by Rev. Eric Folkerth and Dr. John Thornburg

I’m grateful to my friend John Thornburg for stepping in as preacher last Sunday. As you may have heard, we had livestream problems. That means some of you missed being able to hear John’s powerful message. The text was the troubling passage about a man healed by Jesus and a herd of pigs that rush off the side of a cliff.

Below is an extended excerpt, picking up John’s sermon at a point where he suggests what the text means for us.

It’s a very good word to us all in these days…EF

WHEN JESUS ASKS, “WHAT IS YOUR NAME?”
Dr. John Thornburg
KPUMC, June 19, 2022
Luke 8: 26-39

Now comes the turn in the story.  The news of the pigs’ death march reached the surrounding towns, and the people quickly gathered.  They found the man from whom the demons had gone out sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed, and calm.  Only four other individuals are named in the Gospels as sitting at Jesus’ feet.  It turns out that “What is your name?” was the right question to ask.  The possessed man heard Jesus asking, “Who are you when you are not oppressed?  What do you hope for?”  It turns out that the possessed man heard Jesus’ question as an expression of love.

This is not a story about demon possession.  This is a story about Jesus’ ability to look someone in the face as if no one else in the world is more important at that moment.  This is a story about how unconditional love sparked the healing process for a tortured man.  All the stuff about the pigs is the embellishment of an over-zealous Gospel writer who just wanted us to be excited about what happens when Jesus shows up.

This is the Jesus I love; the one who asks “What is your name?”  This is the Jesus who knows precisely who needs his presence.  This is the Jesus whose love changes everything; the Jesus who is the hope of our world.  The heroes and heroines of progressive Christianity, like Martin Luther King, Jr., Oscar Romero, Dorothy Day, Mother Theresa, and Desmond Tutu, have at least one thing in common; they looked to Jesus to provide the inspiration for their activism.  Jesus was their hero.

Jesus is our source and our strength, our beacon.  His challenging, searching questions to the disciples centuries ago are just as motivational and inspirational to us today if we will have this active dialogue with stories like this.  When we ask, “What was the look on Jesus’ face as he spoke to the tortured man?,” we are simultaneously asking, “What is the look on Jesus’ face as he speaks to me, and what is he saying, and to what is he calling me?”  It’s even better when we have this intense encounter with the Bible with others so we can grow together and encourage each other.

The Bible is a different document every time we open it, and every time we open it, it demands that we make a decision.  Is love of God and neighbor our sole aim, or are we in it for ourselves?  Did Jesus’ death and resurrection free us for joyful obedience to the way of love, or did it just assure us that we have a ticket to heaven?

Much is at stake.  Contrary to those whose voices dominate the airwaves, Jesus did not write the Second Amendment, and so it is our wonderful privilege and responsibility to acquaint people with stories like this one.  It’s time for us to narrate (and live out) the Sermon on the Mount to folks whose only recent reading has been about who they should be afraid of, who they should blame for America’s problems, and why God has chosen America to receive special favor.

“What is your name?”  It was Jesus’ question to the tortured man.  It’s Jesus’ question to us.  By what name do you want to be known?