Lent: 3/14/09
March 14, 2009
Genesis 43:16-34
1 Corinthians 7:10-24
Mark 5:1-20
“The Gerasenes”
Then they began to beg Jesus to leave their neighborhood. – Mark 5:17 (NRSV)
My fellow Gerasenes, this Jesus is too powerful to be allowed to stay in our fair city. He is dangerous and unruly and destructive.
This morning he healed the Monster! Without permission, without asking, he just cast out the demons from our beloved Monster and killed two thousand pigs in the process. What are we going to do about it? Who are we going to blame when something goes wrong? The Monster? Not any more! Who are we going to threaten our children with when they don’t eat their vegetables or won’t go to bed at night? The Monster? Not any more! Who are we going to blame when something turns up missing or broken? The Monster? Not any more! Who are we going to blame when we loose our tempters or get a little out of hand? The Monster? Not any more!Who are we going to say bewitched us and made us do those wild things? The Monster? Not any more!
Friends this Jesus has got to go. He has taken our every excuse and short-circuited our usual way of shifting blame. Who is going to pay for that herd of swine? If this Jesus can tame the Monster, what chance do we have to control him? What if he started healing others? What if he started making everyone feel like human beings? What if he began questioning the way we Gerasenes run our town?
What are we going to do with the Monster now that he is no longer a monster? Do we expect his wife to take him back? Are you going to let him move in next-door to you? Are we going to let him walk free in the town, roaming the market and schoolyard unchained and free? What if he gets sick again? What if it is even worse than before? What if it happens to you next time instead? Think of the children!
My fellow Gerasenes, this Jesus is too powerful to be allowed to stay in our fair city. He is dangerous and unruly and destructive. Let us quietly and politely ask him and his associates to get back into that boat and just go anywhere but here. Let him take that monster with him too so we will never have to remember this awful day again!
Let us pray…
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Amen
