Year C Proper 7 2019 Go Home Now

Year C Proper 7, 23 June 2019
St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA
“Go Home Now”

Collect: O Lord, make us have perpetual love and reverence for your holy Name, for you never fail to help and govern those whom you have set upon the sure foundation of your loving­kindness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

1 Kings 19:1-15a
Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, "So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow." Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there.

But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: "It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors." Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, "Get up and eat." He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, "Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you." He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there.

Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" He answered, "I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away."

He said, "Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by." Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" He answered, "I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away." Then the Lord said to him, "Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus."

Luke 8:26-39
Jesus and his disciples arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. As 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. When 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" -- for 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.) Jesus then asked him, "What is your name?" He said, "Legion"; for many demons had entered him. They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.

Now 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. Then 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.

When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then 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. Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. Then 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. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, "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.

One never knows what the day will bring. One never knows where the winds of life will toss us, to or fro, back or forth, up or down. We see Jesus thrown into a situation where his character comes out.
Today’s Gospel is the story tucked into an interesting series. Jesus’ family comes to take him home because he seems to have gotten a little big for his britches and he has to denounce them. Then to take a break they go sailing, and a horrible storm comes up, and he calms that. The disciples even ask “Who then is this, that he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him?” Then we have today’s text with the demoniac. Right after this, he returns to the Jewish side of the lake and he brings Jairus’ daughter back from the dead, and heals the hemorrhaging woman. “Who is this Jesus?” was the question of that day, and as we come to the baptismal waters it is the question of today. How we answer that question says much about who we are.

In Chapter 8, he has authority over nature with the storm, he as power over supernatural forces with the demons here, and then power concerning health and even death itself with the healings that follow. But let’s focus on today’s reading.

The demon-filled man comes at him. The spirits in him know who Jesus is, and this is before any of the disciples have had the audacity to say it out loud. “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me!” It is said the Truth will out. And it does here.

The disciples and Jesus had sailed across the big lake we call the Sea of Galilee. Now this bunch of good Jewish boys had come across to this Gentile area. Demon-filled naked men and herds of swine, they may have crossed the lake, but to them they were on the “other side of the tracks.” But Jesus remained the same he always was, and stayed true to his mission. Just before this [in chapter 8] he had instructed his followers these words:

“No one after lighting a lamp hides it under a jar, or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light. For nothing is hidden that will not be disclosed, nor is anything secret that will not become known and come to light.”

The demons showed their hand, they were open and obvious as to who and what they were. In ancient understanding, if you knew a spirit’s name you could have power over that spirit. If you remember Jacob wrestling with God at Bethel, it was much the same. Jesus asks the name(s) of the demons. “Legion” (for they were many) was the response.

Hell is so bad, that they beg Jesus not to send them back to the Abyss. He does not, but sends them into a herd of swine that was there. Remember, they were on the Gentile (non-Jewish) side of the lake. Swine are not kosher. But even the unclean swine were so horrified at the new state of affairs, they threw themselves off a cliff. Lemming swine, it seems.

Now, power can cause awe, and power can cause fear. Change, while maybe wanted, is never easy. In our packing, I am learning that lesson daily. I so look forward to moving up here, but there is a lot to make happen before it is reality. The demoniac wanted to be well, he longed for Sanity. In a word, Jesus answered his prayers. The man wanted to stay with him after that.

The man’s community did not have the same feelings.

Then 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. 

Jesus, like God, knows when he is not welcome. Power can be scary, like with the disciple, “Who then is this?” But the man was different...

The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, "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.

Jesus gave him the harder task. “Go back,” Jesus seems to be saying, “Go back to what you know, where you were humiliated and scary, and live that different life. Show people while you tell them how good God is!” And notice now, like the demons, this man knows who Jesus is. Jesus told him to declare what God has done, and he proceeds to say what JESUS had done for him.

How could Jesus do something like this? How could he be prepared to take on his family, a storm at sea, and a legion of demons all in the same day? He could not prepare for this like an event. A one time thing, like training for a marathon. The life of faith is an ongoing, everyday discipleship. Through prayer, and Scripture, and service, and forgiveness, and love we see that “by turning, turning, we come round right” as they sing in the Shaker hymn.

It is not easy. It is not attractive. It is the daily life of taking up our cross and following him.

In our Old Testament reading for the day, we see an exhausted prophet who has done EVERYTHING that was asked of him, and he is worn out. Hungry, angry, lonely, and tired, he is just not feeling it anymore. He did all that was asked of him, and we see him hiding out in a cave. He had just called fire from heaven in the Showdown at Mt. Carmel. And because of that, Queen Jezebel has promised him death.

Tuckered out and tucked away, Elijah finally gets quiet and still. We all need that, every day. I require time to get still and quiet, and get tucked away with God. We all do. When Elijah finally does, we come to one of my favorite passages of Scripture.
Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" He answered, "I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away."

He said, "Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by." Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" He answered, "I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away." Then the Lord said to him, "Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus."

We see Elijah in his pity party, when God steps in. “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

“Lord, I did everything you told me to do, and that bunch of ingrates that you call your people have quit. And worse they are out for my blood! I am the only one doing anything, and I am through!” [Self-righteous pity-party paraphrase, there.]

And then God reminds Elijah, that God is God, and Elijah is not. Elijah cannot see as God sees, and God’s call is to be faithful, not successful. God’s call is to keep on keeping on. We think we want fire and fury, but God is not found there. God’s power erupted in whirlwinds, earthquakes, and raging fires, but God was not there. Too often my life resembles the whirlwind, the earthquake, the fire. And then and there is where I think I can find God. God is here with us all the time, but to sense it, to feel it, we have to get to a place where the business and the busy-ness of our lives is calmed like the storm on the lake. Elijah found, and so must we, that God is there in the “quite stillness,” in “the still, small voice.” That is where we find God.

After Lent, we have been working to take the old slate that was on our front steps and repurpose them into a beautiful place to get still and quiet with God. Behind the church in what is called the cutting garden you will find a wonderful space to quiet yourself and listen to that voice, that still, small voice. I hope you will check it out. A meditation labyrinth is set up. A statue of St. Francis, and a beautiful Celtic cross are tucked away in nature. I hope you will begin using it. Soon we will have a bench to sit and contemplate, to think and pray. And after that stillness, we are called to go “back home.”

Like the Demoniac and Elijah, we are called to live our lives of faith back here in the day in and day out world we have been given. That is how we live the life of faith, that is where we find the true success. We are part of the Kingdom, but we are not the King. God is glorified in the small contributions of love and devotion we add to the world. Thanks be to God.

As God instructed Elijah, and Jesus instructed the Demoniac, after our encounters we need to go home and declare what God has done for us. May it be so for us as well. Amen.