“Be Careful What You Ask For!”
The demons begged he not dismiss
Them back into the deep abyss;
Instead, they asked that they be sent
Into the pigs, where thus, they went,
Except the next they knew, the swine
Plunged off the cliff into the brine!
I picture Jesus, whose wry smile
Previews his Easter laughing style;
While evil, still, he takes to task:
"You, too, watch out for what you ask!"
Scott L. Barton
Then they 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.
Mendelssohn's "Elijah," part III
For "Parts I and II," please see previous posts for 2nd and 3rd Sundays after Pentecost, at http://lectionarypoems.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-second-sunday-after-pentecost-c-may.html
and
http://lectionarypoems.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-third-sunday-after-pentecost-june-5.html
I had just about had it.
At the end of my rope.
Doubted I could keep going.
"It is enough! O Lord, now take away my life
For I am not better than my fathers."
Thus Elijah sang.
Three recits and an aria to go.
Plus this one, with that long high D sharp towards the end.
Then, worried, I had a brain fart and sang a note too short.
Thought I'd blown it.
Panicked, I wondered what Stanley, conducting, would do.
He just kept smiling, because I'd lengthened the next note
Without realizing it.
Everything was okay!
And we made it through.
Funny how rare it is that all is lost.
But the best line comes next from the chorus:
"Go, return upon thy way,
For the Lord yet hath left Him seven thousand in Israel,
knees which have not bowed to Baal.
Go, return upon thy way!"
I don't know why the lectionary omits it.
Keep it in this week.
Remind yourself, and your people,
That you - and they - are not alone.
When you're ready to throw in the towel
When you're not sure you can keep singing
This faith business, this grace
That may only appear in the still, small silence,
Keep in mind those seven thousand!
And go on your way, in the strength of the Lord.
Scott L. Barton
Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had
killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger
to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do
not make your life like the life of one of them by this time
tomorrow.” Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to
Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there. But he
himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down
under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: “It is
enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my
ancestors.” Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly
an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat.” He looked,
and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water.
He ate and drank, and lay down again. The angel of the Lord came a
second time, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat, otherwise the
journey will be too much for you.” He got up, and ate and drank;
then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to
Horeb the
mount of God.
At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there.
Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “What are you doing
here, Elijah?” He answered, “I have been very zealous for the
Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant,
thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I
alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” He said, “Go
out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about
to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was
splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but
the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but
the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire,
but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of
sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and
went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a
voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He answered,
“I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the
Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and
killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are
seeking my life, to take it away.” Then the Lord said to him, “Go,
return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you
shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram. Also you shall anoint Jehu son of
Nimshi as king over Israel; and you shall anoint Elisha son of Shaphat
of Abel-meholah as prophet in your place. Whoever escapes from
the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall kill; and whoever escapes from the
sword of Jehu, Elisha shall kill. Yet I will leave seven thousand in
Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth
that has not kissed him.
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