Hearing God's (Silent) Voice in the Midst of the Mess
(Free Version)- 1 Kings 9:1-4, 8-15a; Galatians 3:23-29; Luke 8:26-39
You can find this week’s readings here. As always, I encourage you to check out our other subscription options which expand upon these notes. Included in the Deep Dive is a weekly conversation with other pastors on the readings (via Zoom).
*Footnotes are Works Consulted. Illustrations are original unless otherwise cited*
Life is messy. We live in a world that is messy. Each of our lives are messy as are those in our congregation. Many of us are grieving. Many of us are conflicted. Some of us are bored, dissatisfied, anxious, afraid. God is not afraid of the mess. He is with us in the midst of it. His presence may sound like silence, but he is there, preparing us, forming us by his presence.
It is not only our individual lives that are messy. Our world is full of polarization, tribalism, and fear of the “other.” We have a war in Europe and inflation rising, which adds a layer of anxiety to an already chronically anxious culture.
Our fears are legitimate, and Christ meets us in the pain of what we experience. Though our concerns about our world may be well-placed, we must never forget that our God is not afraid of the chaos. In fact, he runs to it. Our world may be possessed by a legion of demons, but there is one who carries freedom in His very being.
In our Old Testament reading (1 Kings 19:1-4, 8-15a), Elijah had just witnessed a great victory. God had shown himself to be true, the reality of which Baal was just a wannabe parody. Rather than giving Elijah peace, it led him to believe that violence was the next right step, making him a man on the run from the authorities. Yet, God refuses to give up on Elijah. He meets him in his distress, his disobedience, his chaos: with a nap and a meal. God speaks to Elijah but not in a way that he would expect or control. His presence is with Elijah in sheer silence.
In our gospel reading (Luke 8:26-39), the Gerasene demoniac has been oppressed by a certain kind of pseudo-freedom. He can consistently break any chains which hold him and he is not bound by the social conventions of being part of human community (he runs around naked after all!). He is isolated, wandering naked among the tombs. Even though he is “in solitary places,” he is plagued by a “legion,” a demonic community which has bound him and defined him. These dual oppressions have created a discordant mess in his life. Jesus sets him free from both the pseudo-freedom of isolation and the pseudo-connectedness of the demonic community.
Neither Elijah nor the demoniac are left comfortable at the end of our readings. Elijah has rested and has been fed, yes. The previously-captive man has been fully liberated, yes. This is good news. And, with the good news, comes an unsettling, a challenging, a nudging.
God is not finished with Elijah. In fact, he is in the wrong place. He is not to be discouraged by his seeming failure to get Israel to change their ways. After all, Elijah was never the hero of this story. He has more to do, namely kings and prophets to anoint.
Neither is the previously-captive man to remain comfortable in his liberation. He is not to attach himself to Jesus’ hip, but to go back home and tell his story.
This move towards the “other” is present in our epistle reading (Galatians 3:23-29). Paul declares that the doors of God’s family have swung wide open to people from all ethnicities and backgrounds. All those who are in Christ are children of God. We are not defined by our ethnicity or any other narrative by which we could “earn” such status. Baptism is now our primary identity marker (vs. 27). We are in-Christ before we are anything else.
Like Elijah, the man-set-free, and like Paul, God’s people, led by his Spirit, are called to run to the chaos, not away from it. We are called to sit with people’s fears, to go to those who are often seen as untouchable, to love our enemies, and to listen with both ears wide open.
On our own, we are unable to heal ourselves or our world. No amount of convincing, debating or creativity will do it. The Church is called to remind the world that God is here. We are called to proclaim freedom to those who are held captive by other stories. We are called to sit with those who grieve that the world is not how it should be. We are called to forgive and to love our enemy.