Rev. Dustin ParkerLiving Free from the Past.... in Christ
Concordia Lutheran Church
Proper 7, June 18, 2010
Living Free from the Past…in Christ
Luke 8:26-39
† In Jesus Name †
3 Let grace, mercy, and peace be with us in truth and love from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, Son of the Father! 2 John 1:3 (MSG)
The Quickening
The change in the man was so dramatic, that his normal appearance frightened the people of the city who had rushed out at the report. Stunning, unbelievable, inconceivable, mind-blowing describes the change in this tortured soul…well, formerly tortured soul.
He haunted the cemetery, yet spiritually was as dead as those in the tombs he wandered among. He weakened mind knew no peace, tormented and tortured by an army of demons. Though no rope, no chains could bind him, these demons enslaved him and left him not even a second of freedom. He lived in a darkness beyond our comprehension, yet was freed from it, in an instance.
This is one of those occasions where the word quickening is such an apt description. It’s the moment where a spark becomes an inferno, where the Holy Spirit, like a mighty rush of wind blows through a person, cleansing out all the filth and crud. The image of God, in which the man was created, is no long blurry and obscured. He shines, reflecting the image of Christ!
And demons and people beg to leave, to run, to flee back to the darkness, back to the past. So different than the man, who desires, who also begs, not to go back, but to spend every moment with the Lord of life.
Last week we saw that the lady of ill repute began to love life in a way that Simon the Pharisee couldn’t grasp, and therefore she lived life…forgiven in Christ. This week, we are going to see a similar concept, as the one dominated by demons would come to live life…far more incredibly than the normal people…for He lived life…in Christ. I will say that if we can imitate him, and in Christ we can, we are far better off than those who are more…normal.
Demons and City folk!
Let’s start with the normal folk, people like those that live all around us. They don’t wander through cemeteries at night, they don’t have 5000-6000 demons inhabiting them. They live in nice homes, work normal jobs. They tried to do what they could for those who had less, even those like this poor tormented man. They tried to keep him safe, even at some great personal risk.
Yet they had more in common with the demons, than with the poor one who was tormented than quickened. Like the demons, they are uncomfortable in the presence of Christ, in the presence of the Lord who would heal and deliver the possessed man, and heal him. Hear of their reaction again,
“35 Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and 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. 36 And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed. 37 Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear.
It is this fear that is so dramatic, this desire of theirs, not to rejoice, but to quake in fear and ask that the One through whom the world is created leave them. Their fear is not unlike the fear of demons, who realize that Christ’s presence can only result in their judgment. They too, beg to leave Christ’s presence, even asking for His mercy, and that he would send them into the herd, rather than straight to the abyss. But the plea is the same – the desire to leave the presence of the Holy.
That desire, that fear comes from not understanding the nature of God, from not understanding His love, His mercy. As Luther would describe Muslims, Jews and heretics, they don’t know His attitude towards them, and therefore stand condemned, and are unenlightened by the Holy Spirit.
Rather than see what God has done, they run, and cling to a past that seperates them, not only from God, but from rejoicing in their countryman’s new found freedom from that which haunted him!
That is the nature of sin in our generation as well. It shrinks back in fear from that which is holy. It divides us, even as we are tied to a past that stops us from living, stops us from rejoicing in the present presence of God. Our generations shrink back from the possibility that God would deliver us from the pain, from the fear, for we see the sin that so easily ensnares us. How sad is it that such sin would stop people from rejoicing in a child’s baptism, or in each other’s “aha” moments as we realized that Jesus freed us from sin, and satan, and the fear of judgment and death? How much do we miss rejoicing with our brothers and sisters who find life…quickened in Christ?
How sad, if we forget that Christ has called out of the darkness of the past, and we cling to it, and its pain, and the sins we have committed, or were committed against us!
The Gerasene Demoniac
Consider instead this man…who was freed from that which went before!
The man, once possessed by a demon, awakes to live life. The difference is so complete, it is best described as a new dawn. Darkness is erased, as the Son reigns in full power. This is the kind of freedom that those who encountered Jesus, those who could grasp what His coming meant – those to whom the Father revealed, understood. Simeon, the old man in the temple, who saw Jesus at his presentation, was one. His prophesy we sing after we too see, and taste the goodness of the Lord.
29 “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; 30 for my eyes have seen your salvation 31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” Luke 2:29-32 (ESV)
It is that incredible light of Christ, the chases away the darkness, that robs those powers that would dominate over this man, that would dominate over us as well! This man was freed from living in the graveyards – literally from dwelling in places of death and pain-filled memories. He is a whole new person! Hear again the description
they came to Jesus and 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. 36 And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed.
That word for healed is the same word we usually hear as salvation or deliverance. To go from being ragged and a complete mess, to sitting there, listening to Jesus teach, completely sound in mind and body! No longer bound by the demonic forces.
It is no wonder that he would beg Jesus to accompany Him, to travel with Jesus, and hear his teaching. Were others would send Jesus away and send him away quickly, this man wants to continue in peace, in the presence of Jesus. IN the presence of the One whose love and mercy freed him from the past…
The Quickening
We may not be oppressed by demonic forces, as the man was. But I think we have something in common with the crowd, in that living in the presence of Christ scares us. It may even terrify us, and we find ourselves running back to the past. We cling to it a little too much, and we therefore miss out on our healing, and on rejoicing as others come to faith, and life.
When each of us were baptized, we were cleansed of all sin. When we confess our sins, scripture tells us God is faithful, and cleanses us of ALL sin and unrighteousness. We are not the crowd that cringes back, and asks that Jesus leave us. We have been brought into the light. We have been quickened by His Spirit, through word and sacrament.
We are freed from sin, from the power of Satan, and death should no longer terrify us. We are freed to live in Christ.
And that is what this sermon is about, indeed, what this series is about. As we move from Pentecost throughout the rest of the year, we need to grasp what the reason was for the cross, and grave, and resurrection, and Pentecost. Each of those incredible events was to set up a relationship, where we realized the freedom bought for us in the cross. A freedom to live with God, to desire to be in His presence.
The freed man begged to stay with Jesus, to travel with Him, to continue to sit at his feat. Jesus declined the man’s request, and did something quite rare for Jesus, before the cross. He commissioned the man to testify to what God had done for him. He sent the man to proclaim that Jesus was indeed the one who God used, to recreate the man.
If we were there, I wish we could have thrown the man a celebration, the likes of which never would be seen again. The man would not be the guest of honor, but would be welcomed at the guest of honor’s side. The celebration, not just of the change in the man, but that God was there, that God touched the broken life. The quest of honor would be His Savior.
I don’t know that any of us have been freed from the kind of torment, or from the incredible bondage that one can be in, before the word of God frees them. But each of us, who believes and is baptized, has been taken from darkness into a marvelous, glorious light. So let us dwell in His peace, and celebrate with a meal where Jesus is both the guest of honor, and our host!
AMEN?
 
Proper 7, June 18, 2010
Living Free from the Past…in Christ
Luke 8:26-39
† In Jesus Name †
3 Let grace, mercy, and peace be with us in truth and love from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, Son of the Father! 2 John 1:3 (MSG)
The Quickening
The change in the man was so dramatic, that his normal appearance frightened the people of the city who had rushed out at the report. Stunning, unbelievable, inconceivable, mind-blowing describes the change in this tortured soul…well, formerly tortured soul.
He haunted the cemetery, yet spiritually was as dead as those in the tombs he wandered among. He weakened mind knew no peace, tormented and tortured by an army of demons. Though no rope, no chains could bind him, these demons enslaved him and left him not even a second of freedom. He lived in a darkness beyond our comprehension, yet was freed from it, in an instance.
This is one of those occasions where the word quickening is such an apt description. It’s the moment where a spark becomes an inferno, where the Holy Spirit, like a mighty rush of wind blows through a person, cleansing out all the filth and crud. The image of God, in which the man was created, is no long blurry and obscured. He shines, reflecting the image of Christ!
And demons and people beg to leave, to run, to flee back to the darkness, back to the past. So different than the man, who desires, who also begs, not to go back, but to spend every moment with the Lord of life.
Last week we saw that the lady of ill repute began to love life in a way that Simon the Pharisee couldn’t grasp, and therefore she lived life…forgiven in Christ. This week, we are going to see a similar concept, as the one dominated by demons would come to live life…far more incredibly than the normal people…for He lived life…in Christ. I will say that if we can imitate him, and in Christ we can, we are far better off than those who are more…normal.
Demons and City folk!
Let’s start with the normal folk, people like those that live all around us. They don’t wander through cemeteries at night, they don’t have 5000-6000 demons inhabiting them. They live in nice homes, work normal jobs. They tried to do what they could for those who had less, even those like this poor tormented man. They tried to keep him safe, even at some great personal risk.
Yet they had more in common with the demons, than with the poor one who was tormented than quickened. Like the demons, they are uncomfortable in the presence of Christ, in the presence of the Lord who would heal and deliver the possessed man, and heal him. Hear of their reaction again,
“35 Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and 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. 36 And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed. 37 Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear.
It is this fear that is so dramatic, this desire of theirs, not to rejoice, but to quake in fear and ask that the One through whom the world is created leave them. Their fear is not unlike the fear of demons, who realize that Christ’s presence can only result in their judgment. They too, beg to leave Christ’s presence, even asking for His mercy, and that he would send them into the herd, rather than straight to the abyss. But the plea is the same – the desire to leave the presence of the Holy.
That desire, that fear comes from not understanding the nature of God, from not understanding His love, His mercy. As Luther would describe Muslims, Jews and heretics, they don’t know His attitude towards them, and therefore stand condemned, and are unenlightened by the Holy Spirit.
Rather than see what God has done, they run, and cling to a past that seperates them, not only from God, but from rejoicing in their countryman’s new found freedom from that which haunted him!
That is the nature of sin in our generation as well. It shrinks back in fear from that which is holy. It divides us, even as we are tied to a past that stops us from living, stops us from rejoicing in the present presence of God. Our generations shrink back from the possibility that God would deliver us from the pain, from the fear, for we see the sin that so easily ensnares us. How sad is it that such sin would stop people from rejoicing in a child’s baptism, or in each other’s “aha” moments as we realized that Jesus freed us from sin, and satan, and the fear of judgment and death? How much do we miss rejoicing with our brothers and sisters who find life…quickened in Christ?
How sad, if we forget that Christ has called out of the darkness of the past, and we cling to it, and its pain, and the sins we have committed, or were committed against us!
The Gerasene Demoniac
Consider instead this man…who was freed from that which went before!
The man, once possessed by a demon, awakes to live life. The difference is so complete, it is best described as a new dawn. Darkness is erased, as the Son reigns in full power. This is the kind of freedom that those who encountered Jesus, those who could grasp what His coming meant – those to whom the Father revealed, understood. Simeon, the old man in the temple, who saw Jesus at his presentation, was one. His prophesy we sing after we too see, and taste the goodness of the Lord.
29 “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; 30 for my eyes have seen your salvation 31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” Luke 2:29-32 (ESV)
It is that incredible light of Christ, the chases away the darkness, that robs those powers that would dominate over this man, that would dominate over us as well! This man was freed from living in the graveyards – literally from dwelling in places of death and pain-filled memories. He is a whole new person! Hear again the description
they came to Jesus and 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. 36 And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed.
That word for healed is the same word we usually hear as salvation or deliverance. To go from being ragged and a complete mess, to sitting there, listening to Jesus teach, completely sound in mind and body! No longer bound by the demonic forces.
It is no wonder that he would beg Jesus to accompany Him, to travel with Jesus, and hear his teaching. Were others would send Jesus away and send him away quickly, this man wants to continue in peace, in the presence of Jesus. IN the presence of the One whose love and mercy freed him from the past…
The Quickening
We may not be oppressed by demonic forces, as the man was. But I think we have something in common with the crowd, in that living in the presence of Christ scares us. It may even terrify us, and we find ourselves running back to the past. We cling to it a little too much, and we therefore miss out on our healing, and on rejoicing as others come to faith, and life.
When each of us were baptized, we were cleansed of all sin. When we confess our sins, scripture tells us God is faithful, and cleanses us of ALL sin and unrighteousness. We are not the crowd that cringes back, and asks that Jesus leave us. We have been brought into the light. We have been quickened by His Spirit, through word and sacrament.
We are freed from sin, from the power of Satan, and death should no longer terrify us. We are freed to live in Christ.
And that is what this sermon is about, indeed, what this series is about. As we move from Pentecost throughout the rest of the year, we need to grasp what the reason was for the cross, and grave, and resurrection, and Pentecost. Each of those incredible events was to set up a relationship, where we realized the freedom bought for us in the cross. A freedom to live with God, to desire to be in His presence.
The freed man begged to stay with Jesus, to travel with Him, to continue to sit at his feat. Jesus declined the man’s request, and did something quite rare for Jesus, before the cross. He commissioned the man to testify to what God had done for him. He sent the man to proclaim that Jesus was indeed the one who God used, to recreate the man.
If we were there, I wish we could have thrown the man a celebration, the likes of which never would be seen again. The man would not be the guest of honor, but would be welcomed at the guest of honor’s side. The celebration, not just of the change in the man, but that God was there, that God touched the broken life. The quest of honor would be His Savior.
I don’t know that any of us have been freed from the kind of torment, or from the incredible bondage that one can be in, before the word of God frees them. But each of us, who believes and is baptized, has been taken from darkness into a marvelous, glorious light. So let us dwell in His peace, and celebrate with a meal where Jesus is both the guest of honor, and our host!
AMEN?
 
