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Healed in the Power of the Spirit
Fifth Sunday after Pentecost • June 23, 2013
Healed in the Power of the Spirit By The Rev. Rick Matters
Both Elijah (in First Kings) and the madman (in Luke) are hounded by death. Elijah was hiding because of the death sentence issued by Queen Jezebel. The madman made his home among the dead. Luke’s vivid and dramatic picture of a crazed naked man living in the caves and sleeping among skeletons can serve as a frightening modernistic painting of humankind’s orientation toward death. This orientation toward death is woven through history, and is just as present today. Our orientation to death stimulates that fascination with violence I spoke about last week.
Scripture Lessons Today 1 Kings 19:1-15a Psalm 42 Galatians 3:23-29 Luke 8:26-39
Scripture Lessons for Next Week 1 Kings 19:15-16, 19-21 Psalm 77:1-2,11-20 Galatians 5:1, 13-25 Luke 9:51-62
Whereas Elijah encountered God in the sound of sheer silence, the madman encountered God in Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus did not simply exorcise demons, he reoriented this individual toward “the life that really is life” (1 Timothy 6:619). God’s healing in the power of the Spirit is nothing less than a total reorientation toward life.
Recommended Reading: A Matter of Life and Death, by John V. Taylor By The Rev. Rick Matters
Last week I read another book by John Taylor, the former bishop of Winchester, and today I ordered this one. So I recommend it sight unseen, because the author is insightful, and because the book is composed of five Oxford addresses on the topic of my sermon: embracing life in the power of the Holy Spirit. The publisher writes, “Christians must come alive to the realities of the gospel, through the awareness which is the Holy Spirit’s gift. They must reject everything that is dead and life-destroying, and in mutual interchange and joyful response awaken to the life whose source is the dynamic, living God.” I will read this book soon, so feel free to contact me with comments or questions.