Sermon Notes

Reclothed…And In A Rightful Mind

The Fifth Sunday After Pentecost The Reverend Mark Pruitt

Luke 8:26-39

Jesus and his disciples arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, "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 rushed 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 were afraid. Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country 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 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.

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In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and in the Gospel read from today, Luke, Jesus is shown to be the Lord over nature, when he first calms the raging wind and waves of the sea;and then, in sequence, shown to be Lord over the powers that destroy, and diminish, and divide humanity when he heals the raging demoniac, (known as the Gerasene demoniac), and brings him out of his troubled and turbulent state and restores him—we hear—to his “rightful mind.” He is “clothed and in his rightful mind.”

This phrase has made it into that quietly powerful hymn, which many of you know, and which often makes the list of best-loved Anglican hymns, Dear Lord and Father of Mankind: Dear Lord and Father of mankind, forgive our foolish ways, re-clothe us in our rightful mind, in purer lives our service find, in deeper reverence praise.”We will sing that today. And I take some encouragement that Dan has chosen this hymn without my mention of it; and I mentioned it not knowing that it would be a communion hymn.

It’s a good hymn to sing and a good prayer to pray, whether we sing it or say it, every day: “Put me in my right mind, O Lord. Give me, O Lord, clearer vision, right thinking, a sober and sane vision of how things are. Overcome my distorted and biased vision. Give me (one of the prayers of the church says) right judgement in all things.” I pray in that way and often find myself saying something like “I’m not out of my mind, but I don’t see things right, do I, Lord? Help me to see! Help me to see past this disappointment that is clouding my vision. Help me to slow down because by busyness is preventing me from seeing the real needs of others—emotional, financial, relational—that I have some responsibility to meet. Help to get a clear reading of things despite my displeasure with the state of affairs.”

Let’s circle around this phrase this morning---reclothe us in our rightful mind—and put to one side some of things that might have to be addressed in a forum with more time to explore, for instance, the ecological issue of fair treatment to animals raised by the ending of the story for the herd of pigs, which go over the cliff. And let’s admit that we cannot do justice here to the historicalissue of the first century the understanding of demons and Jesus’ understanding of them and how that might relate to modern, neurological understandings of the human psyche. This sermon treats none of that, nor, I’ll confess, is this an explicitly a Father’s Day sermon-- unless it occurs to us (as I hope it does) that there is hardly a better gift we can give to our children than showing our own teachability. Modeling coachability, showing others that we are pliable in God’s hands, willing to learn, and to seek truth, humble enough to ask for wisdom day by day, week by week, and to let the gospel be one’s chief tutor . . .this is a great gift, and it’s intended by the gospel’s claim that our minds need to be renewed, all the time.

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So, the SUBJECT or TOPIC of my sermon is indeed, the renewal of our minds under the tutelage of the gospel. This tutoring is how God reclothes us in our rightful minds.The OBJECT of this sermon is, well, it’s you…..and you…..and you….and me, too!….the object is to impress upon us the importance of participation in weekly worship, the requirement of prayer and study, so the Word can do it’s work not just of strengthening our willpower…but renewing and reshaping our minds. Did you notice that we prayed today at the outset not just for God’s help…everyone will take that! We also prayed for God’s governance. Because the mind is the control tower, in many respects, of our lives, our minds have to come into conformity with the truth.

Have you ever wondered how much money we spend on renewing or pampering our bodies? We take baths, and hot showers, and we work out. And some of us go to spas, and some do aromatherapy, and who knows what else, for bodily refreshment and rejuvenation. Well, what about the control tower of our bodies. Our minds! We should know that they need help, too.

So, once again, my topic is renewal of the mind, and my method is to turn our attention to the simple truth that preaching and teaching was one of the chief characteristics of Jesus’ life and ministry. God made us reflective, rational beings. We need truth, we seek truth, and, in Christ, we have been shown, taught truth, or truths, about ourselves and God the creator. Because Jesus’ taught all along the line, we have to say that the Gerasene Demoniac wasn’t the first, nor the last person Jesus clothed in his rightful mind.Jesus gave light not just to the blind – the physically blind – but light also to the mind. And he still does. He gives new sight corrected vision because we don’t see things as they really are. We have imperfect vision in our ethics, our relationships, and our view of God. And of ourselves.

On one of our summer trips, I remember a couple eager for their summer picnic waiting at a counter of a store we would stop at routinely on our trip. The lone clerk was having a hard time meeting all the demands. But the couple seemed blind to this. They could only see their order, their need, and derisively and rudely they said mockingly to the beleaguered clerk “Well, you’re really knocking yourself out.” In comparison to this, an old friend of mine, a philosophy teacher at WheatonCollege, Mark Coppenger, tells a similar but different story of a food counter. Mark went on to be the president of Midwestern Baptist Seminary in Kansas City, but when he lived in Chicago he went to the arena to see Michael Jordan play. At halftime, the concession lines were long and the vendors were running out of food. And the customers weren’t happy. And they were rude and complaining…except for one woman. Mark noticed how tranquil and pleasant she remained. She was patient and didn’t join in the muttering. So he went to her as the queue moved forward and asked her “Are you a Christian?” (See, I told you he was a Baptist because we Episcopalians are not so forward!) And she said, “Sanctified!” (We aren’t that straightforward, either! Maybe we should be.)

Were those people—the couple in the first instance, and the crowd in the second—“out of their minds”? Well, no. Not as we normally use the term, but they weren’t clothed in their right minds, certainly not clothed with the mind of Christ. They certainly weren’t humanity at its—at our—most gracious, winsome selves.

Small instances of small mindedness. There are, of course, other things on our minds that cause us greater trouble. The whole country, and world, has been shocked by the terrible tragedy in Orlando. And in Great Britain, a single murder, of a remarkable woman who promoted the political position of Great Britain staying in the European union was murdered for holding that position. That caused a similar shock. And what both events have in common is that, whatever derangement was involved, whatever disaffection existed, both have this in common: they hated. There was a great measure of hate in their hearts, and by that hate, blinded, out of their rightful minds.

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If we were to review Jesus’ ministry in the collective account of Mark, Matthew, and Luke, up to the story we heard today, we would find Jesus addressing hatred, not solely as a feature of the herd or mob mentality that whips people into a frenzy. Nor in terms of demoniac possession, but as it exists simmering under the surface of daily life, a commonplace in the everyday world of work and family and social interaction. Jesus warns people about nursing anger: be careful it will overcome you, it will master you. He says that whoever calls his brother a fool in anger is close to hell. He says that the law taught his hearers “not to murder” but went on to say “but I say to you whoever nurses anger will come into judgment.” His warnings were meant to expose our condition, our wrong thinking and wrong acting.

In Chapter 4 of Luke, Jesus resists temptation, showing us, among other things, that we don’t have to cave into temptation. But my mind doesn’t always tell me that. In fact, it presents arguments for the other side. In that same chapter, Jesus says that the promises of God are coming to fulfillment in him—God is doing a radical new thing. But my mind often convinces itself that there is nothing new under the sun, or that God is asleep. In Chapter 5, Jesus forgive sins. Yet I often ruminate on my sins and don’t believe I am really forgiven. And conflicted creature that I am sometimes I accept forgiveness—whew!what a relief, I am forgiven. But I fail to accept the commission that comes with forgiveness to love more, to be more tender, not less. This was the subject of last week’s gospel lesson, Mary Magdalene loving more because she knew the range of her waywardness.

We create cathedrals, land on the moon, bring out the potential of the creation in the arts, and solve mysteries through science and the pursuit of knowledge. So much has been given to us. So much. No wonder an advertising group came up with the slogan in the 1960’s (to promote college education for minorities) “A Mind Is A Terrible Thing to Waste.”

And yet, it can all go wrong. In ways that we see on the news, and in ways we see in our little circles of social interaction, or introspection. The renewal of the mind is a terrible thing to waste, is what I would say, the renewal of the mind under the tutelage of the gospel. I long for the day when we say to the world, “We believe the gospel of Christ not just because it’s helpful but because it’s true. And we say it’s true, not out of a superiority complex, but so that we can trust God, this God, in life, for authentic, loving lives, as death approaches.”

We wouldn’t turn down the gift of a new set of clothes. We wouldn’t turn down if we were students help with a difficult problem in physics or algebra. And even more certainly we would turn down wisdom for living in a way that would help us enjoy relationships more deeply, help us repair them when they break down, and help us to strengthen them day by day. This last thing is exactly what the gospel holds out to us. Thanks to God’s great goodness, week by week, the Word does it’s work, because we wander away, we “leave the God we love”. Let’s not pretend otherwise, but insteas let’s yearn to be reclothed in our rightful minds. Let ask for truth, and seek it. Let’s ask for God’s clarity and purity and singleness of mind. And trust, really trust, that this is being given to us.

Prayer: Strengthen us with your Holy Spirit, O Lord, that seeing the truth through your grace, we may by your grace, live in that truth and desire the truth with our whole hearts, and souls, and minds. Amen.

About this publication: Many have asked for written copies of our sermons. Sermon Notesis a response to that request from one of our preachers, Mark Pruitt. These notes that: the written notes, typed in advance of the sermon that shape the sermon eventually delivered—usually with some divergence, condensation, or expansion, from this written form. Often the sermon may be quite different in outline and presentation from these notes, though not so much in content. Generally, theses notes will be (ideally, anyhow) more polished and flowing as befits written expression, while the sermon will aim, as it should, for more connectivity through personal address. In either form, our sermons at St. Paul’s strive to promote wise reflection on biblical themes and texts, issue calls to discipleship and intentional growth in God’s grace and mission, and embody the confidence (even when it sometimes takes the form of questioning and searching) that God speaks to us in the here and now.

he Reverend Mark J. Pruitt, Rector

Reclothed…And In A Rightful Mind

1361 W. Market Street ◊ Akron, Ohio44313 ◊ Telephone 330-836-9327 ◊

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