Proper 7
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series VII Cycle C
Seasonal Theme
Jesus' acts of compassion and teaching ministry.
Theme For The Day
Jesus' compassion and power over the demonic and the danger of the powers which oppose God's will.
Old Testament Lesson
1 Kings 19:1-15a
Elijah Flees From Jezebel
King Ahab's wife, that Jezebel, was a real problem! She threatened to kill, or have killed, Elijah, just like he had killed the priests of Baal (v. 40).
It's an interesting story that can be told from the pulpit in a dramatic way: Elijah under threat of life on the run and then meeting no less than God, not in the loud and dramatic things of life, but in a little gentle voice out of sheer silence (v. 13).
Notice Elijah did not even pause in Judah. Jehoshaphat's son, Jehoram, was married to Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. That makes the King of Judah a son-in-law of scheming Jezebel (v. 3).
In verse 8, we see Elijah going to Sinai where the covenant was first established. So he connects his ministry with that of Moses. Yahweh's coming was announced by such as hurricane, fire, and earthquake -- but not this time. This time it's much more intimate, in a gentle breeze. Marvelous pictures to paint and words to speak from our poetic pulpits today. Contrast the experience of God with that portrayed in Exodus 19:18; Psalm 18 (v. 17).
New Testament Reading
Galatians 3:23-29
All Children Of God
In general Paul makes the proposition that before Christ, we were imprisoned by the law, which became our disciplinarian. After Christ, faith takes us to a new freedom because we are justified and made children of God. The word disciplinarian in verse 24 is sometimes translated "custodian" and other times "pedagogue." Both describe a superior slave who took a young boy through the streets to his schoolmaster. It's a good metaphor to describe the role of the law.
In verse 27 we learn that baptism is putting on Christ and even more. Verse 28 is one of the great statements of Paul: Because we are all baptized into Christ, we have unity and even better, spiritual equality. Let racists and sexists put that in their pipe and smoke it! All the baptized are God's children and thus equal brothers and sisters and heirs as well!
The Gospel
Luke 8:26-39
The Gerasene Demoniac
We find this story in Mark 5:1-20 and Matthew 8:28-34. Luke seems to have improved on Mark's original telling of the story. In Luke's Gospel this is the only time Jesus goes out of Jewish territory. In early Christianity this miracle of healing must have meant:
1. Jesus had compassion on a man from outside Palestine;
2. Jesus had power over demons; and
3. There is a connection to the victories over the demonic by the apostles (Acts 8:9-24; 13:6-12; 16:16-18; 19:11-20). No doubt stories like this demonstrated the power of Jesus and brought out faith.
We, however, must find a way to apply this passage for hope for those who in our day suffer from anxiety, depression, and compulsive behavior. The idea in verse 30 that his name was "legion" is an interesting one. Those who suffer with mental disorders will understand. For they have lost their individuality and inside them there is a war going on of conflicting forces. Here we have a story of such great compassion of Jesus that he would cross Galilee and go into a foreign territory to whip the demons in a man not Jewish!
Now, an idea on the flip side of this miracle: perhaps some or much of the cure was in telling others how much Jesus had done for him. Maybe the telling was as good as Prozac and Zoloft for healing.
And then, there are those poor pig farmers! What had they done to deserve the loss of all that pork? (v. 33). Perhaps Jews didn't care about pigs, an unclean animal, being drowned. And perhaps they didn't see an ethical question as to the pigs' owners losing their investment since they were foreigners anyway. Or perhaps, it was Peter seeing a ruckus being raised, demons called out, and pigs stampeded into the sea. When he preached it with the connections, Mark wrote it down. I'm just not sure. But it's a tale worth telling.
Preaching Possibilities
I just can't come up with a connection between the lessons today. However, each one has a great message and will easily stand alone.
A. If you must use them all, one could talk about "Today's Lessons for Today's Christians."
1. God speaks to us even in sheer silence, from the Old Testament Reading.
2. We are all one equal family of God's children, from the New Testament Reading.
3. Our God is one of power and compassion, from the Gospel for the day.
B. If we use the Galatians account alone, we can preach with power:
1. The role of the law for us.
2. The justification we have through faith.
3. The membership in God's family of all the baptized.
4. The unity and equality of us in Christ.
5. The privilege of being an heir in the kingdom of God.
Possible Outline Of Sermon Moves
A. Begin by telling the story of Jesus' healing the Gerasene Demoniac.
B. Tell the questions you wonder about in the story:
1. Would Prozac cure this person today?
2. What are the demons we fight today in our culture?
3. Why would Jesus treat those pig farmers so badly?
4. Why would the people want Jesus, who had such needed healing power, to leave their country?
5. Why did Jesus tell the cured demoniac to tell of the healing, when so many times he told people to remain quiet about it?
C. Offer what you think this story meant to early Christians.
1. Jesus has compassion for all sorts of people.
2. Jesus has power over demons.
3. Jesus was modeling a ministry for those who followed him.
D. Move to what it means to us today.
1. Unclean spirits and demons still want to possess us.
2. Jesus sets a model for our attitude of compassion toward the emotionally distressed.
3. We have a shalom to offer those here today who are emotionally distressed.
E. Examine a possible flip side to the story. Perhaps most of the healing came as the man told how much God had done for him (v. 39). Imagine what the man did upon arrival back home at peace and clothed. Perhaps he started a support group for the addicted ... and so on.
Prayer For The day
Drive out of us, too, O God, those demons that want to possess us and make us addicted, greedy, mean-spirited, and unsettled. Show us the way to tell all we can about what wonderful things God has done for us. And in response to your gift of peace, show us the way to share this Good News with many. In Christ's name. Amen.
Possible Stories And Metaphors
A truck driver going through a town on the truck route stopped at each stop street, got out, banged on the side of the truck with a ball bat, got back in, and drove on. When asked why this strange procedure, he explained: "I have a two-ton truck and four tons of canaries aboard, and I have to keep two tons in the air all the time."
We, too, are overloaded and instead of facing the reality, we rearrange the load (Frank Harrington).
In an Iowa snowstorm the willow trees in back of our home bent over from the weight. The sun came out and melted off the load and the pliable trees straightened up again. Storms come, the Son melts away the heavy load, and we straighten up again.
A news item in U.S. News and World Report: the weight of heavy snow has exploded some 1,500 of the mines placed along East Germany's border with West Germany (February 15, 1982).
Many under the weight of their daily life are about to explode. Or is this God's way of saying "No" to maiming other human beings?
The late Katherine Brownfield, who sent me humor, sent me this one. A man frequently prayed this in prayer meeting: "O God, clean out the cobwebs from my mind." One night, a woman followed the man in prayer and prayed thus: "O God, don't clean out the cobwebs. Kill the spider!"
We often fail to get to the source of our problem and only consider the symptoms.
Jesus' acts of compassion and teaching ministry.
Theme For The Day
Jesus' compassion and power over the demonic and the danger of the powers which oppose God's will.
Old Testament Lesson
1 Kings 19:1-15a
Elijah Flees From Jezebel
King Ahab's wife, that Jezebel, was a real problem! She threatened to kill, or have killed, Elijah, just like he had killed the priests of Baal (v. 40).
It's an interesting story that can be told from the pulpit in a dramatic way: Elijah under threat of life on the run and then meeting no less than God, not in the loud and dramatic things of life, but in a little gentle voice out of sheer silence (v. 13).
Notice Elijah did not even pause in Judah. Jehoshaphat's son, Jehoram, was married to Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. That makes the King of Judah a son-in-law of scheming Jezebel (v. 3).
In verse 8, we see Elijah going to Sinai where the covenant was first established. So he connects his ministry with that of Moses. Yahweh's coming was announced by such as hurricane, fire, and earthquake -- but not this time. This time it's much more intimate, in a gentle breeze. Marvelous pictures to paint and words to speak from our poetic pulpits today. Contrast the experience of God with that portrayed in Exodus 19:18; Psalm 18 (v. 17).
New Testament Reading
Galatians 3:23-29
All Children Of God
In general Paul makes the proposition that before Christ, we were imprisoned by the law, which became our disciplinarian. After Christ, faith takes us to a new freedom because we are justified and made children of God. The word disciplinarian in verse 24 is sometimes translated "custodian" and other times "pedagogue." Both describe a superior slave who took a young boy through the streets to his schoolmaster. It's a good metaphor to describe the role of the law.
In verse 27 we learn that baptism is putting on Christ and even more. Verse 28 is one of the great statements of Paul: Because we are all baptized into Christ, we have unity and even better, spiritual equality. Let racists and sexists put that in their pipe and smoke it! All the baptized are God's children and thus equal brothers and sisters and heirs as well!
The Gospel
Luke 8:26-39
The Gerasene Demoniac
We find this story in Mark 5:1-20 and Matthew 8:28-34. Luke seems to have improved on Mark's original telling of the story. In Luke's Gospel this is the only time Jesus goes out of Jewish territory. In early Christianity this miracle of healing must have meant:
1. Jesus had compassion on a man from outside Palestine;
2. Jesus had power over demons; and
3. There is a connection to the victories over the demonic by the apostles (Acts 8:9-24; 13:6-12; 16:16-18; 19:11-20). No doubt stories like this demonstrated the power of Jesus and brought out faith.
We, however, must find a way to apply this passage for hope for those who in our day suffer from anxiety, depression, and compulsive behavior. The idea in verse 30 that his name was "legion" is an interesting one. Those who suffer with mental disorders will understand. For they have lost their individuality and inside them there is a war going on of conflicting forces. Here we have a story of such great compassion of Jesus that he would cross Galilee and go into a foreign territory to whip the demons in a man not Jewish!
Now, an idea on the flip side of this miracle: perhaps some or much of the cure was in telling others how much Jesus had done for him. Maybe the telling was as good as Prozac and Zoloft for healing.
And then, there are those poor pig farmers! What had they done to deserve the loss of all that pork? (v. 33). Perhaps Jews didn't care about pigs, an unclean animal, being drowned. And perhaps they didn't see an ethical question as to the pigs' owners losing their investment since they were foreigners anyway. Or perhaps, it was Peter seeing a ruckus being raised, demons called out, and pigs stampeded into the sea. When he preached it with the connections, Mark wrote it down. I'm just not sure. But it's a tale worth telling.
Preaching Possibilities
I just can't come up with a connection between the lessons today. However, each one has a great message and will easily stand alone.
A. If you must use them all, one could talk about "Today's Lessons for Today's Christians."
1. God speaks to us even in sheer silence, from the Old Testament Reading.
2. We are all one equal family of God's children, from the New Testament Reading.
3. Our God is one of power and compassion, from the Gospel for the day.
B. If we use the Galatians account alone, we can preach with power:
1. The role of the law for us.
2. The justification we have through faith.
3. The membership in God's family of all the baptized.
4. The unity and equality of us in Christ.
5. The privilege of being an heir in the kingdom of God.
Possible Outline Of Sermon Moves
A. Begin by telling the story of Jesus' healing the Gerasene Demoniac.
B. Tell the questions you wonder about in the story:
1. Would Prozac cure this person today?
2. What are the demons we fight today in our culture?
3. Why would Jesus treat those pig farmers so badly?
4. Why would the people want Jesus, who had such needed healing power, to leave their country?
5. Why did Jesus tell the cured demoniac to tell of the healing, when so many times he told people to remain quiet about it?
C. Offer what you think this story meant to early Christians.
1. Jesus has compassion for all sorts of people.
2. Jesus has power over demons.
3. Jesus was modeling a ministry for those who followed him.
D. Move to what it means to us today.
1. Unclean spirits and demons still want to possess us.
2. Jesus sets a model for our attitude of compassion toward the emotionally distressed.
3. We have a shalom to offer those here today who are emotionally distressed.
E. Examine a possible flip side to the story. Perhaps most of the healing came as the man told how much God had done for him (v. 39). Imagine what the man did upon arrival back home at peace and clothed. Perhaps he started a support group for the addicted ... and so on.
Prayer For The day
Drive out of us, too, O God, those demons that want to possess us and make us addicted, greedy, mean-spirited, and unsettled. Show us the way to tell all we can about what wonderful things God has done for us. And in response to your gift of peace, show us the way to share this Good News with many. In Christ's name. Amen.
Possible Stories And Metaphors
A truck driver going through a town on the truck route stopped at each stop street, got out, banged on the side of the truck with a ball bat, got back in, and drove on. When asked why this strange procedure, he explained: "I have a two-ton truck and four tons of canaries aboard, and I have to keep two tons in the air all the time."
We, too, are overloaded and instead of facing the reality, we rearrange the load (Frank Harrington).
In an Iowa snowstorm the willow trees in back of our home bent over from the weight. The sun came out and melted off the load and the pliable trees straightened up again. Storms come, the Son melts away the heavy load, and we straighten up again.
A news item in U.S. News and World Report: the weight of heavy snow has exploded some 1,500 of the mines placed along East Germany's border with West Germany (February 15, 1982).
Many under the weight of their daily life are about to explode. Or is this God's way of saying "No" to maiming other human beings?
The late Katherine Brownfield, who sent me humor, sent me this one. A man frequently prayed this in prayer meeting: "O God, clean out the cobwebs from my mind." One night, a woman followed the man in prayer and prayed thus: "O God, don't clean out the cobwebs. Kill the spider!"
We often fail to get to the source of our problem and only consider the symptoms.
