God Shows Up When You Least Expect It

Fourth Sunday After Pentecost, Yr. C

Delivered June 20, 2010

Luke 8:26-39

 

The rash started about a year ago, for one of the members of our congregation.

    First on one arm, going up the side,

    Then the other, and then it was on her back, and was encroaching her face.

She thought is was just a rash.

She didn't know it was Lupus…

    As the diagnosis came, so too did the illness start to ramp up in intensity…

What has followed has been a deluge of infirmity

        Symptoms of lupus have been compounded by

Lacking the strength to work she is exhausted by red tape and falling into depression…

    Recently tumors were found on her vocal chords…and that was it…falling into darkness, desperate for a Word of Life:

She cries out to God.    God I can't take it anymore.

……….

The Demoniac and Legion – Luke 8:26-30

²⁶ Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. ²⁷ As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs.

This shows how tormented he was – homeless, living in a graveyard, safer among the dead than he was among the living.

 

²⁸ When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me"—

How this strikes me, that the man tormented begs Jesus to be merciful, "do not torment me," perhaps the man has gotten used to the abuse. Because he has acted out due to his own demons, because what he has done – he has become something of a leper – cast out by community, forgotten by family.

 

²⁹ for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times 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 wilds.) ³⁰ Jesus then asked him, "What is your name?" He said, "Legion"; for many demons had entered him. ³¹ They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.

……………

We are legion: haunted by an array of anxiety.

        Swarmed by a host of hardships.

            Consumed by a culture of contentiousness.

We are legion: It might have started like a pesky rash; but now we are in the thick of it; now it's really getting to us: and we cry out – what have you to do with us, Jesus?

What do you believe will happen when you search for God?

What do you believe will happen when you cry out to God?

The Demons are afraid of the abyss – even when we have a legion of issues, we can often imagine, things could be worse…even the legion hounding the man confess, we don't want to be tormented any longer.

………….

In Kings a different kind of desperation. Elijah has been on the run. He's killed hundreds in the Queen's party – her prophets and more. He's terrified. The legion tormenting him is not internal but external, he's literally under attack.

But he too, like the man hiding among the tombs, is seeking God out.

Elijah cries out…and finds God – not in the Wind, not in the Earthquake, not in the Fire – all places that God is expected.

Elijah finds God in the last place he expected.

Yes in the silence – but in the place he least expects to find God – in nothingness.

…..

Are you searching for God? God is found in the midst of nothingness.

Are you exhausted from running, though getting nowhere? God can still be found.

Or are you hiding out – in the darkness – in the tombs in your mind – and just hoping you can avoid further struggle – God is still a very present Hope.

 

In the midst of the things we can not see – in the very spaces where we have given up hope – God comes in the least expected places, and gives us life.

…………

For the man consumed by a legion of Demons, Jesus spoke a word of life.

The text says people were so amazed, they were frightened – scared by the goodness of God.

Today people aren't scared of a mighty act of God,

they just simply don't believe it.

And I understand, I understand that it is easy to rationalize a miracle, or perhaps even easier to simply not see them at all.

But I am here to share with you that God is still working today.

 

Our sister who has been so assaulted by Lupus, having discovered the tumors on her vocal chords that have stopped her speech recently got the biopsy results.

Do you know what the biopsy shows? Nothing.

Nothing. And God is found in the nothing.

She still has Lupus. She has not been guaranteed an easy road.

But she cried out to God and God heard her cry. And God became present in the place she expected the least – in the nothingness of the test results.

Maybe today you are still waiting.

Maybe today you are in mourning.

And to you, and to the whole world; we declare a Word of Life for you in the name of Jesus.

In the Name of Jesus I declare a Word LIFE for you. (Share that with your neighbor) In the Name of Jesus I declare a Word of LIFE for you.

It may come in the last place you expect it, but expect it, look for it, anticipate it. God is here for you right now in a place where you least expect it. A Word of LIFE

LIFE that death cannot overcome.

Hope that cannot be extinguished.

Light that cannot be darkened.

In the place where you least expect it – I declare LIFE – in Jesus Name.

Amen.