live debt free on the radio. These men were just doing what they could to survive and they have found themselves in a bad place, unable to see a way out. The man that owns the note from these men sees them and forgives the debt. I wish this guy controlled my student loans. Then Jesus asks, “Simon which of the men loves him more?”
Which loves him more? It’s a simple question; even the youngest child would know that the one forgiven of the greater debt would love the benefactor more. Yet this same simple question is one that challenges us to the core, because this question raises the question of many of our commonly held theological practices.
This woman is sitting at the feet of Jesus weeping, and she is a woman of great debt. Simon is sitting in his place of honor yet he knows that Jesus has seen a debt in him as well. Jesus says to Simon that he did not even show him the common curtsies of the day, he did not offer someone to wash Jesus’ feet, he did not kiss him, or anoint him with oil. Simon by doing so was saying that Jesus was not worth his effort, until he could prove his value. Yet this woman offered Jesus much more than Simon ever could. Why?
Jesus then looks at the woman, the woman who everyone knows, and says to her that her sins are forgiven. With a simple pronouncement Jesus, turned the theological world upside down. Her faith has saved her, not sacrifice, not disciplines; it was not the things that the theological debaters debated. It is not the answers, but the journey. It was her seeking, her risking everything that she had and laying it all on the floor before Jesus.
A couple of weeks ago the essence of my sermon was that if our theology does not love more than people without theology it is worthless. This is the very same thing that Jesus is saying in. Who loves the one the debt forgiver more? And how are we attracting people to this place?
Jesus attracted this woman through his love for the people. He would spend time talking and walking among the common people. He was chastised by the righteous ones because he spent time with sinners and tax collectors. He saw them where they were and even so he taught them, healed their diseases, and gave them hope. He attracted people to himself not out of his own righteousness, which he had plenty of, but because he offered them a better life. That better life came by encouraging them to repent.
This in itself is the same message that the Pharisees, the Sadducees, even the Essences were teaching. The difference is the starting point. For the righteous you first have to meet expectations within the community before you are acceptable, Jesus accepted his followers first and then built them into the community.
Look at the disciples, how did Jesus call them? He saw Peter and the other fishermen on the shore and said follow me. He saw Matthew the tax collector sitting at his table and said follow me. He saw a wee little man up in a tree and said to him, I’m going to your house today, and that man quickly came down from his tree and invited him into his house. Jesus accepted all these people as they were and offered them a new life. Follow me…he did not require that they had anything specific at that point, just a willingness to follow or to say another way to come and see.
Jesus offers a kingdom to anyone that just turns from his or her current path, to follow Him. This is revolutionary. Simon sat in judgment of the woman because she was a sinner, yet Jesus had compassion. Jesus offered the kingdom and Simon offered only shame. Jesus says to the woman, “go in peace.” She entered Simon’s house a sinner and she leaves at peace with God.
She is not the only one. Jesus left the house and continued to minister in the cities and villages, followed by the twelve, and women cured of evil spirits and illnesses. Even Mary Magdalene who was cured of seven spirits, and others from high and low status. They were all welcomed onto the path; all left something behind for a hope of something greater. They embarked on an adventure with God and they found peace.
We are living in the end of an age and emerging into a new age. The answers are the same but we are in an age of rediscovery. An age where we reason together, walk a path together, an age where we seek to live with Christ in word and deed. To do that we must know Jesus, know his ways and know the spirit of his thoughts. Jesus asked Simon who loves God more? And Simon answered correctly by saying the one forgiven of the greater debt. But both were forgiven, both were brought into a relationship with the Father that was unblemished, both have a love for God because he has given them grace. What do we do with that knowledge? Do we hoard the grace loving only those that conform to our ideas or do we instead walk with them encouraging them down that path to God?
To some my words may seem a bit vague, maybe not very theologically sound, but it is compassion and love that are the seeds of faith. Those are the only true, distilled, simplest, and to the point laws of God. Love God with everything we have and love our neighbor as ourselves. Honoring all people as children of God, encouraging them to walk that path with us. I like most people of my generation enjoy the journey. I love to drive and observe the landscape passing around me. Yes, at times I may question things, I question only because it is part of the journey, we cannot truly know without learning and learning comes from asking questions and finding the answers. Things excite me as well. Things like this passage, because often I find myself on the wrong side of the story. Often I am the one sitting in judgment, instead of the one weeping at the feet of Jesus. That causes me to ask more questions. What does it mean to be a follower of Christ? What does it mean to love God, embrace the Holy Spirit and to live the love of Christ with others? You see that is part of the journey we all must walk with Christ. The journey He takes me on is different then yours, how He moves me from one point to another is different but the story is the same. I started as the sinner weeping at the feet of Jesus and He says to me, “Your faith has saved you, go in peace.” He does not leave us there, He is also calling us to come follow Him and to come and see where He is living today.
As we enter this time of open worship, the time we can commune with each other and God as a community of Friends. Let us reflect on that journey that brought us to Jesus’ feet, let us remember those people instrumental in that walk, and look forward in Christ to where he is leading us.
Scripture: Luke 7:11-17
I do not know if you have noticed, but we live in a dark world. It is rare for our news programs to have good news. It almost seems as if reporters are looking for the touch of gray in every silver lining. I cannot blame the reporters; the problem is that we like to consume bad news. We thrive on it. I do not know why we do this. It seems as if we desire to see the devastation of others so that we can feel better about our own lives. Unfortunately this tends to lead us into an area of darkness as well.
We cannot read a passage that has much more darkness than today’s scripture. Jesus leaves Capernaum and goes into a town named Nain. In Capernaum Jesus said a word and healed the Centurion’s slave. Now in this new town Jesus is immediately faced with one of the most heart wrenching scenes there can be, a funeral procession.
This procession is not just a normal procession. This is a procession mourning the loss of the only son of a widow. We do not know the age of the man or his mother but I want us to consider something for a moment. First Luke tells us that he is a man. You may not think this is much, but it says quite a bit. We can know some things for sure; this man is over the age of 13, because this is the age that a boy is seen legally as a man in their culture. The next thing that I notice is that the only loved one mentioned is this man’s mother, there is not a wife or children, I may just be reading something into this that is not there but the lack of other loved ones alludes to the possibility that this man was a young man that had yet been married. Making this man a young man probably between the ages of 13-25ish.
Now let us focus on the mother. In the first century Jewish culture women were not as liberated as we know now. Their entire status in the community was attached to the men in their lives. Luke tells us that she is a widow. In the first century women would marry early in life, they are considered adults at the age of 12, and would marry soon after that. For women they move from their father’s house into the husband’s house. When a husband dies they are left in the care of their adult children, if they have them. Luke tells us that she only had one son. This one man had sole responsibility for the care of his mother, and he too died.
This is a very dark story. This woman has lost everything. This march to the cemetery is the last sure thing that she will know. Everything in her world has fallen apart. The place we find her in is a place of total hopelessness. She has lost her husband, her son, and her security.
Jesus meets her in this place. This woman is as low as a human can be, and Jesus sees her. Jesus sees her. Community is important to our spiritual and emotional wellbeing. We as humans cannot live to our fullest potential without community. But when we are griped with fear and hopelessness one of the first things we do is withdraw from the community. We begin to shut ourselves in and put on masks and build walls so that those around us cannot see just how hopeless our life has gotten. We want people to see us as strong and in control, because if they were to see us as vulnerable we fear rejection. Jesus sees this woman. Not as the strong woman that has it all together, but as she truly is. The hopeless widow who has no idea where or what to do next. He sees her, and he has compassion.
The one thing that we cannot have without a community is compassion. We need others around us in some degree to move through the rough times we face. We need friends to share the burden because without that the stress in out lives would break even the strongest of us. The community laughs with us and mourns with us; we share the joys and the sorrows. Jesus saw her and had compassion. He shared her sorrows, and he understood what was at the root of that pain. The risk of love is that the love we share will not be repaid.
Jesus saw her, had compassion for her, and spoke to her. “Do not weep.” From the woman’s perspective this is nearly a heartless thing to say. But Jesus can say this because he has seen her in her condition, and has had compassion. The platitudes we often share when we try to comfort others have little affect because often those expressing them do not see us where we are. They may have compassion, but their compassion misses the heart because they do not see where we are. I have been a recipient of these platitudes, many of us have, and unfortunately I have shared them as well. Jesus understood the great sorrow of love being shared only to have that love rejected or lost. He understands the emotions and the seemingly hopeless situations.
But He did not leave the woman in despair. He saw her, had compassion, spoke to her and he knew what the source of her hopelessness. She had nothing. Her husband died, leaving her a widow and her son an orphan. Now just when she was beginning to think that maybe her life seemed to turn around, and the floor drops again and her son dies. How can she not weep?
Jesus walked up to the bier, and said “Young man, I say to you, rise.” The man sat up and began to speak, and everyone there began to glorify God. They had heard stories about things such as this, stories of what the prophet Elijah had done for the widow in Zarephath. They had been waiting for a day such as this, the return of Elijah. And word spread rapidly about Jesus.
Jesus does not leave us with out hope. The Apostle Paul says in Romans, “…that all things work together for the good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28) That verse is often used and can become a platitude. But just prior to this Paul says, “ …the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” (Romans 8:26-27) In our lowest point God knows what we need. He is working through the situation with us and for us, to bring Glory to him.
God is at work, even in the darkest times of our lives. God is working to bring things together for the good of those who love Him. We do not always see the good as we are walking through the valley of shadows, but even there a glimmer of light is present. God himself is groaning with sighs too deep for words, searching our hearts and knowing what our spirit needs to bring glory to him.
The passing of my sister brought great changes in my family’s life. We had to come together in ways we had not known, and good did come out of that. Her life had ended but through her other lives were extended. The great pain of losing a sibling urged my older sister into the vocation of counseling where she now encourages others to see each other where they are and to have compassion. That darkest day that I have lived through also drove me to explore life with God, which ultimately lead me to become a pastor. God worked things together for the good. Did it lessen the sting of loss, no but I know that God met me in that pain, and lifted my family and I out of it.
Each of us could tell stories of how God has helped us through dark days and how we came out on the other side. We can tell stories of healing and of sorrow, love lost and love gained, but in all of them I hope we can see God and glorify him.
We live in a culture that is drawn to the darkness because in that we can hide. We watch the news filled with scandals, lawsuits, tornados, hurricanes, and other terrible things. We cry out to God and we pray for His quick return. We feel as if we have nothing to offer, but we do. Through Jesus we can offer hope to the hopeless if we only open our eyes to see. Through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection we can offer a world without hope, light. We do this by letting go. Letting go of our control over people and things, letting go of the grudges and pain, letting go of honor and pride. By letting those things go we allow God to replace it with something new.
Today we mourn with friends as they mourn the loss of a child. We see their pain and we have compassion. We mourn the loss of what could have been and a relationship we will never be able to nurture. We cannot express words to bring comfort. As we mourn we also rejoice because through Kimberly others have an opportunity live. We rejoice because through her donated organs those people may have an opportunity to honor and glorify God. Through her gift of life to another the Spirit of God could intercede in lives all around and a community may be restored and lives with out hope may see the light.
As we prepare for the time of open worship, the time where we as a community sit together to commune with each other and God in holy expectancy, and as we honor the life that brought hope to others. I want to read Psalm 30.
I will extol you, O LORD, for you have drawn me up, and did not let my foes rejoice over me. O LORD my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. O LORD, you brought up my soul from Sheol, restored me to life from among those gone down to the pit. Sing praises to the LORD, O you his faithful ones, and give thanks to his holy name. For his anger is but for a moment; his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning. As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.” By your favor, O LORD, you had established me as a strong mountain; you hid your face’ I was dismayed. To you, O LORD, I cried, and to the LORD I made supplication: “What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness? Hear, O LORD, and be gracious to me! O LORD, be my helper!” You have turned my mourning into dancing; you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, so that my soul may praise you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks forever.
We have hope because our God loves us enough to come live with us, to teach us how to live and how to live with others, He sacrificed himself to pay our debt, even while we still rejected his love and grace, and he rose again to give us hope and victory. And he ascended into heaven to prepare a place for us, and in that place we will know the fullness of life with God, that we only taste now. In that place we will again have fellowship with all the saints that have gone before us and all those saints that have yet been born.
As we center down on that great hope, let us remember those days we spent in the shadows and how even there God has been with us, and let us encourage one another to not dwell in the darkness but to dance in the light of Christ.