Here We Are

The Rev. Joseph Winston

June 24, 2007

Sermon

Grace and peace are gifts for you from God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.1
Sometimes we have to do things that we do not want to do. While this basic
fact of life holds true for everyone, it always seems like children have more than
their fair share of unpleasant work. Max was no exception. It had been a rough
day at home and he really did not feel like behaving at the dinner table. Because
of his attitude, he was sent to bed without dinner. Instead of me telling his story,
lets hear what Max has to say.

The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind
and another
his mother called him “WILD THING!”
and Max said “I’LL EAT YOU UP!”
1
Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2, Philippians
1:2, 2 Thessalonians 1:2, Philemon 1:3

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so he was sent to bed without eating anything.
That very night in Max’s room a forest grew
and grew –
and grew until his ceiling hung with vines
and the walls became the world all around
and an ocean tumbled by with a private boat for Max
and he sailed off through night and day
and in and out of weeks
and almost over a year
to where the wild things are.
And when he came to the place where the wild things are
they roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth
and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws
till Max said “BE STILL!”
and tamed them with the magic trick
of staring into all their yellow eyes without blinking once
and they were frightened and called him the most wild thing of all
and made him king of all wild things.
“And now,” cried Max, “let the wild rumpus start!”
“Now stop!” Max said and sent the wild things off to bed
without their supper. And Max the king of all wild things was lonely
and wanted to be where someone loved him best of all.
Then all around from far away across the world

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 he smelled good things to eat
so he gave up being king of where the wild things are.
But the wild things cried, “Oh please don’t go –
we’ll eat you up – we love you so!”
And Max said, “No!”
The wild things roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible
teeth
and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws
but Max stepped into his private boat and waved good-bye
and sailed back over a year
and in and out of weeks
and through a day
and into the night of his very own room
where he found his supper waiting for him
and it was still hot.2

The character in today’s Gospel lesson that has to do things that he does not
want to do is the man who is possessed by the daemons. The evil incarnate in him
has literally transformed him from a human into a wild thing.
This change is clearly seen in the text. This monster has no clothes and its
nakedness is a source of shame for everyone. The evil one in this story no longer
has a home but is forced to live among the houses of the dead. The wild thing hurts
2
Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are, (Harper Collins Publishers, 1963 with copyright
renewed in 1991).

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himself and is a constant threat to others. He has even lost the ability to speak.
God’s work in the world is bringing the dead to life. This transformation occurs
right before our eyes when Jesus frees this person from the inhuman situation.
Jesus comes near to this daemon-infested shell of a man and orders the evil to
leave. The legion listens to Christ’s command and is thrown back into the deep
waters of chaos.
Jesus has freed him from what kept him from being fully human and the
change in the man’s appearance is obvious to the entire community. Once again,
he looks just like you and me because he is wearing clothes instead of chains. You
would recognize him as one of your neighbors since he has left the land of the
dead and moved back into a house. He even sounds like everyone else because he
can now speak for himself.
With his newly found voice, he actually begs Jesus to take him away from
this place with all of its bad memories. He does not want to be remembered as
the person formally possessed by a legion of daemons. Do you blame him? It is
nearly impossible for the townspeople to forget his actions and everytime he is
seen in the street someone might recall the way he used to look. Jesus then does
something very strange. Rather than taking this person, who obviously wants to
go with him, Jesus sends him away with this command, “Return to your home,
and declare how much God has done for you.” In other words, Jesus tells this man
to do something that he does not want to do.
This Word of Christ to the man so many years ago has also been given to you
and to me. Jesus has ordered all of us to, “Tell others about the life you have been

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given.” Just like for the man who wanted to go off with Jesus across the lake to a
new home, a new place, and a new life, Jesus has informed us that our mission is
right here. We are to bring God’s life giving message to our family, friends, and
neighbors in our community.
The truth is that we are failing miserably. Look around. The pews are empty.
Unfortunately, our situation here at Trinity Lutheran is not unique. In this com-
munity surrounding us, in our synod, and throughout most of the western world,
the Christian Church is struggling with the problems of declining membership.
We are to blame for this problem. Our thinkers, educators, and leaders for the
past century dramatically reshaped what it meant to be a Christian. They taught us
Christianity was nothing more than being good and attending church on Sunday.
While there is a small kernel of truth in these ideas, the reality is that being
a Christian is a life-long commitment with a major part being the sharing of the
Good News. This is the church’s mission given to her by Christ Himself: Go and
tell others. Our silence is condemning people to death.
The Good News found in today’s Gospel lesson is that Christ sends people
into our specific situation so that they may share with us what God has done in
their lives. All of us have been blessed by hearing God’s Word because someone
some place told us God loved us. This could have been a pastor or it might have
been your mother. It does not matter. God sent that specific person into your life
so that you might be saved. And if you think about it, this witness is a miracle
because this is an unbroken strand that goes all the way back to Jesus. The one
who told you learned of God’s love from someone else. This pattern repeats for

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generation after generation until we finally end back with Jesus.
As we have seen in today’s Gospel lesson, salvation is not something for the
future because it starts now. This is the same promise given to each of us. Jesus
will remove the daemons that torture us, He will break the chains that bind us to
our past, He will cover our nakedness that shames us, and He will give us back
our homes that we have lost.
Max’s mother did the exact same thing. By sending Max into his room, she
freed Max from his bad behavior. Her love for him never was in question because
when Max finally came home, his hot meal was waiting for him.
We too have been sent. However, unlike Max the work that we must do is not
a punishment. Jesus has told each of us exactly what we need to do. We like that
man we heard in the Gospel lesson are to go and preach God’s Word.
“The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and
minds through Christ Jesus.”3

References

Sendak, Maurice, Where the Wild Things Are, (Harper Collins Publishers, 1963
with copyright renewed in 1991).

3
Philippians 4:7.