Luke 11:14-28
Lent 3
✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠
It is the way of the unbelieving world to call what is good evil and what is evil good. Euphemisms are often employed to accomplish this. The freedom to kill an unborn child is called “reproductive rights” or “women’s health care,” as if there was only one person’s rights and health at stake. The rejection of God’s gift of natural marriage and the joining together of same-sex partners is called “marriage equality,” as if the nature and purpose of those unions were somehow the same. The mutilation and drugging of the body in an attempt to change one’s sex is called “gender reassignment,” as if God’s assignment and creation doesn’t count. And if anyone ever speaks out about these things, even in the gentlest way, because we care about people’s humanity and the consequences of what’s happening, they are portrayed as hateful and bigoted, or just weird and stupid. Meanwhile those promoting these things are the ones who are supposedly loving and open-minded and sensible.
And it’s not just the cultural stuff; we see this even within the church, regarding Gospel teaching. Those who uphold doctrinal faithfulness to Christ and His saving Word regarding the Sacraments or sin and repentance or salvation by faith in Christ alone–they are often called unloving and legalistic; while the theologians and pastors who compromise the faith are called inclusive and mature and groundbreaking. (Just consider Pope Francis.)
And lest we think this is something new, listen to what the Lutheran pastor George Stoeckhardt preached about this over 100 years ago: “Within Christendom everywhere there are blasphemers who pass off Christ’s Word and work as the devil’s work, as wickedness. Christ’s salutary teaching they call a poisonous, pernicious teaching, which merely produces harm, hurt, dissension, disturbance. . . When believing Christians confidently boast of the grace of their God, this is labeled insufferable pride. Christians, who are ardent in spirit and demonstrate diligence and zeal in their Christianity are often chided as being foolish, crazy, possessed. Christians, seeking to save their fellowmen from destruction and rebuking sin, are regarded as a hostile, hateful clan. Yes, mockery and blasphemy increase the nearer we come to the end.”
This all began, of course, with our Lord Jesus. In today’s Gospel Jesus is doing something good. He is casting out a demon from a man who had been made unable to speak by it, freeing him from this dark power. When the demon had gone out of the man, he was able to talk again. The crowd that saw this marveled at the wonderful thing that Jesus had done.
But there were some there who hated Jesus, who out of envy couldn’t stand or accept the goodness of Jesus. And so they called good evil. They said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.” Beelzebub means “Lord of the flies.” In other words they were saying, “The only reason Jesus can cast out demons is because He gets His power from Satan.” They tried to raise suspicions about Jesus in those who saw what He did.
By doing this, though, the ones who accused Jesus of being of the devil showed themselves to be of the devil. For isn’t it the way of the devil to plant doubt and work against faith in Jesus? And they further showed that they were in league with Satan by testing Jesus and asking for a sign from heaven; isn’t that exactly what the devil did in the wilderness when he asked Jesus to throw Himself down from the temple and let the angels catch Him? Besides, they already had a sign from Jesus in the casting out of the demon. But unbelief always wants something more and different than Jesus and what He gives.
Beware of sign-seeking. Jesus would later say to this same crowd that it is an evil generation which seeks a sign, which wants to walk by sight and not by faith, which trusts experiences and emotions and superstition more than Christ and His Word. Jesus said the only sign that would be given them is the sign of Jonah, the sign of a man submerged three days in the belly of death but who rose from the depths to new life. The sign which faith clings to, then, is the sign of the cross, Christ crucified and risen to save us sinners.
That sign of the cross has been given to you in your baptism, etched into your very bodies by water and the Word. In the OT reading, when the plagues of lice and flies came, the Egyptians recognized, “This is the finger of God.” So also at the font, the finger of God was at work for you to deliver you from your slavery to the evil one; the pastor’s fingers inscribed the cross on the forehead and on the heart. The Epistle reading said, “You were once darkness . . .” However, Jesus has shined into your darkness and washed away your sins and rescued you from the devil’s domain, bringing you into His own realm of mercy and grace. So the Epistle goes on to say, “But now you are light in the Lord.” You have been released from the devil’s grip. You have been conveyed into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son; you are possessed by His Holy Spirit. Now your mute tongues are loosed to sing the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
But there are people still who want to call that good evil. They label baptism and the liturgy of Christ’s preaching and supper as being mere ceremony; they want signs and visual excitement, not divine service. Or they berate Christians as being intellectually foolish and psychologically weak. But in the face of such demonic testing, we remember that it is written, “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty.” In a world that wants signs from heaven, we know that Jesus Himself is our sign from heaven. He is all that we need. For again it is written, “We preach Christ crucified, an offense to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.”
Jesus is that Stronger Man who overcomes the strong man, the devil. But our Lord shows His strength not with an all out display of force as we might expect. For that is not the way the devil slithered into this world in the first place and gained the upper hand in the heart of man. Satan came in disguise, as one who had man’s best interest at heart. He overcame man in the Garden through trickery and deception, calling evil good. And so in order to overcome the devil and rescue man, the Lord chooses to use Satan’s own devices against him. Christ snares the devil with divine trickery and deception–not evil disguised as good this time, but good disguised as evil. Jesus gives Himself over to being beaten and bloodied and crucified. He perishes as if he were an evil criminal. But in this way Jesus invades the enemy’s domain of death. He parachutes in behind enemy lines and demolishes all of the devil’s armor in which he trusted. Christ infiltrates the devil’s kingdom and conquers him by means of the very death which the devil brought into the world. He turns the devil’s weapons right back in his own face and destroys him. Man is released and set free. The power of the devil to accuse you of sin and hold you captive has been taken away by Christ right along with your sins. It is written in Hebrews, “The Son of God Himself likewise shared in our flesh and blood, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime held in bondage.” Christ has divided and conquered Satan’s kingdom by the power of His holy cross.
And Jesus makes it clear to the crowds and to us that there can be no sitting on the fence in this matter. Our Lord says, “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.” There are no Switzerlands in the warfare of the soul, no neutral, moderate position when it comes to Christ; no agnostic or undecided. Either you take refuge in Him who is the Stronger Man, or you refuse Him and seek other shelter that draws you back into the devil’s hands. Either Jesus is on the throne of your heart, or the devil is. There are no third options, somewhere between faith and unbelief. The “sensible,” middle-of-the-road position is unbelief.
You see, even though the devil has been defeated and man’s salvation has been won–fully and decisively–he still runs about making like he is strong, acting like he still controls death. He seeks to lure people away from the protection of the mighty fortress of Christ, leading them into doubt and despair. And many fall for the trap, believing the strong man rather than trusting in the Stronger One. And so the evil spirits return to many a person from whom they were cast out. For the Holy Spirit given in baptism has been grieved and rejected. “The last state of that man is worse than the first.”
And so our Lord urges us here to remain steadfast in the faith. He says, “Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it.” To keep the Word of God is simply to hold on to it, to cling to it, to treasure it and trust in its promises. Those who do so are blessed, as the mother of our Lord was blessed. For the Word of God is living and active and powerful to save. It is the channel of the Holy Spirit. It drives away the onslaughts of the evil one.
Ultimately, to keep the Word of God is to hold on to Christ. For He is the Word made flesh. Blessed are those who hear Jesus and cling to Him; for He is your refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. The chains of guilt which bound you have dropped from our wrists. You are free. In Christ, the dominion of evil is ended. By his glorious resurrection from the dead, our Lord Jesus has won the decisive victory. He is the champion and his scars are his trophies. Jesus is the victor and He shares the spoils with all of you. Blessed are those in whom the Word of Christ dwells richly through holy absolution and preaching. Blessed are those who trust in Christ and who are filled with His true body and precious blood. Over such the devil has no power. He can’t touch you. For you are in the Strongest One, the Lord over death and the devil. Let your eyes ever be toward Christ, who plucks your feet out of the net, who conquers your enemy, who is your sure defense, and who will deliver you from all evil in the resurrection.
✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠