🐮 Proper 7

Readings: Isaiah 65:1-9; Psalm 22:19-28; Galatians 3:23-29; Luke 8:26-39. 

Transcript

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Isaiah Chapter 65 verses one through nine. I was ready to be sought out by those who did not ask to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, here I am. Here I am to a nation that did not call on my name. I held out my hands all day long to a rebellious people who walk in a way that is not good following their own devices. A people who provoked me to my face continually sacrificing in gardens and offering incense on bricks who sit inside tombs and spend the night in secret places who eat the flesh of pigs with broth of abominable things in their vessels who say, keep to yourself. Don't come near me for I'm too holy for you. These are a smoke in my nostrils. A fire that burns all day long. See it is written before me. I'll not keep silent, but I'll repay. I will indeed repay into their laps, their iniquities and their ancestors iniquities together, says the Lord, because they offered incense on the mountains and reviled me on the hills. I'll measure into their laps full PA for their actions. Thus, says the Lord. As the wine is found in the cluster and they say, do not destroy it for there is a blessing in it. So I'll do for my servant's sake and not destroy them all. I'll bring forth descendants from Jacob and from Judah inheritors of my mountains. My chosen shall inherit it, and my servant shall settle there. Psalm 22 verses 19 through 28, but you oh Lord, do not be far away. Owe my help come quickly to my aid. Deliver my soul from the sword, my life, from the power of the dog. Save me from the mouth of the lion, from the horns of the wild oxen you have rescued me. I'll tell of your name to my brothers and sisters in the midst of the congregation. I'll praise you. You who fear the Lord. Praise her. All you offspring of Jacob glorify him. Stand in awe of her all you offspring of Israel. For, she did not despise or ab bore the affliction of the afflicted. He did not hide his face from me, but I heard, but heard when I cried to her. From from you comes my praise in the great congregation. My vows, I will pay before those who fear him. The poor shall eat and be satisfied. Those who seek them shall praise the Lord. May our hearts live forever. All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord and all the families of the nation shall worship before them. For Dominion belongs to the Lord and they rule over the nations. Galatians chapter three, verses 23 through 29. Now, before faith came, we were imposed and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore, the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came so that we might be reckoned as righteous by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian. For in Christ Jesus, you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as we're baptized into Christ, have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek. There's no longer slave or free. There's no longer male and female. For all of you are one in Christ, Joshua, and if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs, according to the promise. The Gospel of Luke chapter eight, verses 26 through 39. Then they arrived at the region of the Garrisons, which is opposite Galilee as he stepped out on shore, a man from the city who had demons, met him for a long time. He had not worn any clothes and he did not live in a house, but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him shouting at the top of his voice. What do you have to do with me? Joshua's son of the most high God, I beg you, do not torment me. For Joshua had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For many times it seized him. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds. Jesus then then asked him, what's your name? He said Legion, for many demons had entered him. They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss. Now, there on the hillside, a large herd of swine was feeding, and the demons begged Joshua to let them enter these, so he gave them permission. Then the demons came outta the man and entered the swine and the herd stampeded down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. When the swine herd saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and the country. Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Joshua, they found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Joshua clothed and in his right mind, and they became frightened. Those who had seen it, told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. Then the whole throng of people of the surrounding region of the garrisons asked Joshua to leave them for they were seized with great fear. So he got in the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone and begged that he might be with him. But Joshua sent him away saying, go home and declare how much God has done for you. So he went away proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him. This reflection this morning is going to have some offensive language, but it's appropriate language. Anyone who may not be prepared to hear obscenities may not want to listen to this episode, but if you do, feel free to cancel me. I'm not here for influence. I'm here for the truth, and sometimes the truth is painful. That being said, good morning and welcome to Proper seven. This is Brother Logan Isaac, broadcasting from Albany, Oregon. This morning's readings come to us from Isaiah 65, Psalm 22, Galatians three, and Luke eight, and I've, I was dumbstruck when I read the first line from Isaiah 65. I was ready to be sought out by those who did not ask to be found by those who did not seek me, Isaiah, or whoever's writing this, this is in third Isaiah. Um, I, I, I, I get, I, I feel you. Isaiah. I am a combat veteran. I went to a war that was not popular and not just, and I came home unwilling to remain silent about it. And for a while that was popular. That was, that worked for people, but people tired of hearing the same old thing even as they were doing the same old thing. And I even find myself now as we're maybe on the brink of war with Iran thinking and feeling and experiencing and remembering the same old thing. And I know that many people in the public don't want to hear the thing I have to say, the thing I've been saying for 20 years. And it isn't that war is wrong. It isn't that. You know, violence is bad. It's, it's something deeper than that, and that is what I, that is why I think that. Veterans, and particularly combat veterans are a prophetic voice in America that has been silenced and ignored and pushed out of the way. And when veterans or any human being has something within them that must get out and is not allowed to get out, the darkness starts creeping in the meaninglessness, uh, the nothingness, the. Inability of a community to speak openly and honestly about itself is a very difficult, uh, harmful, painful, um. A situation to be in. And this is where the prophets continually found themselves. And by the way, there's this phrase, the prophet's death that we think means assassination. Even Jesus says, you know, they killed the prophets before them. You know, the, the jerusalemites, it's actually not true. Jeremiah watched the destruction of Jerusalem and died in exile. Isaiah died of old age. Elijah was taken up into heaven. Like most of the prophets weren't killed. That is not what the prophet's death is. The prophet's death is living in a world that denies the very existence of the voice and presence and activity of God, and that's a scary place to be in when you feel that you have something that the universe has put on your soul and you're told to shut up so that everybody can have their comfortable life. We will never understand military suicide until we are willing to face the fact that we have treated military families with indignity. And I mentioned language at the top of the episode. There's this reflection at least, and I'm, I'm getting there. But remember that prophetic social location, um, the prophet knows that there's something that needs to be done. And trustworthy prophets, wise, prophets know that the community is not going to want to hear it. So you've gotta find a parabolic way to communicate the, the gravity of what a community is doing and the importance for repentance for getting back in the natural flow of the universe. And sometimes, and Jesus is, uh, the, the model for all prophets. Joshua, Jesus. Same. Same person, um, or his, his native tongue. His name is Joshua. And sometimes I slip back and forth. I try and remind people and I try and say, Joshua, but I've gotta create a new Bible that replaces Jesus, which is a fourth century construction from Jerome, with Joshua, which is who is the military leader, and one of the earliest composed tales of the Hebraic of the Hebrew Bible. Joshua Judges, the Deutero code. Those are some of the earliest. Uh, lessons. Even the, the oldest parts of the Bible, judges four and five with Deborah, Ja, Cicero, and Barack, like war and violence and its use for restoring justice have been in the Bible from the beginning. And I, as an American, live in a, a society of unclean lips. I live in a world that does not want and refuses to accommodate itself to hear. From those who have done violence on our behalf, that's exactly the position that the, that Joshua Christ inhabits Joshua forces us to remember the military commander and assistant of Moses Joshua, the high priest from Ezra. Nehemiah fills in other parts of the Christ's function, but I wanna talk about the military, Joshua. Um, because if you are an a, a, a light skinned Anglo. Uh, individual believer, and you don't want to think about how the colonialism got us the privilege we got. You will never know God because you'll never be able to face the problems of your own history, your own past, because you won't, you can't repent from something you refuse to look at. But I digress. When we get into the New Testament, um, it, uh. In Luke eight, the, the, the Garrison Democ, Garrison being a region, the democ being another word for saying someone is unwell. Their, their soul is possessed, has been taken over by something. We can call it mental illness. We can call it demon possession. Both, both turns of phrase are the exact same thing. 20th century, 21st century. That's mental illness is the proper nomenclature. But for the first century, it was possessed with demons. But look at what the demons and the possessed man want to do. And I can't remember where it happens earlier. I think it's in Isaiah, but I could not. Anyway, there's somewhere where, um. The evil or the, or the bad thing or the prophet, which says things that are uncomfortable and we assume they're bad, wants to get away. Do not come near me for, I'm too holy for you. 65, 5. Um, no. The, the, the, the society, the high priests in Jerusalem say to Isaiah, don't come near us. We, the high priesthood, the the temple economy. We are too holy for you. You are profane. Right. That is Isaiah interpreting the temple economy as, as rejecting Isaiah, as Joshua. The Christ says that the exact same thing. You rejected. You killed the prophets. You silenced them. Feigned ignorance. We're pretending we don't hear you. La la, la, la, la, la, la. That's what the prophet's death is trying to turn the prophet away from doing the prophet's job. So in Luke, what does the, what does the town do when the, when the demon possessed person, um, is possessed, he goes away. He lives where the dead are living. He finds no comfort in society. Um, and when he is driven out, oh, in, in eight 20 verse 29, there's this. Line that doesn't appear in all the most in manuscripts for many times that it seized him, he was kept under guard and bound with change and shackles. But he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds. So the, this individual, the quote unquote demoniac, when he's free, he flees society. He is a reminder that society is not desirable. That when he loses his agency and he's totally free or totally uninhibited, he gets the fuck outta Dodge. And instead of leaving him the fuck alone, they chase after him and they lock him up and they bring him back into society. And that this is not the most common reading of the Democ, but it's clearly at, at least in this added, uh, subtext. Um, in verse 27, it says that he lives out in the, the graveyard, which is not in the city center, but e even if you don't believe that verse 29 should have that extra line or two. Verse 27 says the same thing. Here's this guy who we don't like and who doesn't like us. Surely we must be likable. He exists as a reminder of our own incompleteness, our own unsatisfactoriness. And we don't like feeling like we're less than perfect. We don't like feeling like we're less than God's. This is all the way back to the Tower of Babylon. Let's make a name for ourselves so everybody can see us, and everybody can confirm our own confirmation bias, which is we are, we are good even though our fruit is bitter and rotten. And I said language at the top of the, uh, reflection because there's a name for this in American English. The Democ is a nigger. Now, many of you will have certain implications in your mind and images in your mind, what that means of human bodies hanging from trees, whether that's in the cross formation or the branch of a fucking oak tree. The democ is a nigger. Jesus, the Christ is a nigger. If you want to be a a Christian, if you want to be like Christ, you better come to terms with what it means to be a nigger. And here's my theory. There's people in, in Rome, there were personas they had, those were people with legal standing. And in America, we're all persons, we're all equal before the law. We all are supposed to have legal standing. And now we have an administration that's coming in that's reminding us. Of precisely what is real in our society and all that is real is the power that the top can wield against the bottom. We are supposed to have inalienable rights. If you find yourselves on our shore, you have rights, and yet what does it take to take those away? But the change of power, one flavor of oligarchy is more. Uh, open to our ideals as Americans and another flavor of oligarchy is not, but the truth is there. So there are persons then in the most class societies, there's the s class. You call it the workers if you're marks or the laboring class or the workers, if also if you're Catholic worker with Dorothy Day and Peter Morin. But there's something even below. Workers and there's there, there's a couple things Below workers, there's slaves who don't get paid for their work, who don't have legal standing. All they're expected to do is to work, work, work, work, work. Slavery is eating the fruit of another person's labor and watching them starve. That's slavery. That is what military families have in this world today. They do the work for freedom and they have their freedom taken away from them. They do not get rights. If you don't believe me, go to gi justice.com. There's something below slaves, and that is niggers. Niggers are the people or the the, they are the scapegoat. They are the things that you refuse. To acknowledge as human or in any way relatable. Their very existence is an offense to you and your kind. You are not satisfied with them being gone. You have to drag their ass back into town and show everybody exactly what you do to people that you don't want to even exist. That is what they did to the Christ. That is what they did to Mary's son Joshua. He was a bastard son who claimed to be a child of God. Fuck him. We know God. We can see him right there in this temple. Herod's temple in John. Their explicit, the temple's only been there 46 years. It's Herod's temple, not Joshua's temple. Not Abel's Temple. And not Za Docker's. Solomon's temple. Herod's Temple. Society has changed guards out from under the Israelites. Their own method of meaning, their system of meaning, their own language has been taken from them. They must learn Greek and Latin if they really want to, you know, go anywhere in life. But if you're unwilling to be a slave, if you're unwilling to just sit in your closet in the darkness, if you dare open that closet to poke your head out, someone's gonna try and put a cross hair on your forehead. That is what being a nigger is, and that is what America did to African Americans. That is what almost every system of power will do to reminders of the absolute frailty of human power. The prophets remind humanity that they are weak. The prophets remind anybody who is within earshot that they aren't the top rung on the ladder. They don't have to be the bottom rung, but you're not the top and people who need to be on the top, that reminder is offensive. That's entitlement. That is what we have today. If it's, it's a different form of the same old lie that some people just. Work harder. They have more money. They have more money because they work harder. Lie Some people just deserve more because they're more, you know, disadvantaged. No, not exactly. It's closer, but not exactly. If all people are truly free, as we in America want to believe, or if all people should truly be free, what do we do with those people who want to be more free than others? What do we do when humble confidence with power is not enough for those who are tasked in a demi democratic republic with having both power and responsibility? What do we do with the people who only want power and don't want responsibility? I don't know the answer to that. I don't think we need to know the answer to that. The answer that we need to know is what do we do with niggers? Do we hunt them down? Or do we open our doors? Do we hide them so that they might live to speak another day? That they might live another day to remind the world of the absolute depravity of power. What you do with niggers is what you'll do with Jesus will rename them, you'll remake them. You'll put lipstick on a pig and send it off into. The drink because what does the demon want to do every time when this person, this human being is overcome, all they wanna do is get away. And all society wants to do is drag that person back in to destroy the reminder of its own fallibility. So finally the release comes when the person is separated from the powers and the powers are allowed to flee. Uh, corruption. I don't. One, this passage is, it also appears in Mark five, and this, this narrative about the demoniac is so rich with meaning. Um, it's a different land. It's not Judea or Samaria. It's over on the eastern side of the Galilee. And it's people, it's a commercial threat. It's just like with Lydia or, or I'm sorry, act 16 and the, the woman who was prophesying that followed Saul and Silas. They were monetizing prophecy, and when pa, Saul and Silas broke that transaction, they sought Saul and Silas out. They imprisoned him because commerce is king. It was not language, it's commerce, it's industry, it's technology. But what do we do with those reminders of our incompleteness? Do we hunt them down in pursuit of the lie that we are complete, that we are whole, apart from the universe, the, uh, apart from God, apart from our neighbor, or do we open our, our doors, open our ears so that they don't have to open their wrists?