What Are You Doing Here?

Charlotte Collins Reed

Christ Church Episcopal

June 19, 2016

7 Proper C

          My heart has been heavy this week.  Forty-nine innocent people were shot, with fifty people dead, in yet another mass shooting.  I have talked with some of my gay friends who tell me that gay bars and nightclubs are sacred spaces for gay people.  Those spots are the one place where they can go, be who they are, and be accepted and safe.  I, of course, would love to believe that church can be such a safe place for all people, but I know that is not always the case.  The senseless loss of life made my heart heavy enough, but the vitriol which followed about how to control gun violence has deepened the pain, if that is possible.  Civil conversation about the topic seems impossible.  Fear and anger are rampant, and safe places for honest thoughtful dialog seem few if not non-existent.

          On the other hand, this week Don and I attended two more of our Neighborhood Gatherings last week.  The conversations are filled with your love for this parish, each other, and all that you have accomplished together.  Our hearts have been touched by your care for each other and for the world around us as you reach out to people who are hurting or struggling.  Our hearts are full of joy at the opportunity to be part of that work with you.

          Neither the stories from I Kings and Luke nor the reading from Galatians seem to have much to do with safety or civil discourse this morning, nor do they seem to have anything to do with the joy of doing ministry together.  The story of the Gerasene demoniac does have something to offend just about anyone, however.  For those who prefer that the gospel not sound like a scene straight from a horror movie, this is a difficult reading. In as much as this reading appears to equate mental illness with demon possession, we are likewise offended. For those who work to protect the rights of animals, the thought that Jesus would cast a legion of demons into a herd of pigs is offensive. For those who are concerned about the livelihood of workers, with the loss of the pigs, Jesus has put an end to the income of the swineherders. All the way around, this is a difficult story.

          The most curious part of the story, however, comes at the very end and has little to do with demon possession. If we put aside our reservations about demon possession, our concern for animals, or the known causes of mental illness, we hear a story about a man who is healed of a terrible affliction that causes him to be completely cut-off from his community, his family, and even himself. We see the man who once could not be contained with chains and shackles sitting calmly at Jesus’ feet, fully clothed and his dignity restored. And we hear the man who was healed ask, even beg, to follow the one who has given him this great gift. And the logical answer to this understandable request is "yes." But Jesus says "No." "No, return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you." When the demons beg Jesus to let them enter the herd of swine rather than be ordered back into the abyss, Jesus says "yes." When the people in the surrounding country were seized with great fear and ask Jesus to leave, Jesus says "yes." When the healed man begs to follow Jesus, Jesus says "no." How does Jesus expect to get more followers if he won’t let people follow him? 

          I think the healed man wants to follow Jesus because following Jesus is safer than returning home. No doubt his wife had left him, and his children wanted nothing to do with him. We are told that the people were seized with great fear and there is no telling what they were saying about him. The owners of the pigs could not possibly be happy with him as they had just lost their livelihood on his behalf. The reality is that there is no happy homecoming in store for this man. The safe option is to leave his country and follow Jesus. 

             Elijah is also looking for the safe option this morning. Unlike the man in the gospel story, Elijah’s life has been going pretty well until recently. God had sustained Elijah through a drought, used Elijah as a vessel through which God raised a widow’s son from the dead, and led Elijah to victory in a battle with 850 priests of Baal and Asherah. Elijah’s resume is looking pretty good at the moment. This morning we hear Jezebel pledge to her husband, King Ahab that Elijah will be dead in 24 hours, so Elijah flees for his life, first into the wilderness, then to a cave on Mount Horeb, where Moses had long ago spoken with God. When God says "What are you doing here, Elijah?," God is not asking a polite question about Elijah’s travel plans. God’s question is more like catching your child at the lake when he is supposed to be at school. Full of self-righteousness and more than a little self-pity, Elijah tells God that he is the only faithful Israelite left and that his life is in danger. God tells Elijah to go stand on the mountain, but Elijah cowers in the cave during a great wind, an earthquake, and a fire. Finally, the sound of sheer silence draws Elijah out of the cave. We are not told what Elijah was expecting God to say, but God asks Elijah again, in the same tone of voice, "What are you doing here?" And again, Elijah tells God that he is the only faithful Israelite left, and they are seeking his life, to take it away. If Elijah is expecting any sympathy from God, he is sorely disappointed, for God says "Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus." Elijah is not being sent back to the country from which he came, but he is being sent on, away from the safety of the mountain, to continue the work God has given him to do.

              Both Elijah and the man once possessed by demons were trying stay safe on the pretext of being faithful.  Elijah goes to the holy mountain on which Moses spoke with God. That is certainly a faithful place to be. The healed man wants to follow Jesus. That, too sounds like a quite faithful option. But in both cases, the answer was no, and both men were sent off to bear witness to God’s work in the world.   We, too, can want to play it safe in contentious and difficult times and avoid difficult conversation and actions on the pretext of being faithful and stay entirely focused on our church life.  We can pretend that we live in a community where such violence does not affect us.  When we do that, God says to us “What are you doing here?” and God sends us out into the world to be faithful people there. I am quite sure we don’t all agree on how to end gun violence, even if we agree that the violence must end.  What God calls us to do is to live our life together, in this place, as people who believe Paul’s words that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female.  In other words, God calls us to live as people who believe that in Christ nothing divides us.  We can disagree and still be one.  Then God sends us out into the world to model that kind of behavior so the world can see that love and affection for those with whom we disagree is possible.  Only then will we be able to have the kind of civil discourse that can bring an end to God’s heartbreak and ours.  God sends us out, as God sent Elijah and the man once possessed by demons, to show the world what is possible.

                                                          Amen.