Ep. 19: The Legion of Silence...or Proper 7C / Ordinary 12C / Pentecost +5

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Ep. 19: The Sound of LEGION!...or Proper 7C / Ordinary 12C / Pentecost +5 
Luke 8:26-39 and 1 Kings 19:1-18
This picture is for an excellent poem written and read by Tim Melton entitled, "Crazy Bill: The Gerasene Demoniac Revisited"

Show Notes after the break (click read more)

SHOW NOTES -  6/23/2013

Intro Music: excerpt from Crazy Bill: The Gerasene Demoniac Revisited – a poem by Tim Melton click this link for an incredible poetic interpretation of the story

Introduction: Episode 19 - Proper 7C / Ordinary 12C / Pentecost +5
Luke 8:26-39
1 Kings 19:1-18

Check-in

  • Father’s Day (belated)
  • Boston-Chicago Stanley Cup Finals

Primary Scripture -– Luke 8:26-39 - Gerasene Demoniac

  • Outcast
    • opposite Galilee - geographically, culturally, religiously
    • Where are the “opposite regions” we are called to bring the good news which brings comfort to the afflicted but afflicts the comforted?
    • Unclean: gentile, in the tombs, naked, not in his right mind
  • Legion - allusion to Roman authority.  According to Wesley Study Bible, the tenth Legion of Rome had adopted the boar’s head as their standard.
    • Or simply a host of evils- are we not plagued by a host of evils?
    • It is often not the one overarching enemy- but the slow grind that wears us down.
  • Transformation
    • not in his right mind- in his right mind
    • naked- clothed
    • homeless among death - has a home in the community
  • The people saw he was “in his right mind,” and feared.  They asked Jesus to leave, even though he was bringing healing.  Do our churches sometimes do the same thing?
    • The Gospel will upset the economic and social structures - not always a welcome message
    • Are we willing to let the outcasts back into our communities?
    • Odd as it may sound, we often prefer the devil we know to the freedom we do not. Congregations too can take a false sense of security from the dysfunctions they have learned to cope with, and they fear what change—even change for health—may bring. Communal identity is in this sense more difficult to change than individual identity. Indeed, if Luke's depiction of Jesus' ministry is any indication, effecting change among a fearful community can be even more difficult than stilling storms or casting out demons. - David Lose from Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary - Feasting on the Word – Year C, Volume 3: Pentecost and Season After Pentecost 1 (Propers 3-16).
    • If the man leaves- the community remains unchanged - if he stays then the community may be changed
  • Tell the Story
    • Man “in his right mind” was told to return to his home.
    • Not everyone called to mission in far away places.  Sometimes people are needed to return home to tell their stories.
    • “In his right mind” similar language to the Prodigal Son, who in Luke 15:17 “Returned to himself” before being able to return home.
    • Saved from- saved for

Secondary scripture -1 Kings 19:1-18 - Elijah’s Repentance and the Silence of God

  • Lectionary choice
  • What is Elijah’s Sin
    • Wrath?
      • Elijah killed the prophets of Baal- out of vengeance, not the will of God
      • See Christian Century- Living by the Word by Issac S. Villegas
        • “to correct Elijah’s excessive zeal and to lead him to imitate, according to righteousness, the providence of the Most High who regulates the judgments of his justice through  the abundant mercy of his grace.” - Ephrem the Syrian, 4th century hymnist and theologian
        • “God judges with abundant mercy. God’s justice is grace.” - I.S. Villegas
        • Not if we read 1 Kings 19:16-18 (NRSV)
          • 16 Also you shall anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel; and you shall anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah as prophet in your place. 17 Whoever escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall kill; and whoever escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall kill. 18 Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him." 
    • Hubris?
      • “I am left alone” - denies the faithfulness of God
      • Denies the community
      • When we focus on the I and not the we- we are not being faithful
        • There is a future for Elijah beyond the cave and for Israel beyond Elijah
        • how often to pastors fall into this trap? We think it is all up to us
        • God asks, “What are you doing here?” as if to imply Elijah needs to not be on the mountaintop, feeling sorry for himself.
  • Connections to Moses
    • Horeb is another name for Sinai
    • Moses asked God to kill him (Num 11:14-15)
    • 40 days and nights - Moses spent on the Mountain, Elijah traveling to the Mountain
    • God passes by
  • Silence of God
    • "Message? God wasn't in the sound bites. God was in the silence bites."
    • Sound of sheer silence “qol demamah daqqah”
      • qol - sound or voice
      • demamah - whisper, silence or stillness
      • daqqah - thin, small, fine or sheer
    • Elijah does not understand the message of God- God is present even when we cannot see or hear God
    • The Sound of Silence

Closing
 TY: Opening music, Dick Dale and the Deltones, “Misirlou”
TY: Closing music,Paul and Storm, “Oh No”
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All, Atonement, Elisha, Luke, PodcastEric Fistler1 Comment