How many of you watch those make-over shows from time to time?

You knowthe extreme make over ones or the shows like What Not to Wear where they take someones life and totally revamp it from the outside? To give someone a new look a new way of being in the world? Like most other shows of this sort when something good like that happens on the outside, in order for the change to really workfor the goodness to really settle in, something has to happen on the inside. Otherwise, we get those previews at the end of the show that show us a few months from now and we see that whoever it is has gone back to their old ways. If the change on the inside doesnt accompany the outside the makeover doesnt work. It doesnt last. At our baptism, we believe we are clothed in Christ. By water and oil, word and sacrament we put on the clothing of Christ. Our outsides are transformed so that we can be the hands and feet of Jesus. It may not look obvious to us but its there. We believe that an important transformation has begun. So that we can live a different way in the world. But the problem isif we dont make the change on the inside, too the real transformation doesnt happen. Baptism is a rite of passage a gateway. It is a moment when we come face to face with the divine. When Jesus opens the door to us. You still have to walk through. In order to have more than the external appearance of a Christian in order to make a real transformation you have to do the work to make the internal changes. 1

And that work is a processit continues through our whole life.

These texts today are about this transformation. These texts are about what happens when we give our lives over to Christ. They point to some of the vital work that we have to do in our heads and in our hearts to break the chains and to really take on the person of Christ. To not only be the hands and feetbut to learn to be the head and heart. Seein the early church, this transformation that begins at baptism was a literal, overwhelming thing. Early Christians believed that when they were baptized into the body that their body their head their mind changed dramatically. They believed that they could actually have the mind of Christ living within their own head. Can you imagine seeing the way Jesus sees? Or feeling the way Jesus feels? In our Gospel today we find Jesus doing what he does best. Hes breaking the rules. A man, an outcast, falls at Jesus feet. He is unclean in every way. Hes a gentile. Hes naked. He lives outside of town among the dead. And he probably also just wasnt clean from a hygiene perspective. All of those things make him completely untouchable for a practicing Jew. And here he comes, running up. Obviously in need of something. Perhaps startling everyone maybe even Jesus. And he throws himself at Jesus feet. 2

We can imagine that this man was utterly alone. That he was ashamed of who he was. And that he felt he had no control over his life. Now in our Gospel text, Jesus contemporaries have labeled this demons. We dont talk about demons much in the Episcopal Church nor do we talk about demons and the like much in our own post-modern, overly scientific, completely un-miraculous, logical world. In this text these demons have a name and a voice. They also have agency and Jesus grants their request. So, there is a lot to unpack, here about what was going on for this man and if you want to talk about that I would encourage you to come see me or Alan. But for today one thing we can see clearly about this text is that these demons have a couple of clear consequences. And we already named them. This man lives alone outside of town he is isolated. And we might imagine that he was ashamed ashamed because he of where he lived and who he was because he was unable to follow the rulesbecause he was unable to follow the law. For sure, because other people chained him up outside the city, we know that they were afraid of him ashamed of him. And we might also easily imagine, I think, that he felt overwhelmed. That he felt as if these demons had all the controlas if his life was not his own. So three simple consequences isolation, shame, and powerlessness. We all experience these things from time to time, dont we? And I want to suggest to you this morning that they are the consequences of our own demons. These are the concrete effects of demons of boundaries. In this case, demons are those things which keep us from community.

They are those things that separate us out that leave us feeling isolated and ashamed and powerless. They are the voices in our heads that tell us we are unloved that we arent good at something that we dont have a place at the table and that we cant handle the pressure. Among a whole host of other things. They are our prejudices. Our stereotypes. Our inhibitions. They are those things that keep us from God and from each other. This mans demons kept him from living the life he was supposed to live in community with God and with other people. They are the very chains that bind him outside the city. They are the chains that bind you, too. The boundaries that separate you from God and from other people. It can be as simple asoh no, Im too tired to go to church today. And as complicated and insidious as anything you can imagine. We all have them. You may not hear voices but there are things in your life that act as your chains. Things that make it hard for you to believe things that keep you from participating and from being the person God made you to be. What is it that these chains are keeping you from? Now as we move to Galatianswe see that Christ came to break the chains to change how things work. For in Jesus Christ you are all children of God through faith. You have put on the clothing of Christ. Now you must do the work the internal work to go with the outward transformation. 4

Sacraments, like baptism, are outward signs of internal grace. Grace that you must hold onto and live into. One way to do this to be disciplined about this grace-filled living is to re-learn how to live.

Here are some things that help with that The study of scripture, the fellowship with other Christians, the outreach and service that Jesus calls you to offer in his name to a world that is broken and chained. This is how you make room in your life in a world that is broken for yourself to be bent and reshaped so that you can hold the head and the heart of Jesus. This is how you decide to no longer be separated from God from others and from who you really are. In Jesus Christ you are all one. There is no longer Jew or Greek, male or female, slave or free. There is no longer any way to classify yourselves. We are all one. There are no more boundaries, no more labels no more hierarchy. No one is any better than any one else no one deserves more than anyone else no one is loved by God more than anyone else. There is no reason for you to be separated from the people around you. And in drawing closer to them in service and in prayer you draw closer to God. Our demons are exorcised only when we truly believe in Gods equality.

Only when we do the work within our own heads and hearts to exorcise the boundaries To open ourselves up to grace and to Gods love a love that knows no boundaries And then, like Isaiah, you will come to know that you are called to speak this truth to a world that does not want to hear it. You are called to serve those who think they have no need of Jesus Christ. So first, you have to do the work for yourselves. And then you must prepare to be found by those who are not seeking you. And you must answer here I am. Here I am. Ready to serve. Do not stay in the shackles. There is no life for you there among the tombs. Ask God to help you break the chains. Be sure that you honor the outward transformation by living into the inward grace. Make sure that the vows made at your baptism have real effects in your lives effects that counteract the consequences of demons and boundaries that would leave you isolated and ashamed and powerless. Because in Christ you are never alone. You should never be ashamed. And Gods power is made perfect in our weakness. Do not settle for the clothing alone. Do not settle for the outward transformation. Because you want not only to be the hands and feet but to share the head and heart of Jesus Christ. Be transformed so that you might transform the world. Amen.