22 January 2011

22 January 2011

Psalm 30, 32; Isa. 46:1-13; Eph. 6:10-24; Mark 5:1-20

The Lord calls the people to remember. Remembering is an important part of our worship. It is not only forward looking though that, too, is a form of remembering as it is looking forward with eyes of faith and hope in the promises of the Lord. Remembering what He had done for them in all the events of Israel’s history was the means of remembering who they were because of what He had done for them. They were the redeemed, they were the only nation on earth He had created, they were beloved, they were the covenant people, the chosen nation. They were who they were simply because He said so and did what was necessary to accomplish it. They could recall that it was not the might of their armies that brought them out of Egypt, that sustained them with food and drink in the wilderness, or that conquered the land, it was the Lord Himself. We remember the cross and know that we are who we are because of what He did. We remember so that we might worship and we remember so that we might walk humbly before our God.

There is no reason given that Jesus might have gone to this place. Most Jews, in fact, avoided it completely. It seems that there is only one reason Jesus went, this man. We are told nothing else that He did there, so He must have gone to heal and save this man from his terrible existence. From a Jewish, ceremonial perspective, this is a nightmare. He is a man possessed by demons, living in a gentile land, in the tombs among the dead, bleeding from self-inflicted wounds, and there are pigs nearby. No Jew would ever conceive of going into this place as they would be unfit for community for a very long time, not to mention there is no reason to have gone as they could have done nothing to help. Jesus, however, cleans up the entire picture and is not defiled. This scene is different in one striking way, Jesus instructs this man to go and tell. In other healings we see among the Jews He tells them to be quiet and tell no one. Here and with the Samaritan woman in John 4 Jesus does not forbid them to tell. The only difference is that this is His one and only foray into this territory, the only testimony will be theirs. Our testimony is always to the grace God has shown us.

Paul tells us not to be strong in ourselves but in the strength of the Lord and instructs us to prepare for some serious warfare, not against flesh and blood but against the devil, powers and principalities. For that warfare we need some different weapons than fighting earthly battles. We need weapons and defenses that are designed specifically for spiritual warfare. We need: truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation and the Word of God. We also need to keep in close contact with the commander through prayer, our communications device. We need these things to remember: who is our enemy, that we have weapons with which to wage the battle other than simply our wits, and that we are not alone in the fight. Finally, we need to recall that the battle belongs to the Lord who has saved us and will save us.

I will extol you, O LORD, for you have drawn me up

and have not let my foes rejoice over me.

O LORD my God, I cried to you for help,

and you have healed me.

O LORD, you have brought up my soul from Sheol;

you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.

Sing praises to the LORD, O you his saints,

and give thanks to his holy name.