Sermons for the Month
Allow God To Open and Close Doors!
DATE: June 20th, 2004
SERVICE: Third Sunday After Pentecost
TEXT: Luke 8:26-39“To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN Summer officially begins tomorrow and it's vacation time. In fact, I'm welcoming vacationers to my home this weekend. My friend Ed and Anne Crotty are visiting me from North Carolina where Ed is an ELCA pastor of an overwhelmingly welcoming congregation and Anne teaches in a very diverse high school. Both their church members and students are lucky to have them, and I'm thankful for their friendship. It's good to have them here; their visit caused me to think of summer trips even as I read today's Gospel lesson.
So … let's imagine a first century vacationer. If you want to smile a bit, imagine that person in a Hawaiian print robe and sun glasses. He is taking a trip to the country of the Gerasenes near the Sea of Galilee to see the sights. Our tourist has heard that sometimes one can catch a glimpse of the local wild man - naked, dragging chains that, with demonic strength, he had broken from the shackles intended to restrain him. He dwelt among the dead rather than the living. The sight was said to be well worth the trip.
There's a crowd gathered when our tourist arrives, but the wild man is nowhere in sight. Instead, the crowd is intent upon a calm, clothed young man sitting at the feet of what appears to be a traveling rabbi. The tourist is about to ask when the wild man might be expected to appear when the teacher's eyes pierce the crowd and he says that the one who lived among the dead has returned to life among the living. A shutter of excitement and fear runs through the crowd. It slowly dawns on the tourist that this man who is very much in his right mind bears the wounds from chains on his wrists.
Let me pause in my narrative for just a moment to ask; is this story's theme familiar? It should be. Once again Jesus has transformed a life, as was the case with the four women who were the topics of last week's Gospel lesson.
Now, let's return to the account. Our imaginary tourist is unhappy because he missed the "wild man show" he had traveled to see. And, surprisingly, the text makes it clear that the town's people display no joy for the transformed man. In fact, they are afraid and asked Jesus to leave.
Scholars surmise that there are two reasons for this response. One is that they are concerned about their livestock. After all, their neighbor's pigs ended up on the bottom of the lake, having become the hosts for the demons that Jesus cast out of the tortured man. They may be afraid that their livelihoods will also be threatened.
The second reason, though, is probably the more viable one. It is they are overwhelmed by this "power" in their midst, and worry that it may be used against them rather than for them. If this is the case then one could say that they are more comfortable with the power of evil - since they tolerated the demon-possessed man - than with the power of God, which is a sad commentary.
In fact, the only two entities who seem to grasp the significance of what has happened are the demons and the healed man.
The demons, called Legion because like a legion of the Roman army they have overwhelming power and control, identify Jesus as the Son of the Most High God. They know the power of God will overcome them, the power of evil. Amazingly, they request mercy, asking not to be exiled to the place where demonic forces go but instead to meet their end in another way, which turns out to be in the pigs in the sea.
And, of course, the healed man acknowledges that it is the power of God at work in Jesus that has saved him. He longs to follow his Lord, but Jesus says he has a more pressing ministry. So, he goes home, to the people who can see with their own eyes how he has been transformed, and declares that the power of God and love of God at work in Jesus Christ.
This is one of my favorite miracle stories in the Bible. I like the contrasts in it, the clear picture of transformation that is painted comparing the man dwelling among the dead with the one who comes to a new life among the living. That one verse says it all, "…they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind." And the next sentence is equally as revealing, "And they were afraid."
Isn't it sad that they were afraid? It's tragic that the people could not see beyond their own need to hold fast to what they owned and their fear of the unknown. It's true that both then, and now, that kind of fear gets in the way of God's work among us.
What might have happened if they had allowed the transforming power of God to touch their lives? What further healings might there have been? Whose relationships might have been restored? Would the word about Jesus have spread even further than it did? We cannot even imagine what Jesus might have done among them had they not allowed their fear to reign.
The same principle applies to us. What might happen among us if we set aside our fears, our worries, our need to control and allowed the transforming power of God to touch our lives? I'm not even able to hazard a guess, but I am going to suggest a tangible way to work on making that a reality.
Probably the only television preacher that I will stop changing the channel for is Joyce Meyer. Her theology is more conservative than mine, but I enjoy hearing her and agree with a lot of what she says. When I was watching her recently she challenged the congregation to start praying this, "God, open doors that no person can open and close doors that no person can close." Then she commented that if people prayed that with perseverance and sincerity they had better, "Watch out!"
Well, I'd like us to pray that. I think doing so will help us remember that our lives are in God's hands and prompt us to set aside the fears that get in the way of God's work among us. In fact, here is my challenge to you.
I would like you to think of, or even better write down, one situation in your own life that would benefit from God's intervention. Then, record the name of another person who needs prayer. Finally, add this congregation, Faith Lutheran Church, to the list.
Then every day for a month, between now and July 20, look at that list, or bring the items on it to mind, and say that simple two-line prayer, "God, open doors that no person can open and close doors that no person can close." Of course, you may decide to keep praying beyond that month, but try to be consistent for a month. I think I'll be my list on my calendar for each day as a "to do" item!
I would encourage you to keep track of any changes you note once you start praying - it could be in your feelings or attitude or in the situation. If you would like to share them with me, please do so.
The idea is to move beyond the fear that is so limiting, indeed that limited the work of Jesus among the town's people in today's Gospel lesson. We want to be willing for Jesus to open doors of new life and freedom in our lives and ready for him close the doors that lead to death, be it physical, spiritual or emotional.
Those were the very doors that were opened, and closed, for the man in today's Gospel lesson. Did you notice what the end result of that was? God worked through him to open the eyes of those around him to Jesus. With that in mind, let's start by saying that prayer now.
"God, open doors that no person can open and close doors that no person can close." AMEN