Monday, June 24, 2019

sermon - Elijah and the Gerasene


Elijah –

Today, we have two passages where a person has sought solitude.  As we begin with Elijah, Elijah has fled to this cave for fear of his life.  Elijah is not your average person, he is a prophet of God.  And he lives in a day and age where people have turned their worship to the false gods of another nation.  Perhaps you have heard of Jezebel, or at least the term Jezebel.  Jezebel was the queen but she was from a foreign land and she brought her gods with her and had much influence on the nation in turning people to worship the gods of her country.  Over and over Elijah spoke out against this false worship and by doing so, he has greatly angered the queen to the point where he goes into hiding.  And so, here he is, hiding in a cave, seeking guidance from the God that has called him to be a prophet.  And he waits. 
As he seeks to hear from God, the word of the Lord came to him and asks him:  What are you doing here?  Wow, seems like a strange question to me, doesn’t God know why he has fled and is hiding in a cave.  The queen is trying to kill him.  So, Elijah responds.  And then he is told to go and wait some more, for God 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; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. 
What I like about this passage is that it shows the reality of what it is like trying to listen for God.  Will God speak, such as in Pentecost, through the loud wind?  Or through the rumble of an earthquake?  Or like the burning bush, through fire?  Or will it be through sheer silence?  One of the last people committed to following God, committed to teaching others about the one true God, has to wait and discern where the voice of God will speak to him.  Elijah had to remove himself from the chaos of life, from the stresses, the responsibilities, he had to re-center himself, and find the time and space to listen.  When the same question comes to him:  What are you doing here?  So he gives the same answer.  And this time, God tells him to go, to return, to continue his work.  This time he will anoint a new king for the northern kingdom and anoint a new king for the southern kingdom, which is an important task for a prophet.  And God gives him a promise, that God will leave 7,000 others that will remain faithful.  This is probably not the answer Elijah wanted to receive, but he listens and he acts.  God is always leaving a remnant, a small group of faithful people that will continue the work.  And the work continues on.  People continue to remember stories that share what we value, stories that continue to guide us as a people of faith.  Remembering that God can work through a small group of faithful people from generation to generation can inspire us and give us the assurance of hope that God is still with us, still calling us to do the work that we are called to do. 
           


Our second story also takes us to a cave or tombs, this time inhabited by a man tormented by demons.  Instead of being a man of God, the people view him as the opponent to God, a demon.  He also lives on the other side of the lake from Galilee, in the land of Gerasene.  He is a foreigner.  But Jesus comes to him.  Jesus gets in a boat and travels across the lake and finds this man.  This outcaste.  This person who has also fled to a cave to seek solitude, solitude from a society that does not know what to do with him.  But I am sure, with the torment with which he is living, he has not found any solitude. 
As Jesus encounters this man he commands the unclean spirit to leave the man, and the man roar backs:  what have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the most high God?  This man, this man with the unclean spirits, this man who has been tormented and lives amongst the dead in the tombs, has encountered the Son of God.  He seems to be the exact opposite of Elijah, and yet, they both have this sacred experience one in silence the other in extreme torment.  Or perhaps, as the unclean spirits leave the man, he finally has a moment of clarity, a moment where the noises in his head stop, where he finally experiences peace, and the only way that could happen is if God was present with him. 
And then Jesus asks him, what is your name?  What a powerful and important question.  To be known, to have an identity.  To not just be known as the demonic that lives in the tombs, but to have a name.  But the man has been truly lost to his demons and can only identify himself by the identity of his illness.  And he responds:  Legion.  It would be as if Jesus asked us our name and we responded:  cancer, diabetic, bi-polar, addict, broken.  But Jesus wants him to have a name and he wants him to be made whole and he wants him to be in community.  And as the man is healed, he desires to remain with Jesus, to join the others and follow him.  But Jesus responds:  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.  There is work for him to do in his own community.  His healing can bare much witness to the power of God to the community in which he belongs. 

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