Title: He has a demon
Text: Luke 8:26 - 39
SO: I want to model forgiveness by exhorting the church to pray for the victims and the shooter
Outline:
1. Dealing with the Mentally ill
a. Legion
b. How the People responded – Isolated him
c. How Jesus responded – Loved him in spite of being told to go away
2. When change comes
a. People thought of themselves
b. Jesus thought about Legion - What he needed (a reason)
i. A purpose (meaning)
ii. Acceptance (in his own town)
3. How will we respond?
a. There isn’t much purpose in the killing,
b. But we can pray for those now
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Seung-Hui Cho had a demon. There’s really no more explanation than that. Obviously, he was mentally ill. Obviously his was a tortured soul. We all know that this world is destructive, most of us have the ability to suppress that, but in his diseased mind, Cho was not. And, sadly for him and his victims, the consequences are obvious. What is left is for us, the living, to decide how we will respond.
This morning, in a time ‘when we ask how could this happen? ,’Well, it has happened before. Oh, we can all still rehearse the litany: Red Lake, Jonesboro, Columbine, the Amish school, and now we add Virginia Tech. I could tell you it’s not unique to our generation. I’ve told you before the story of the Bath School Massacre. Back in 1920, nearly 50 died when an unstable man blew up a school in Michigan. But that doesn’t make it go away.
The story of mentally ill goes back a lot further even that. Luke records an account for us of Legion. You’re probably familiar with the details. Man with a demon is healed, some pigs die. This story highlights Jesus’ power of the demons. And make no mistake, he does have that power. But I don’t want to go there right away. For every Legion who is healed, we know legions who aren’t. And for those us who live with the Legions, the question is, how do we go on another day, waiting for Jesus?
This story begins with Legion, but he’s not alone in this story. He lives in a community, and they are an important part. He is clearly far gone. At first, the people of the town tried what they could. They knew he wasn’t right, so they’d guard him. But he’d attack. Then they tried chaining him. But he’d break the chains. Finally, they chose the option of isolation. Legion would find his living place amongst the dead.
If you’ve ever dealt with the mentally ill, you understand why. It’s not pleasant. Hearing the same old ramblings, the grumblings. Day after day the same utter inability to make meaning, the lack of sense. Even when there is coherence, there’s not always sense. It’s frustrating. It’s very natural to want to put them away. Out of sight, out of mind.
For years we did the same thing. And in the best institutions, they were cared for by those trained and prepared to deal with such needs. In others, they weren’t. And that was a tragedy. In spite of the desire of the mentally ill to be left alone, that’s the worst thing for them.
Jesus knew this. And so, when Jesus saw this man – naked, irrational, shut out by society, Jesus asks the one thing this man can answer. He asks him his name. It’s a touch – a thing that can be done for this man. And Legion answers. I’ll pick up the story here.
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When Jesus asked him his name, Legion reacted. He knew his demons. His demons knew Jesus. And they were afraid. “What do you want with me, Jesus of Nazareth?” they asked.
You see, Jesus loved him. In spite of who he was and how acted, Jesus loved Legion. That’s just how Jesus works. He loves us all. He doesn’t demand or force himself, but lovingly reaches out to each of us, no matter what we’ve done. As Paul says, “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
From the news reports I’ve heard, Cho had pretty much the same reaction. What do you want with me? In his case, it was a painful cry; in Legion’s, one of fear. Both had been isolated in their own lives so long, that the first to peer into their shells were not well received. But it was needed. This touch they both so desperately needed and yet rejected. That’s what the disease does.
Jesus did not heal every sick person he saw. God doesn’t always answer our prayers on our terms and in our timelines. But, I suspect if we knew how many he healed before we ever knew, we’d be amazed. It’s a lot like the post office. Every now and then a letter gets lost. We don’t notice the billions that get there on time. It’s out of the ordinary. And when these things do happen, we wonder why. I don’t want to say that God has a plan for this. But I know he does.
In Legion’s case, Jesus did. In Cho’s case, he did not. But in both cases the greater society had a choice to make as result.
In Legion’s case, some people saw what Jesus did. And here’s what happened: <
I hope you saw two reactions. There was the reaction of those who saw Jesus’ power, and then there was the reaction of those who feared Jesus’ power.
The ones who saw
Those who saw what Jesus did were afraid. Their world had been changed. The crazy guy – the one they couldn’t live with – he was now under control. That can be a scary proposition. You see, some people would rather there be no change – let society stay the way that it is. It’s comfortable, it’s understandable, there’s a certain sense that can be made of it. Some people are just crazy, they think, but that’s them.
When healing comes, they have to make sense of it all again. And making sense of things doesn’t come easy. When the shooter was just a creepy guy, we could console ourselves with the fact that some people are diseased. Most people whose spirits are diseased will simply stay that way. We can feel pity, but nothing compels us towards greater action.
With this change, however, we feel compelled to make sense of it once again. When Cho turned violent, there is, at least to my mind, only one way to make sense of it: We live in a fallen and broken world. Cho acted very normally for a fallen and broken state. It is unpleasant. I hate the fact that I live in a world with such thorns.
When we work with those broken down by the world, it should anger us. Husbands with children should not “lose” paychecks. Young people should not be sick or deformed. Poor people should not be forced to eat junk that makes their bodies fat, even while they’re starving. A broken world does not make sense.
But since when has sin ever made sense? It’s an unnatural order in a perfect world. But a perfect God has loved us so much that he has let us choose unnatural things. Disorder is a necessary byproduct of the freedom to love. If you think it breaks your heart to see the terrible effects of sin, imagine what it means to the Father who never desired it in the first place.
And that Father, knowing our diseased state, by all rights should isolate us, abandon us – leave us to the natural consequences of our own irrational acts. And yet, he does not. He loves us too much. He asks for us by name. There’s no sense in that either, thank God.
The town
The reaction of the townsfolk is a sad one. One of their own has been healed. You would have hoped they would have been happy. But they weren’t. Instead, they saw the cost of healing, and they weren’t ready for it.
In the case of Legion, his healing cost them a whole herd of pigs. Now, I don’t want to get into the question of whether people were or were not Jews who had no business keeping non-kosher animals. The fact is that these people had a lot invested in these pigs, and when Jesus healed Legion, a lot of these pigs died.
But you have to wonder what kind of people would value pigs over people. Isn’t one life worth more than a whole herd of swine? And yet. And yet.
Healing is costly. Healing changes the heart. Healing is never easy.
Several months ago, another shooter barricaded himself in an Amish school. You remember the story – teenage girls asked to be shot first, in order that the younger ones might have time to escape. In the end, the only mercy was that nothing worse happened than their deaths.
It was a community dedicated to righting what was wrong.
That community was committed to the cost of healing in way that still speaks volumes. They reached out to the widow of that shooter in a way that was Christ. That community embraced her, attended her husband’s funeral, and loved her with that quiet simplicity that transcends our normal categories.
That was not an isolated and random act. Consciously that community knew that without active acts of forgiveness being their constant reminder, they would only be complicit in their own acts of hatred. But that is not the Gospel that brings life.
If there would be true healing, it must begin with us. Asking that we could be Christ. That he would dwell in us richly. That he would ask our name and bring us healing. We all have our demons. Our demons would have us hate or forget. Christ would instead replace the hate that brings death with love that brings life.
But it will be costly. Being Christ, abiding with him means abiding with those whom he loves. And they’re not always so lovable. But Christ heals. And you need not heal those who are well.
The Amish wanted healing, not just for the aberration, but for the whole of creation that lives with the normalcy of rejection.
I do not know the parents of this shooter. I have heard they are Christians over in Centerville, and I hope their church is able to reach out. They have already said they are living a nightmare. So are we, but we tend to blind to ours.
The question for us this morning is which nightmare we would choose to address. This random act of a person without reason – one of which there can be no sense – or the nightmare of the reality of a world for which this is sadly too common.
Like the Amish, we can choose to revel in healing. But it’s a choice. It begins with forgiving.
There was and is no sense to what Cho did. I wish I could tell you otherwise. But we can be intentional about making our own sense of it – not in our own categories, but in the story of a Christ who breaks in and abides regardless of who we are. If there would be meaning, it must be the meaning of healing and forgiveness that only comes from Christ.
It’s not easy. It will and should be offensive, because it breaks our normal categories. It begins with prayer. For this shooter’s family, for this shooter, for the next one. God doesn’t always bring the healing to every sick individual, but he always will bring it to us, if only we ask for it.
Normally, this is almost a rhetorical action: when I ask if you’ll pray with me. But, especially today don’t take it as such. This can and will be a hard prayer, but all healing is. I’m not going to ask if you’re joining with me. In your heart you can opt in or opt out. But I’d hope this is your prayer – that healing will begin with us.
Would you pray with me?
Father, God Almighty, this is a broken world of broken people. Death lies all around us. It was made so obvious this week. But Lord, people die around us too often in a broken state. Bring healing we’d ask. Father, for the families of those who lost loved ones, we would ask for your peace. For the family of the one who did this, we would ask for peace. For the one who did this, we ask for peace.
Lord God, sadly this will happen again. This pattern has become all too clear. Make us instruments of your peace we pray. Grant us the power to simply ask the names of those who are troubled. Allow us to be your abiding presence. Just as you abide with us in spite of the relationship with you that we kill daily, abide with those who are contemplating these acts. Bring healing we pray. Let us not be content to live in the tombs, but let us bring light. Let us bring your light, we pray.
Make us your children, so that we can truly say that we are in relationship with you. We love you, We praise you, We thank you that you have healed us. We praise you with the name of your Son, the one whom we killed upon the cross, but the one whom you raised from the dead. Through him we are already forgiven. Let us follow his example, we pray. Amen.
Long Branch Baptist Church
Halfway, Virginia; est. 1786
Sunday, April 22nd, 2007
Enter to Worship
Prelude David Witt
Meditation Isaiah 65:17 – 24
Invocation Michael Hollinger
*Opening Hymn #416
“We’re Marching to Zion”
Welcome & Announcements
*Hymn #126
Dona Nobis Pacem (Holy, Holy; Lord God Almighty)
*Hymn #638
“I Need Thee Every Hour”
Morning Prayer
*Hymn #630
“What a Friend We Have in Jesus”
Offertory Mr. Witt
*Doxology
Praise God from whom all blessings flow / Praise Him all creatures here below
Praise him above, ye heavenly host / Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.
*Scripture Luke 8:26 – 39
Sermon
“He has a demon”
Invitation Hymn #642
“Abide with me”
*Benediction
*Congregational Response
May the grace of Christ our Savior / And the Father’s boundless love
With the Holy Spirit’s favor / Rest upon us from above. Amen.
* Congregation, please stand.
Depart To Serve
Announcements:
1. Homecoming at Middleburg next week - Garrett Chan.
2. May 6 - Joe Anderson
3. May 13 - Bill Matlack
4. May 20 - Song Service
The Crosses are going to Wolf Trap Jun 9th to see Jesus Christ Superstar. See Joanne if you want to go.
LUKE 8:26 - 39
26 Then [Jesus and his disciples] sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27 When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.” 29 For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many a time it had seized him. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert.) 30 Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?”
And he said, “Legion,” for many demons had entered him. 31 And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. 32 Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. 33 Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.
34 When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. 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. So he got into the boat and returned. 38 The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.
