Resurrection Lutheran Church, St Catharines

In our Old Testament Reading for today, the prophet Isaiah leads us in calling out to a dragon-slayer for help in our times of oppression. “Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake as in days of old, the generations of long ago. Was it not You who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the dragon?” (Isaiah 51:9). Rahab is a huge beast so great that no one could contend with it. No one could budge it out of the way. No one could stop it if it came to squash you or to sink your ships. Rahab was a mighty beast. Likewise the dragon, the ancient serpent, called Satan was a fierce enemy. It breathed a fire of lies out of its mouth and oppressed any and all whom it chose as its target.

 

There are many ancient myths and legends about powerful beasts that ruled in the chaos of the world before order was established. The Babylonians had Tiamat who was the mother of monsters and stirred up the chaos of the sea. More recently, H.P. Lovecraft has written scary stories about the ancient ones, including Cthulhu who are raised from the depths of the earth and sea to bring chaos back to the world.

 

In medieval times there was the story of George and the dragon. The dragon demanded a yearly tribute of gold from the nearby village. When the villagers ran out of gold they had to give one of their daughters to the dragon every year. One year, when the princess was on her way to sacrifice herself to the dragon for the sake of the village, a knight named George came upon her. When he saw she was crying and asked why she was so sad, the princess explained about the dragon. George then, having fallen in love with the princess who was willing to sacrifice herself for the village, found the dragon and killed it.

 

In the case of pagan cultures and their myths, these stories of monsters help them to explain storms and shipwrecks and natural disasters. St. Peter makes it clear to us, however, that this is not the case with the accounts in the Bible. St Paul warns us repeatedly not to follow such silly myths. And St. Peter tells us that “we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:16).

 

What Timothy and Peter and the rest of the apostles did make known to us is what they saw in Jesus Christ, the Son of God come down to earth. They saw Him shining with glory on the Mount of Transfiguration and they saw Him exercise His power over the monsters of death and the devil. In our Gospel reading today we heard how Jesus healed a woman who suffered from a hemorrhage for twelve years. Luke, the Physician, in his gospel tells us that she had spent all that she had on doctors but instead of helping her they made the problem worse. That is one of the real life situations that compares to the story of George and the Dragon. The woman, like the princess in the story, needed someone to come and slay the dragon of sickness and death. Jesus did that for her.

 

The Old Testament readings that mention the great beast Rahab and the dragon talk about how the great nations who opposed God’s people were like such oppressive monsters. Both Egypt and Babylon are called Rahab. In Isaiah’s day, God had already rescued His people from the monstrous nation of Egypt, but they were in fear of the Babylonian colossus. So Isaiah reminded them how the LORD had defeated the Egyptian monster, cutting the nation in pieces and drowning its army in the sea. The God who created all things (earth and sea and even great sea creatures and the serpent who rebelled to become the devil), this God can overthrow the monsters and rescue His people, like George slew the dragon, like Egypt had to let God’s people go, like Babylon which could not keep the LORD’s people in exile.

 

Who are the modern day dragons? Some of them are made up in your mind when you worry about strange sounds in the night or what may be hiding in the closet or under your bed. Others are very real monsters without bodies, like the illness of the woman who was suffering for twelve years or death which tried to take the twelve-year old girl when she was so young. Sickness and death are real monsters that latch onto our sins and gorge themselves on our guilt and shame and fear. And they will finally take us to eternal death and hell, if we didn’t have a rescuer.

 

Jesus is our rescuer and we call to Him as the prophet Isaiah has taught us to call out for rescue. “Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake as in days of old, the generations of long ago. Was it not You who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the dragon?” It was the arm of God that held back the walls of the sea so that His people could escape safely to the other side. It was the arm of the LORD that drove Pharaoh’s army into the depths and covered them.

 

Likewise the great monster of Babylon was subdued and after 70 years of captivity the LORD raised up a ruler there who let His people return with gladness and joy to rebuild the temple and erect the walls of the city and build houses and plant vineyards. By the Word of His mouth He accomplished this. By the hem of His garment He healed the woman. By His hand which stretched out to the little girl He defeated the monster of death.

 

And so He has done for you. The dragon slayer has secured freedom and restoration for you. Freedom from your sins which are taken away by the Word that He puts in the mouth of His prophets, apostles, and pastors. “He breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’ If you forgive the sins of any they are forgiven them” (John 20:20). And to those who insist on being monsters, living in pride and arrogance, refusing to be budged from their sinful repose and demanding that everyone else suffer for their delight, the LORD put His words in the mouth of His prophets, apostles, and pastors: “If you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20:20). He wants to set you free from the monsters of sin, death, and the devil. But if you insist on being a monster yourself, He will slay you like He cut Rahab in pieces.

 

This is where all of His royal children who have been baptized into His name can find comfort. You are the ones He desires to rescue from all of the monsters. This is where, by the Word of His mouth and by covering you with His outstretched hand, that raised the little girl from death and was also stretched out upon the cross to raise you. You can curl up in the safety of the hands of Jesus. He has awoken from death and slain all your monsters. He will rescue you from the devilish dragon and give you everlasting life. He will answer your call and comfort you.