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Sermon June 23, 2019
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers,
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen’s
Landis Farm Church Picnic
Second Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 7, Year C, Track 1
http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearC_RCL/Pentecost/CProp7_RCL.html
[Jesus said to him] ‘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.
Please be seated.
Honestly, I don’t remember a day when Jesus was not in my life. Jesus was right above my bed. Well, a picture of him as a young child was. It’s one you often see. I discovered it was done in 1919 by Charles Bosseron Chambers, known as the Norman Rockwell of Roman Catholic Art. It’s called Light of the World.
Jesus was modeled after a 4-year old boy, definitely blonde with curly hair. I am sure this picture was blessed by a priest. I really don’t know where I got it. I’m sure my family put it there as a remembrance for me. Unfortunately, one day I was angry and slammed my bedroom door shut and the picture came down off the wall and the frame broke. I think it got thrown away. As you can see, I still remember it to this day.
All of this to say that I think for some of us, we have rarely known a day without Jesus. It may be difficult and challenging to imagine what our lives would be like today if we hadn’t had Jesus and God in our lives.
But the man in our Gospel today definitely knew what his life was like prior to Jesus being in it, didn’t he? He had no clothes on. He lived among the tombs, rather than in a house. The community had tried to help him in their own way, but he continued to be guided by these demons and lived in the wild.
The demons… the legion…knew Jesus and knew how powerful he was. Jesus was able to remove the demons from the man, transferring them to the nearby pigs, who ended up running off a cliff and into the lake.
The man was changed. The swineherds witnessed this power, too, and ran into the town, telling the townspeople, who came out to see what had happened. They saw this man sitting at the feet of Jesus, and “in his right mind” the Gospel tells us. They, too, saw the power of Jesus. They, too, were changed.
All of these people, the man, the swineherds, and the townspeople, knew what their lives were like before Jesus and after Jesus. They weren’t the same as before.
The man wanted to follow Jesus, even pleaded with Jesus to let him go with Jesus. Yet, Jesus told him to return to this city. He would now be able to return to the community. He could return to his home. Jesus told him to declare what God has done for you.
Declare what God has done for you.
On this day, can you declare what God has done for you? On this day, can we declare what Jesus has done for us? Like I said, it’s hard for me to imagine a day without God and Jesus in my life. Yet, somehow, we need to find ways to say how connecting with God and Jesus has made a difference in our lives.
One difference is pointed out in the passage from Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, chapter 3, verse 28:
There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.
One of the ways our lives are different is because of this Christian community to which we belong and is gathered here today. While we may not be perfect in every aspect, we certainly strive to do our best to love God, love each other, and love our neighbors.
We have a new and different community that is united in our followship of Jesus Christ. All of the barriers we sometimes create between people fall away when we live in our Christian community.
We are all children of God. We are all beloved of God. We are brothers and sisters. We are united together, regardless of our many differences. We are united by Christ Jesus. Let us together declare what God has done for us.
Amen
