Tag: jesus christ

The Healing of the Demoniac (Luke 8:26-39)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
Mosaic of the exorcism of the Gerasene demoniac from the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, 6th century C.E.

Then they arrived at the region of the Gerasenes, 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, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me,” for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had 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 asked him, “What is 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 Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd stampeded down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, 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 Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. 

The man from whom the demons had gone out begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return to your 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. (New Revised Standard Version)

Jesus exorcising the Gerasene demoniac, from the Hitda Codex

Jesus came to this earth to deliver people from all obstacles that gets in the way between us and God, so that humanity may freely connect with the divine, each other, and creation.

Whether it was in the synagogue, in public, in private, in a Jewish community, or in Gentile territory, Christ’s ministry was marked by healing people. He did this so that people could (re)attach themselves to the neighborhood, to God, and even to themselves.

Today’s Gospel story has Jesus take an unexpected trip across the Sea of Galilee to a foreign place full of non-Jewish persons. It was a place marked by all sorts of ritual impurity, and sorts of Gentile practices which a good Jew would have nothing to do with.

So, it’s no surprise, in a heathen setting, that Christ encountered the demonic in the form of a man riddled with demons to the point of being named “Legion.” This confrontation became a type of wild west shootout between the superhuman tortured man and the divinely filled Son of God.

The confrontation was intense. The atmosphere was charged with anticipation that someone wasn’t going to walk away from this shootout. But Jesus knew what he was doing: Christ was about to breakout a man from a demonic prison; and it would not go well for the demons.

In this remote western town, Jesus ended up performing a most extraordinary miracle. It would take a miracle to free this demonized person from his satanic jailcell. The legion of demons, however, were no match for the singular Son of God. Christ had no problem using his authority to exorcise the demons from the victimized man.

The demons exited the man and entered an entire herd of pigs. The herd then proceeded to destroy themselves in a powerful scene of what the demonic is all about. Yet, rather than acknowledging a divine miracle, those who were tending the pigs went and told the people in the area of how this interloper came along and upset the status quo. Instead of seeing a delivered man, the pig herders could only see dead swine.

As a result of the pig herders report, the folks in nearby towns wanted nothing to do with Jesus. The people begged him to get out of town. Christ purged the region of a significant presence of bad guys, and all the townspeople could do was fear for what might happen.

But despite the townspeople’s and pig herders’ disturbing lack of faith, there was one man who became a committed disciple of Jesus on the spot. The demoniac, now turned new citizen of God’s kingdom, saw Christ for who he was, and immediately discerned to whom he belonged – not the demonic world but the kingdom of heaven.

Although the newly delivered man begged to remain with Jesus, the Lord had another plan for the new disciple. Christ sent him back to his home to proclaim what God had done for him. In doing so, the man would become a powerful witness to God’s power. And, important for the man, old broken familial and community relations could be renewed and restored. The healing would come full circle.

If we bear witness to the works of God, where we are, it will bear fruit – even if it is among folks who may be in opposition to it.

Not even a legion of demons could keep Christ from restoring a tortured person to himself, his family, and his community. And it all happened on the demons’ turf. Nothing can stop the kingdom of God from expanding it’s good reach over all that is evil.

The good news of Christianity is that Jesus has the power to bring life from death. Christ has the ability to put us in a position where we can reconnect with both the human community and the divine realm.

The satanic in this world is not nearly as powerful as God; and the demons are under Christ’s authority. In fact, there is no power on earth (or under the earth) that can overcome the strength of the almighty God. This can be a comforting thought for every Christian.

Anyone afraid of Jesus has not yet discerned that he is inherently good. Ultimate power needs to be seen in the light of ultimate good. Otherwise, a person will walk around much like the demoniac, oppressed in their soul.

Instead, deliverance from the evil which vexes us is possible. For nothing is impossible with God. Whenever and wherever the healed person becomes a healer to others, then we know that the kingdom of heaven is among us.

Hear our prayers, God of power and might. Through the ministry of your Son, free us from the grip of the tomb, so that we may desire you as the fullness of life, and proclaim your saving deeds to all the world in the strength of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Our Help Is In the Name of the Lord (Psalm 124)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment

If it had not been the Lord who was on our side
    —let Israel now say—
if it had not been the Lord who was on our side,
    when our enemies attacked us,
then they would have swallowed us up alive,
    when their anger was kindled against us;
then the flood would have swept us away;
    the torrent would have gone over us;
then over us would have gone
    the raging waters.

Blessed be the Lord,
    who has not given us
    as prey to their teeth.
We have escaped like a bird
    from the snare of the hunters;
the snare is broken,
    and we have escaped.

Our help is in the name of the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth. (New Revised Standard Version)

Today’s Psalm reminds believers of God’s deliverance in the past, so that we will not forget it in the present. If it were not for God, we would be toast. If not for God, none of us would be here; we’d be swallowed up by injustice and death.

Left on our own, and to our own devices, we don’t stand a chance against the oppressive flood of sinful sewage. But with God, there is hope; with God there is deliverance.

The ancient Israelites – and all the Jewish people throughout history – know a great deal of what it feels like to be overwhelmed by their enemies. Antisemitism is nothing new. Unfortunately, it has been around as long as Jews have existed. If some groups had their way, Israel would be wiped off the map.

The psalmist reminds Israel, as well as all of God’s people, of what the Lord has done in the past. Exhibit A of divine deliverance is the Exodus event and passing through the Red Sea to safety. The mighty Egyptians were no match for the God of Israel.

Each year, ever since that seminal deliverance from Israel’s enemies, Jews celebrate Passover, remembering and rehearsing this event of deliverance from the hand of Pharaoh. As pilgrims made their way to Jerusalem for the great Passover feast, they would sing Psalm 124, along with the other Songs of Ascent, giving praise to God for being attentive to their plight of slavery and oppression.

It is more than appropriate to give thanks and bless the Lord for the divine work of deliverance from enemies. God’s people are freed. For the Christian, God in Christ has delivered us from sin, death, and hell; and has made us joint heirs with Jesus.

When this perishable body puts on imperishability and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled:

“Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
“Where, O death, is your victory?
    Where, O death, is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:54-58, NRSV)

Recalling what God has done for us is a powerful part of the believer’s identity. The very Maker of heaven and earth, the Lord God almighty, is our help. It is God who prevails against those who seek to destroy and do harm. The Lord is the One who conquers enemies and makes things right.

The believer puts no trust in the power of weapons or in being the strongest. God is acknowledged as the true Deliverer from even the most formidable of foes, despite any power of the unjust.

In Christianity, Christ’s redemptive events of cross and resurrection has triumphed and won the victory over the powerful enemies of death, destruction, and the devil. Praising and singing to God is helpful and needed.

We all need help – not just sometimes but all the time. If we feel as if things are going pretty well for us, that only means we have just come out of a difficult time, or that we are about to undergo some enemy vitriol.

I wish we didn’t have to contend with selfish boneheads who only think of themselves all the time. But we do. And I wish we never needed to go through such hard times that grind us into the ground. Yet it happens.

However, we are not alone. We have a Champion, an Advocate, and One who has gone before us as the Pioneer of our salvation.

He has raised up a mighty savior for us
    in the house of his child David,
as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
    that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us. (Luke 1:69-71, NRSV)

Jesus did for us what we could do for ourselves. He willingly and deliberately let all evil exhaust itself on him, so that there is no enemy left to condemn us.

Enemies may still be around, but they are toothless. We may yet be like birds vulnerable to a trap, but the snare has been broken. All our enemies are powerless. We are free. Thanks be to God!

Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. Amen.

Trinity Sunday (John 16:12-15)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
Holy Trinity, by Andrei Rubley

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” (New Revised Standard Version)

Trinity Sunday is an annual celebration on the Christian Calendar which focuses intentionally on the mystery, power, and beauty of the triune God – Father, Son, and Spirit. All three persons of the Holy Trinity exist together in eternal love, harmony, and unity with each other as one God.

This day is much more than a doctrinal and theological affirmation. It is a reminder that our theological impulses are to have movement toward union with this triune God, to participate in the Divine dance of the Trinity.

The Christian life is oriented toward the Trinity. Christianity is a path, a road, a journey with God. It is a pilgrimage of the soul that demands our time, effort, and courage.

In other words, we are meant to experience God as Father, Son, and Spirit, rather than merely acknowledging the Trinity. Not only are we to know God; we are designed to feel at the core of our being the existential presence of God. What’s more, the Holy Trinity participates within the Godhead to help make that happen within us.

The Trinity we see in the Gospel of John is a presentation of God’s love for us. A gracious window is opened to the mystery of the one God in three persons. This allows us to see and feel that this trinitarian love holds us in a Divine embrace.

In Christ’s Farewell Discourse (John chapters 13-17) love is the dominant theme. Love is what Jesus wanted to leave with his disciples, and to remind them that all things are to be said and done with love. Christ promised the giving of the Spirit as a gift of love, so that we will learn to love ourselves and others.

There is eternal love, unity, and harmony continually flowing from the Father who sent the Son for us and for our deliverance, and from the Spirit who dwells with us in an abiding presence of love. Together the Father, Son, and Spirit develops us as lovers, loving the world just as God does.

The heavenly Father holds us in love so that we will hold the world in love.

Jesus the Son comes among us and reassures us of Divine love so that we will bring love to the world.

The Spirit guides us into the truth of love so that we will display love for one another in front of the world.

As Christians bravely, patiently, and calmly walk the road of the Christian life, they grow more and more in love with God, and therefore, more in love with the world that God loves so much.

There is an interaction between the Father and the Son marked by truth and love. Jesus graciously invites the believer into this conversation. In addition, the Spirit instructs us so that our speech and behavior will emulate the love which always takes place within the Trinity.

The reality of the Holy Trinity helps us experience and feel that God is for us; God is with us; and God is in us.

Sometimes we get hung up on the timing of things. We want what we want now. We don’t understand why God isn’t coming to our rescue. We wonder if God is even around because of this crud-encrusted planet we live on with all of its natural disasters and human destruction.

Yet, let’s keep in mind that the triune God has forever existed. God is constant. Father, Son, and Spirit are continually working in the immediacy of the now. We have been offered Living Water, but the water pouring forth now is not the same as what came before and what is to come – just as the water in a river flows by us, having come from somewhere downstream, and going somewhere else.

Time is irrelevant. All we have is the now. When we hold on to the past and/or have anxiety about the future, we are failing to live in the present. And in this very moment, the triune God is present with you, is in you, and is for you. Live in the now, and not so much in the has been and the not yet.

God only becomes real to us when I am. Then, the great “I AM” is able to dwell with the little “I am” of me in the present tense of now.

Because God is God, there will always be a mystery, because trying to understand the Holy Trinity – the great Three in One – shall forever elude us. We have not been called to understand God; we are called right now to submit to the unfolding of what God wants to reveal to us.

The triune God has shown us that within the Trinity there exists perfect love, harmonious unity, infinite beauty, and great goodness. As people created in the image of this God, we have the capacity to pursue these very same qualities. With God’s enablement, we can be a source of light and hope to a world which needs an experience of Divine love and truth.

God of heaven and earth, before the foundation of the universe and the beginning of time you are the triune God: the Author of creation; the eternal Word of salvation; and the life-giving Spirit of wisdom.

Guide us, O God, to all truth by your Spirit, so that we may proclaim all that Christ revealed and rejoice in the glory he shared with us. Glory and praise to you – Father, Son, and Spirit – now and forever. Amen.

Day of Pentecost (John 14:8-17, 25-27)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment

Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 

“Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, but if you do not, then believe because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him because he abides with you, and he will be in you….

“I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” (New Revised Standard Version)

The Christian observance of Pentecost is much more than a date on the calendar or a cognitive belief about the Holy Spirit. Pentecost is a powerful reality for believers to be aware of and to live into.

The symbols used to communicate this reality are the elements of wind and fire. They each have incredible potential for both help and harm, life and death. Tornadoes and wildfires bring awful destruction, whereas flame and wind power are necessary elements for life.

There is power in the Spirit. The Spirit of God dismantles and rearranges our lives to make something different or new altogether.

When the Spirit gets involved, nothing is the same again.

The Spirit upsets the status quo, brings energy and ability, heals broken lives, and establishes a truly egalitarian society. The New Testament knows the Christian as one given wholly to the Spirit in order to accomplish the will of God on this earth.

Therefore, this time of the year is hugely significant. Christians attune themselves to Holy Time because it is the age of the Spirit, the blessed opportunity of Pentecostal life and power. 

Jesus promised us an Advocate, the Spirit, and the era of the Spirit is here. We enjoy the very same Holy Spirit as our spiritual ancestors in the faith. This gives us great confidence and security knowing that the Spirit’s enablement, guidance, and power is available to us.

Pentecost flings every single believer into a congregational whole, the church, and lets us know that we are not to be rugged individualists acting alone, but are part of the Body of Christ.   

The Spirit uses us to forge spiritual bonds of kinship, fellowship, and solidarity.  Pentecost throws disparate people together in a unified whole, made up of every kind of language, nationality, ethnicity, gender, and race. We all use the gifts of the Spirit given to us for the benefit of building up one another.

Pentecost and the presence of the Spirit opens up the greatest of possibility in seeing our true selves emerge, and experiencing what is false melt away.

For most of us, we eventually discover that our egos are much thicker and predominant than we realized. And that ego gets in the way of bringing our authentic selves to the world. The Spirit comes along with fire to purify us, and then blows a mighty wind to drive the false self away.

Such true spiritual power helps us discern that issues of power in this world are difficult to deal with because things are not as they appear to be. Operating in the ego, far too many of us puff up ourselves to try and merely appear strong. People who present themselves as large and in charge end up hiding their vulnerabilities and insecurities in favor of keeping up appearances.

Jesus openly talked of real spiritual power, and promised to give the Spirit for our benefit. And Christ laid bear himself, stretching his arms out on a cross in a display of humiliation and degradation – all for us and our deliverance from false power and pesky egos.

If we go looking for earthly power and rely upon worldly power structures, we will likely be as confused as Philip and the other disciples of Jesus. But if we adopt the inner spiritual power provided for us, we find real effective strength which brings us the peace of Christ in any and all circumstances.

Life in the Spirit – spiritual life – happens within the depths of the soul. And it happens when we give up all pretense to alternative power sources, and participate with the Holy Spirit in allowing God to melt all that is false with spiritual fire and blow it all away with spiritual wind.

Pentecost was and is a watershed event. It’s effects are lasting, right up to the present time. Rather than settling for power-substitutes, we can imbibe ourselves of real spiritual power.

Living God, you have created all that is. Send forth your Spirit to renew and restore us, so that we may proclaim your good news in ways and words that everyone will understand and believe. Amen.