![\"Stenberg\"](\"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/oE\/DQ\/oEDQcu--21WVJ_oK1ABAbg\/ORD-1.jpg\")
The question comes out of the Luke 8:26-39 text used by the preacher for the morning, Phil Stenberg, which tells the story of Jesus\u2019 encounter with the demonic man in a graveyard along the shore of the Sea of Galilee.<\/p>\nBy Don Meyer<\/p>\n
PORTLAND, OR (June 25, 2007) – What is it about the word \u201cdo\u201d that we do not understand?
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\nThat question was at the heart of a challenge delivered to ordinands and others assembled for commissioning to ministry during the concluding worship service of the 122nd Annual Meeting Sunday morning.<\/p>\n
The question comes out of the Luke 8:26-39 text used by the preacher for the morning, Phil Stenberg, which tells the story of Jesus\u2019 encounter with the demonic man in a graveyard along the shore of the Sea of Galilee.<\/p>\n
To create a sense of context for his message, Stenberg recounted the activities surrounding Jesus\u2019 ministry at that particular time. \u201cJesus is on the move,\u201d Stenberg observed. \u201cLuke 8:1 recounts: \u2018Soon afterwards, Jesus went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God.\u2019 Jesus is on a mission from God,\u201d Stenberg quotes from the popular Blues Brothers movie. \u201cHe\u2019s come, not just to save the orphanage, not just to save my precious soul, but to save the world! To take back the neighborhood that belongs to God, the world that God loves! Jesus comes to announce and inaugurate God\u2019s reign. This kingdom –\u00a0 God\u2019s kingdom – comes in opposition, comes to replace the variety of kingdoms of this earth, the empires that relentlessly seek to dominate and control our lives, to seduce us into allegiance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Recalling Israel\u2019s troubled history punctuated with domination by foreign empires and kingdoms \u2013 at that time controlled by the Roman Empire \u2013 Stenberg notes that the writer Luke goes to great lengths to make certain the reader understands that Jesus\u2019 mission was taking place in an oppressive environment that had no room, no reverence for the one, true God. It was an environment dominated by the power of its military – legions of soldiers who dominated with force and violence; its economic power – the monopoly of labor and production and money; its political power – control by aristocracy of institutions, puppet neighborhood rulers; and its ideological power – the Roman imperial theology. The Roman coins that controlled commerce, that bought food to feed one\u2019s children, that paid burdensome taxes, were inscribed with the image of the Caesar, and the inscription: \u201cDivi Filius\u201d meaning \u201cSon of God!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBy the time Luke\u2019s story arrives at Chapter 8, Jesus has been active, pro-active,\u201d Stenberg notes. \u201cJesus . . . has contended with his adversary in the wilderness and (reciting the ancient prophet) has made his inaugural address in his hometown, announcing his mission: \u2018He has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord\u2019s favor.\u2019 At first, all were amazed at the gracious words that fell from Jesus\u2019 mouth. But when Jesus went on to say that this good news was also for widows in Zarephath, all the way up into Gentile Sidon – and also for not just lepers, but Syrian lepers – the congregation boiled with rage, rejecting Jesus. They tried to throw Jesus off the cliff!\u201d<\/p>\n
Jesus Kept His Focus<\/strong><\/p>\n Jesus nonetheless remained focused on the mission – \u201cI must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose.\u201d Jesus described life in God\u2019s kingdom like this: \u201cLove your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat, do not withhold even your shirt.\u00a0 Give to everyone who begs from you . . . do to others as you would have them do to you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLater he would ask: \u2018Why do you call me \u2018Lord, Lord and do not do what I tell you?\u2019 Surely an alternative lifestyle! A subversive kingdom. What is it about \u2018do\u2019 that we don\u2019t understand?\u201d<\/p>\n Along his way . . . Jesus began calling disciples, followers, men and women who would be his apprentices in living into this alternate Kingdom, later to participate in God\u2019s passion to save the world, Stenberg noted. \u201cIt is likely that this group of women and men walked with Jesus through the words and deeds described in Luke 8, for in Luke 9 Jesus calls the twelve together and gives them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sends them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.<\/p>\n Stenberg went on to recount four episodes in which Jesus demonstrates what Stenberg described as the gracious, life-giving power of the new kingdom: stilling of the storm, the freeing of the demoniac, the healing of the woman with the 12-year flow of blood; and the raising from death of the 12-year-old daughter of a synagogue leader named Jairus. \u201cThese powerful episodes take place on or near the shores of the lake called Galilee. So . . . Jesus decides to go across to the opposite side of the lake, and while he was sleeping . . . all hell broke loose. A raging storm overwhelmed them. The disciples were sure they were going to die.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMaster, master, we are perishing,\u201d the disciples cried out, and Jesus rebuked the wind and raging waves. \u201cJesus addressed their fear, which is the opposite of faith,\u201d Stenberg declared. \u201cAnd the disciples, even after all these months of following, wondered out loud: \u2018Who then is this, that he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him?\u2019 The question is out in the open! The truth of who they were – disciples paralyzed with fear – was met by the truth of who God is – the one with them in the boat with the power and authority to save.<\/p>\n It is on the other side of the lake \u2013 in Gentile country \u2013 that Jesus demonstrates the truth of the kingdom, that the Good News he came to preach is to be preached to all, regardless of cultural differences. Gentile country \u2013 \u201cto Jewish sensibilities, this was an \u2018unclean\u2019 place, a place of defilement,\u201d Stenberg emphasized. \u201cIt is bad enough that the hillside is covered with repugnant pigs; but then, here comes this buck-naked man, obviously very strong, fierce, unkempt, a wild-eyed homeless man, who has been living in the graveyard, the kingdom of death.\u00a0\u00a0 The disciples must have stood there with their jaws dropped to their knees, looking at each other and wondering: What has Jesus gotten us into now?\u201d<\/p>\n Jesus Goes to Work<\/strong><\/p>\n No doubt consumed with discomfort and perhaps fear, \u201cthey watch Jesus go to work. Who is this Jesus? It made such an impression that all three Gospel writers tell us the story. Jesus has chosen to enter an alien geography, a locality any good Jew would avoid. Jesus wades into the swirling vortex of raw human need and pain. He does not remain aloof, safe, in an ordered, comfortable world. We aren\u2019t told why, except that there is a demon-possessed man, hell-bent on self-destruction who needs to be healed and saved.\u201d<\/p>\n The disciples kept their distance as this wild man, obviously a Gentile, came directly at Jesus. But Jesus was not afraid, Stenberg pointed out. \u201cJesus has no fear of being ritually contaminated. Jesus comes to minister the power and the grace of God\u2019s kingdom on the margins of society – there he finds the lepers hiding, the blind begging, the possessed raging, the fearful cowering, the grieving weeping.\u201d<\/p>\n The possessed man in the Luke passage answers the disciples\u2019 earlier question of who Jesus is that wind and waves obey him.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?\u201d the demon-possessed man asks Jesus. \u201cThe demons recognize the presence of God,\u201d Stenberg points out. \u201cThey attempt, by pronouncing his name, to gain power over him. But the fearless Jesus demonstrates who is in charge – Jesus asks him his name. The man responds: Legion.\u201d Whatever the number of demons who possessed this man, \u201cin this power encounter of enormous proportions, they submit to Jesus!\u201d<\/p>\n Realizing that Jesus is capable of relegating them to the abyss – the prison reserved for the punishment of demons – they begged Jesus for a transfer to a herd of swine on the hillside, which Jesus allows. \u201cWithin moments, like the demoniac before him, the pigs are driven into self-destruction,\u201d Stenberg notes. \u201cThe pig herders ran to town to tell everyone what happened, making sure everyone knew it was not their fault, but that this guy named Jesus was the culprit. So, when the people came out from the city to check out their story, they discovered a great reversal had taken place. Seed sown had yielded a remarkable harvest. The wild man they had so feared . . . was now sitting quietly at the feet of Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n The Call from Jesus<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cSo, Jesus leaves, but not without leaving his witness. The quiet, clothed, delivered, sane man begged to be with Jesus. Surprisingly, this earnest request is denied. Jesus instead says: \u2018Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.\u2019 This is not only the story of one man\u2019s healing – it is the story of one man\u2019s calling. Jesus does bid the man to follow, but in his case the following, the call to ministry, involves staying rather than leaving. Jesus has his first appointment ready – he points the man to his congregation gathered behind him. The Gerasene demoniac is ordained the first Gerasene preacher. He is called to testimony, to be a living witness of God\u2019s life-giving power – that he, once as good as dead, is alive, to embody God\u2019s healing grace, to announce God\u2019s loving reign. And this man, who heard these words of Jesus, did them!<\/p>\n Stenberg proceeded to recite a list of what he called today\u2019s demons – materialism, consumerism, militarism, racism, sexism, addictions of all kinds. \u201cThe demons are killing us – killing others,\u201d Stenberg declared. \u201cWe live in a world that . . . has been dominated by the empire of greed, violence, and ultimately death. God is all about a regime change!\u201d<\/p>\n Then, drawing on a painfully personal note, Stenberg shared an experience seven years ago. \u201cI came to the ordination service in St. Paul like this possessed man, desperately running to Jesus. Once again in my life, I had been dragged through the valley of the shadow of death. The day before, my wife, Evonne, had died early in the morning at Mayo Clinic – her disease came suddenly and ruthlessly. It seemed like Evonne, her four lovely daughters and I were overwhelmed by invincible legions of destruction.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the most high God?\u201d – it is a cry from the depths, a cry I screamed at age 21 when my dad died far too young. I screamed it again the day I arrived in Lindsborg, Kansas, from seminary to begin learning to be a pastor – and someone came from the congregation to tell me a little baby had just died of a spider bite. Seven years ago this cry from the depths was raging within me, and I decided to come to ordination worship. With my resources of faith exhausted, I yearned for the Body of Christ – I came to be carried by the faith of the church. In the face of death, I needed to hear once more: Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again. I needed to be reminded that those who are baptized into Christ\u2019s death are also raised with Christ.<\/p>\n \u201cThe truth of who I was needed to be met by the truth of who God is. I needed to be reminded whose I am and why I am here, that in a world so filled with death, I have been called to be an apprentice in his kingdom, a harbinger of hope!<\/p>\n \u201cHow oddly wonderful that God has chosen ordinary folk like us to help take back the world,\u201d Stenberg said in closing. \u201cThy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,\u201d Stenberg said, reciting the familiar words of the Lord\u2019s Prayer. \u201cLead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Deliver us from evil until that day when the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.<\/p>\n \u201cUntil then, in this meantime, we live, we work, we preach, we testify as apprentices in God\u2019s kingdom, listening to the words of Jesus and making it our hearts\u2019 desire to \u2018Do Them.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n Following the sermon, candidates for ordination and commissioning received bibles and were vested with stoles (center photo), followed by the traditional laying on of hands and prayer.<\/p>\n The ordination service also served as the occasion to formally install Debbie Blue (lower photo) as the first executive minister of the newly formed Department of Compassion, Mercy and Justice, approved by delegates to last year\u2019s Annual Meeting. She assumes her responsibilities September 1.<\/p>\n![\"Vestments\"](\"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/wZ\/JS\/wZJSb1JQrqtloKTzkDRoFA\/ORD-2.jpg\")
\u201cSo, the events in Luke 8 are intense preparation for the mission of being sent out to proclaim in word and deed the presence of the kingdom of God – an obvious connection for our purpose gathered here (ordination). Like prodigal sowers, the disciples are sent to broadcast the precious seed with magnanimous excess. Jesus tells them a parable to assure them that not all preaching and teaching will be fruitful. There will be failures, but some seed will yield profusely. This is the miracle of God\u2019s abundance! The call is to sow the seed.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Blue\"](\"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/5F\/kb\/5FkbZQ_VJ7qc9YI1yfGRXQ\/ORD-3.jpg\")
\u201cAnd they were afraid,\u201d scripture tells us, a fear perhaps born, Stenberg suggests, \u201cout of their dread that Jesus might further disturb their economy. But more likely the fear was the common response to the presence of the holy – the fear that accompanies God\u2019s presence . . . They asked Jesus to leave them, for they were seized with great fear. Fred Craddock observes: \u2018It continues to be a painful part of the education of young ministers to discover that the reign of God has its enemies, that those enemies reside not only over against us, but also within and among us, and that no one is untouched by the conflicts that follow. Being asked to leave by those you seek to help is a pain unlike any other.\u2019<\/p>\n