Sunday, June 19, 2016

Hate is not a Christian Value



Sermon for June 19, 2016

Proper 7C - RCL

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.

There is a lot of things about our gospel reading that just don’t make sense.  It is one of those stories that seem strange.  One of the questions that come up is “Why did Jesus go across the lake?” 

We missed the earlier part in the journey while Jesus was on the lake.  While on the lake a storm comes up and nearly sinks the boat – and the disciples – afraid for their lives wake up Jesus.  Yes Jesus was sleeping through a violent storm.  And when they wake him he calms the see – one translation says that Jesus “rebuked the wind and the raging waves”.  And this action left the disciples wondering “who is this Rabbi?” The very wind and waves respond to his commands. 

So why are they going across the lake from the Jewish side of the Sea of Galilee to the gentile side?  They are going from a place of relatively safety and ritual cleanliness to a place where they are more likely to encounter situations that would leave them un-clean and unable to go to temple.  You see the Gentiles would not be following Jewish purity laws and dietary laws.  It will take a lot more work to keep ritually clean. 

Perhaps Jesus wanted to go the Gentile side so that he could get some rest.  He has been healing people and casting out demons.  He has been drawing a crowd wherever he goes.   And – from his sleeping through a storm – we can guess he is tired.  So perhaps he went someplace to escape the Jewish crowds who have been flocking to this itinerate Rabbi.

When they get to the other side of the lake they are not greeted by a welcoming committee.  They are greeted by someone very unclean.  They are greeted by a possessed man who the townspeople have tried to chain up only for him to break his chains.  And he is naked and living in the place of the dead – in a cemetery.  For his family and the townspeople it is the right place for him to be.  For the man they knew is possessed by demons and may as well be dead.

Unfortunately in our own society families sometimes act as if a member was dead.  This happens still all to frequently with gay, lesbian, transgendered and queer youth.  They are thrown out onto the streets.  They are thrown into a situation with few skills and little to survive on.  They are frequently exploited and many end up on drugs or alcohol to escape.  They end up with many demons inhabiting them just as the man in the cemetery.

When Jesus and the disciples are accosted by this man the demons recognize Jesus and are afraid that they will be thrown out.  It is interesting that Jesus allows the demons to negotiate with him to not be cast into outer darkness but to instead enter the pigs that are nearby.  And Jesus agrees to let them go into the pigs – where upon his command they leave the young naked man and enter the pigs.  And the poor pigs cannot take the demons and throw themselves into the sea and drown.

And in the very next scene we find the young man sitting by Jesus – miraculously clothed and conversing.  The cured man wants to follow Jesus but instead Jesus gives back the man who was dead to his family– Jesus in a resurrection like act gives the dead back to the living.

I have been amazed at the reaction I get when I actually treat someone who is on the street – sometimes possessed with a legion of demons – with respect.  On Wednesday during the midweek service at St. Paul’s I offered communion to a man who respectfully was sitting in the service and participating by reading the responses.  When I approached him he said “I am not worthy to receive”.  And my response was that I was not to judge and that in God’s eyes all of his children are worthy.  After all he had recited the confession with us.  His eyes cleared and he took communion – in a way that told me that at one time he was a churched person.

I don’t know what put this man on the street.  I don’t know his particular demons.  I do know that he sought refuge – if only for an hour – in a church.  I do know that he knew the service well enough to participate.  I do know that God can do amazing and healing things with people that we think and treat as unclean.

Our Gospel story tells me that God will pursue us anywhere to offer God’s Love.  God’s love is not just found in the church.  God’s love can be found in surprising places. 

And sometime evil tries to pervert the places where God’s love finds us.

That is what happened last Sunday.  A man full of evil and possessed by demons entered into a place of friendship, fellowship and dare I say God’s love.  Last Sunday Omar Mateen entered into the gay nightclub Pulse on “Latino night” and opened fire killing 49 people and injuring many more before he himself was killed.  We do not know the demons that drove this man – in the name of God – to open fire.  I do know that it was not God that drove him to do this.  But is was evil. 

And the church is called to not only pray for the 49 people killed and for those wounded.  We are called to pray for the soul of the one that was infected with evil too.  We are called to pray for the shooter.

I know this in not easy.  I am not even sure exactly what I should say about the shooter.  Perhaps only say to God “Oh God - Only you know how to reach into the grave and heal the shooter from the evil that infected his heart.”  

That is the same prayer I have for the Baptist pastor who praised the shooting here in Sacramento.  I pray that god will enter into his hard heart and show him that God loves all of God’s creation and desires nothing more than to show that love.  Praising the slaughter of innocent people and calling for the execution of an entire class of people is not Christian. 

 It is evil.

God doesn’t call for the death penalty for people who love.  God sent Jesus to remind us and to show us how to live a life where we love our enemies.  God crosses the river and calms the storm to find us in the cemetery.  God goes all the way to hell to find us and to offer to cast out our demons.  God goes to the very places we call unclean to find love and bring back from the dead those who society treats as unclean and dead.

In a moment we are going to pray a litany for those who have been killed in violence.  We are going to light candles to remember that in God’s eyes their light has not been extinguished.  We are going to light candles as a reminder that in the darkness that can inhabit human souls there is a light shining that will – if we only let it – cast out the darkness.

We will remember the 49 people who where killed by name.  And we will be invited to remember all of those who have had their lives taken as a consequence of violence.  And yes e will remember the shooter Omar too. 

Our Gospel story gives me hope.  Hope that no matter where we go God is pursuing us.  God desires to throw out the demons that inhabit our souls.  God desires to give us life – an abundant eternal life. 

And even when I don’t know what to say or how to pray I know that God is there listening.  God is there to comfort and heal us.  And we are called as followers of this Jesus – the crazy Rabbi who was willing to cross the sea in a storm – only to be greeted by a man possessed by many demons.  A man whose reaction was not one of scorn but who healed him.   

We are called to offer that healing love to all whom we meet.  Even – and perhaps especially when we think that it will make us unclean!

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