Sunday
06/19/16 Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC’s
Sermon Title: “Do our demons recognize Jesus?”
Old Testament
Scripture: Psalm 42
New Testament
Scripture: Galatians 3:23-29
Gospel Lesson:
Luke 8:26-39
My brothers and sisters, my friends, I want to welcome you
again on this Fifth Sunday after Pentecost. Five Sundays after the Holy Spirit
moved, the church was born, and the first disciples went forth preaching,
healing, loving, and building the church that Jesus Christ called them to
build.
Today we also celebrate Father’s Day, as we thank all those
men who have said yes to being loving and good dads. We also thank all of those
men who have mentored young people, or acted in fathering roles. The men that
take time to mentor and raise our children, are the men that we honor today.
It might seem odd then that on this Father’s Day I am
speaking about a homeless, naked, and demon possessed man. It might also seem
odd that the title of my sermon is, “Do our demons recognize Jesus?” I mean on
Father’s Day my sermon title is “Do our demons recognize Jesus?” Really Pastor
Paul?
In our gospel reading this morning, there is man who is
tormented, demon possessed, homeless, and naked. Yet when he saw Jesus, the
gospel says that, “he shrieked and fell down before him. Then he shouted, “What
have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t
torture me!” (Lk. 8:28-29, CEB). This man who was tormented, who was homeless,
naked, and demon possessed, saw Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, and his demons
immediately recognized Jesus.
All of us have our own “demons”. Now these are probably not
literal demons, but our own sins, hurts, and struggles. Whether we be
graduating from high school, college, or whether we have achieved some sort of
other success, it does not mean that our “demons,” or sins, or our struggles
just go away. I remember back when President Bill Clinton was going through a
presidential scandal, that had do with him and a woman who was not his wife. He
remarked in one interview that “his old demons had come back to haunt him”.
All of us then, have our sins, have our hurts, have our
demons. We also all don’t agree on everything. We all don’t like the same kind
of ice cream, the same sports teams, necessarily belong to the same political
parties, and all believe some of the same things. Yet all of us, in this
church, and outside of this church have our “demons” don’t we? We all have our
“stuff” as I heard one person say it once.
When we are open to God, open to Jesus Christ, then God can
better show us our own brokenness, our own sin, and our own hurts. In this way,
if Jesus were to walk in here today, would he be able to see our demons?
Further, would our demons recognize Jesus? When we fail to recognize our
demons, or allow God to show us and help us with our demons, we get shootings
like the one we had recently in Orlando. We get horrific acts of violence, and
other terrible things.
I can imagine that the demon possessed man in the gospel
this morning was not a pleasant person to be around, until he turned to Jesus,
and his demons were revealed. Once his demons were revealed, Jesus healed him
of his hurts, his pain, and his torment. I can only imagine the anger, and the
hatred that the shooter in Orlando had. Yet this morning, through the power of
Jesus Christ, this demon possessed man was changed and restored.
So what does this have to do with Father’s Day? Well, for
some of us, we can say that our fathers were or are people that were or are
people in our lives that sometimes helped us shake off some of our demons. For
some of us, our fathers or male role models helped us to see certain things in
a better and a more wholesome way. Maybe for some of us we can remember fathers
or male role models that were strict, but taught us morals, values, how to
treat people, and how live better.
In having grown up with a father, and then a step-father,
they have taught me to treat all persons with love and respect. There have be
times in my young life that I got off the “beaten path,” as the term goes, and
my father, my step-father, and other male role models saw my demons, and
confronted me about them.
Jesus Christ, the savior of the world, has taught us to
love our neighbors as ourselves. We don’t have to agree with our neighbors
about everything, but we are called to love everyone, without exception. The
father, step-father, and male role models that I grew up with, would never,
ever, ever, encourage me to take innocent people’s lives, under any
circumstances.
The role of Fathers and male role models are significant,
in that men get to help shape and sculpt young men and women. These young men
and women, like all of us, will have their demons, their sins, and there short
comings, but through God, his Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, we can
teach our children the way of love. We can teach our children that sin is real,
and that we must come to God, the way the demon possessed man did this morning.
In doing so, we give up our anger, our torment, our sin. Sin separates from
God, and sin can cause us to do horrific and terrible things. The recent shooter
in Orlando seemed to be consumed with anger, hatred, and fear. It would seem
that he did not address his demons, that he did not show them to God.
Now don’t get me wrong the Bible calls us to turn from sin,
but Jesus also teaches us to love people into the Kingdom of God. Killing
innocent people is not the way of Jesus Christ. If we were or are lucky enough
to have or had fathers that taught us love, peace, grace, mercy, and caring,
let us be thankful that our fathers recognized our demons. Let us be thankful
that our fathers challenged our demons, exposed them, and pushed us to be all
that God calls us to be.
Friends, sisters and brothers, in looking more closely at
the gospel reading this morning, we read that, “Jesus and his disciples sailed
to the Gerasenes’ land, which is across the lake from Galilee. As soon as Jesus
got out of the boat, a certain man met him. The man was from the city and was
possessed by demons. For a long time, he had lived among the tombs, naked and
homeless” (Lk. 8:26-27, CEB).
We see in this gospel reading that Jesus sees the demon
possessed man, and recognizes his demons. How many of our fathers, or father
figures ever helped us out of a bind, went to bat for us, or were there when we
were are our lowest points?
The gospel then says of the demon possessed man, “When he
saw Jesus, he shrieked and fell down before him. Then he shouted, “What have
you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture
me!” He said this because Jesus had already commanded the unclean spirit to
come out of the man. Many times it had taken possession of him, so he would be
bound with leg irons and chains and placed under guard. But he would break his
restraints, and the demon would force him into the wilderness” (Lk. 8:28-29,
CEB).
Then Jesus asks the demon in the man, what its name is (Lk.
8:30, CEB). The many demons then pleaded with Jesus to let them possess a large
nearby herd of pigs, instead of being sent back to abyss (Lk. 8:31, CEB). Jesus
agrees, and all of these possessed pigs then run down from a cliff and are
drowned in the lake (Lk. 8:32-33, CEB). All that bacon, gone. Yet Jesus allowed
the demons to enter the pigs, as devout Jews don’t eat pigs. Pigs in the
traditional Jewish faith are seen as unclean animals. Yet, all that bacon,
gone.
The gospel then tells us that the people were frightened by
the exorcism that Jesus performed from the demon possessed man, and then the
demons entering the pigs (Lk. 8:34-35, CEB).
So how does this story end? What happened to the demon
possessed man in this story? The man who Jesus recognized his demons?
The gospel says of the formally demon possessed man, “He
was sitting at Jesus’s feet, fully dressed and completely sane” and the
onlookers “were filled with awe” (Lk. 8:35b, CEB). In fact, the people were so
overwhelmed by what Jesus had done the gospel says they, “asked Jesus to leave
their area because they were overcome with fear” (Lk. 37b, CEB). Well wouldn’t
you know it, the now healed, and formally demon possessed man, “begged to come
along with Jesus as one of his disciples” (Lk. 8:38b, CEB). Jesus however, send
him away.
The gospel says, “Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return home
and tell the story of what God has done for you.” So he went throughout the
city proclaiming what Jesus had done for him” (Lk. 8:38b-39, CEB). My guess is,
is that man never committed mas murder after this, nor did he likely do great
harm to anyone.
Friends, brothers and sisters, when we allow God to see our
demons, when we allow Jesus to see our brokenness, our sins, our hurts, and
where we need to change in our lives, we can be reshaped by the hands of God.
This change, this reshaping occurs between us and Jesus, one on one, but it
also can occur within the Christian Community. For many of us, we can say that
our fathers, or father figures also helped in showing us our own demons, sins,
and shortcomings.
For those who are graduates, you are not entering or
continuing to prepare to enter a world that has much suffering, pain, and
injustice. Will you allow the living God to fill you, to guide you, and to be
with you, so that we can work to build a world were evil, injustice, and
killing the innocent is something we will tell our grandkids used to happen
years ago? Graduates, we have work to do, so that we continue to build a world
that looks like what Jesus Christ commanded us to build so long ago. A world of
love, peace, prosperity, and justice.
While will struggle with sin, brokenness, and hurts the
rest of our lives, God’s love, through Jesus Christ, and the power of Holy
Spirit, can change us all. When we are honest with God about our own demons, we
turn to love, not to hate. We turn to Christ, not to evil.
I would like to share a quote that head of the Northeastern
Seminary, Dr. Doug Cullum, at Robert’s Wesleyan campus, shared this past week
on Facebook. I attended Northeastern Seminary from 2010-2012, and consider Dr.
Cullum a friend and brother in Christ. Dr. Cullum wrote: “Dear friends, It is time to lament our global
brokenness and dis-ease. It is time to implore the help of God. A world in
which hatred and violence are seen as appropriate means to an end is not the
world God desires or created it to be. Rather, it is an unholy undoing of the
goodness of God's creation. It is not part of the visions and dreams of the
world's great religions, and especially not of those in the Abrahamic
tradition. In the name of God and in the name of humanity, let us lament
together and find a better way--a way forward out of our cloistered,
self-focused narrowness.”
So as we go forth this day, this week, and always, let us
be thankful for the good men that have mentored us, and have been active in our
lives. Let us celebrate our graduates. Let us also remember when we chose the
path of light, evil loses and love wins. May we seek to love, heal, and
forgive. I bring this message to you in the name of the prince of peace and the
savior of the world, Jesus the Christ. Amen.
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