Proper 7
Psalm 22:18-27; Isaiah 65:1-9; Galatians 3:23-29; Luke 8:26-39
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I.
In 1965, Connecticut revised its Constitution for the first time since 1818.
A major difference between the 1818 Constitution and the 1965 revision is found in the seventh article, “Of Religion.”
The 1818 article began, “It being the duty of all men to worship the Supreme Being … and their right to render that worship ….”
The 1965 revision reads, “It being the right of all men to worship the Supreme Being … and to render that worship in a mode consistent with the dictates of their consciences ….”
Did you catch the difference?
The 1818 Constitution specified the duty of the citizens of Connecticut to worship God.
The 1965 revision assumes the citizens’ right to worship but says nothing about their duty to worship God.
I am troubled by this shift. If our right to worship no longer flows from our duty to God, where does it come from? Does it come from the state itself? I am worried that this is what our current Constitution implies.
II.
Today’s readings from Isaiah and Luke describe a people who have lost their sense of duty.
In Isaiah 65:2 God says, “I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices.”
These people think themselves autonomous, and behave as a law unto themselves.
Our English word privilege, from Latin privus (private) and lex (law), captures this mindset: a private law, detached from duty, much like the 1965 Constitution’s silence on our obligation to worship God.
God extends His hands to us in mercy. Why can’t our Constitution acknowledge our duty to lift our hands in praise as we sang in our psalm this morning?
We sang: “All ye that fear Jehovah’s Name, His glory tell, His praise proclaim; Ye children of His chosen race, Stand ye in awe before His face.
In today’s gospel reading from Luke, a man who has become a law unto himself meets Jesus. As with most encounters with Jesus in the New Testament, the story is rich with symbolism.
Luke tells us the man is possessed by many demons, so many that their name is “Legion.”
A man possessed by devils acknowledges no duty to God, and is stripped of normal human rights and privileges.
Luke tells us, “for a long time he had worn no clothes, and he lived not in a house but among the tombs.”
The man personifies the “rebellious people” Isaiah describes in Isaiah 65:4-5, “who sit in tombs, and spend the night in secret places… [who say] Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am set apart from you.”
This is exactly what the man says to Jesus in Luke 8:28, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beseech you, do not torment me.”
In a dramatic show of divine justice and mercy, Jesus exorcises the man and casts the demons into a nearby herd of swine, which stampede over a cliff into the sea and drown.
When a nation becomes autonomous, a law unto itself, it is stripped of the rights that duty affords. Like this demon-possessed man, such a nation stands naked before God’s wrath. It has no rights to press, nothing to plead but the mercy of God—which initially the man doesn’t seem to want—but which Jesus grants him anyway.
We discover the real difference this makes for the demon-possessed man a few verses later, after he is healed, after he begs Jesus to keep him with Him, only for Jesus to tell him instead, “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.”
His demons have been cast out, but more importantly, Jesus reminds him of his duty: “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.”
This is how you worship God. You declare what He has done for you and you praise Him for it. It’s not our constitutional right to praise God, it’s not even our state-granted privilege, it is our duty.
III.
The duty to worship God is imposed upon us by the mouth of the Lord Himself. It is not a right that a paper constitution can grant us.
The 1818 Constitution got it right when it said, “It being the duty of all men to worship the Supreme Being.” By 1965, the framers of the revised Constitution had forgotten that duty.
We met a man in today’s gospel who also forgot his duties and wound up stripped of his mental faculties, his clothes, and his home.
Reading his story in light of Isaiah, we know that this was not just a case of “hard luck” but of forgotten duty.
Isaiah 65:7 tells us how the man got this way. God says: “I will repay into their bosom their iniquities and their fathers’ iniquities together.” The man is under judgment.
Instead of obedience, the man rebelled. Instead of praising God, he provoked God to His face. Instead of worship, he sacrificed in gardens and burned incense on bricks. And instead of exercising his right to assemble with the church, he said, “Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am set apart from you.”
The demon-possessed man has a history, a story, a context. He is symbolic of apostate Israel, but he is also a poor, broken man—like many of us—who needs Jesus’ help.
All Israel needed Jesus’ help. The whole world to this day needs Jesus’ help. Connecticut (now more than ever) needs Jesus’ help. Without that help, I fear we will fall back into slavery.
To discover the difference between self-government and slavery, you need only examine the difference between the rights derived from duty owed to God, and the privileges granted to clients of the state.
Our Constitution protects the right of citizens to worship God, but no longer recognizes that this right is born of duty, a biblical duty, which is written in the First and Fifth Commandments: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me,” and “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.”
By separating the right from the duty, the present Constitution makes Connecticut the giver of rights, not the guarantor of them. Such “rights” can easily be amended or abolished on a whim.
Rights that exist only on paper are no rights at all. Under the present Constitution, it is more accurate to say that Connecticut grants its citizens the privilege—a private right—to worship God, but it does not recognize our inalienable right—born of duty—to do so.
Meanwhile, the friends of Caesar render unto Caesar what Caesar wants. In return, Caesar grants favors to his favorites. This is the antithesis of self-government.
IV.
Jesus fulfills our duty to worship and frees us from the bondage of private will and state-granted privileges.
In Galatians 3:23-29, Paul describes our journey from slavery to freedom in Christ.
He writes, “Now before faith came, we were confined under the law, kept under restraint until faith should be revealed.” This is a vivid image and a reminder of what many men were under Roman rule: slaves.
Paul continues: “So that the law was our custodian until Christ came, that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a custodian; for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.”
By faith in Christ Jesus we understand our duty toward God. When we fulfill that duty, our rights are guaranteed: not by the power of the state, its paper Constitution, endlessly revised by legions of lobbyists and their lawyers, but by the Son of God Himself. They are underwritten in His blood.
Just as Jesus showed mercy on the man who did not have the presence of mind to ask for it, He calls us in Connecticut back to our duty: to declare what He has done for us in the past and, confident in our hope, to trust He will sustain us in the future.
V.
God Himself guarantees our rights, vindicating them against those who would strip them away, if we remain faithful.
This church, and all God-fearing churches in Connecticut, should be full on Sunday, not because any law compels you to be here, but because as adopted children of God you recognize your duty to be here.
This duty is the bedrock upon which all your other rights rest.
Your rights to speak your mind, bear arms, assemble peacefully, associate freely, and enjoy your property quietly are not privileges granted by the state. They are rights rooted in duty toward God, who is greater than the state.
If we remember the words of the 1818 Connecticut Constitution, “It being the duty of all men to worship the Supreme Being, the great Creator and Preserver of the Universe”—if we decide once again to live dutiful lives—then God will guarantee our “right to render that worship” and all other rights that belong to free men.
Preached on June 22, 2025, at the First Congregational Church, Woodbury, Connecticut.
Reflection Questions:
How does the shift from duty to privilege in the 1965 Connecticut Constitution challenge my understanding of worship as a God-given responsibility rather than a state-allowed right?
In what ways might I, like the demon-possessed man in Luke 8, be tempted to live autonomously, and how can Jesus’ call to “declare how much God has done for you” (Luke 8:39) restore a sense of duty to my worship?
Reflecting on Galatians 3:23-29, how does faith in Christ free me from the bondage of “private law” (self-will) or reliance on state privileges, and what does it mean to live as a “son of God” through worship?
How can I practically fulfill the duty to worship described in Psalm 22:25 (“From you comes my praise in the great congregation”) in my daily life and community, ensuring my rights are rooted in God, not the state?
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