Lent 3, March 8th,
2015 – Luke 11:14-28
In the Name of Christ the Crucified +
In the face of an unpleasant truth, we like to make
excuses. That’s our sinful nature. We mess up at work – and we can then tell you
all sorts of reasons why it’s not our fault.
We upset a friend, and well, they just took things completely out of
context and blew everything out of proportion.
The harsh and cruel words come out – and well, we were just having a bad
day. This or that just got to me. So often, when we get caught with our hand in
the proverbial cookie jar, we say “It’s not my fault.” When confronted with an unpleasant truth, especially
when confronted with our sin, we like to stop up our ears, we like to make
excuses, we like to cast blame. And we’ve been doing it since Genesis 3 – it was
the woman You gave me, it was the serpent’s fault. This, dear friends, is what
happens again in our Gospel text today.
People make excuses, refuse to see what is actually going on – and
Christ calls them on it.
Now, [Jesus] was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man
spoke, and the people marveled.
As the text starts we see Christ going about His business – taking the
battle to Satan, breaking down Satan’s kingdom bit by bit. This is fantastic stuff. Look, a demon, let’s take care of him. This is a wondrous thing – this shows that it
is God at work for our benefit, God come to rescue us from sin and death and
damnation. Surely, that is a joyous
thing, surely all will rejoice over that!
But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of
demons,” while others, to test Him, kept seeking from Him a sign from heaven. But some people don’t rejoice over this. They make excuses. Duh, no, He’s not sent by God – He’s casting
out demons by demons! Duh, no, He’s not
from God, we’d need a sign from heaven to prove that. . . not just this. Excuses.
Why? Why these excuses, why these
false and idiotic reasons not to believe?
Jesus calls them on their stupid arguments – But He, knowing their thoughts,
said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a
divided household falls. And if Satan
also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by
Beelzebul. And if I cast out demons by
Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out?
Therefore they will be your judges.” Jesus calls them to the carpet. We all know Satan is powerful, that Satan
isn’t dumb, that his kingdom is doing fine and wicked right now. If he were divided, it would have crumbled of
itself long ago. Besides, it’s sort of
dangerous to say that I’m casting out demon in the name of Satan, because your
own sons are casting out demons in My Name – attack Jesus, you attack your own
sons. Quit holding onto the idiotic
ideas.
But why are they there in the first place? A key point to note – Jesus knew their
thoughts – Jesus knew what they were thinking.
There was something that made Jesus doing these miracles leave a bad
taste in their mouth. And then Jesus
hits the nail upon the head. “But
if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” There it is.
There’s the problem. Whose
kingdom? God’s Kingdom. You see, there is no neutrality spiritually,
there are no undecided – the people who checked off no religion on that big
survey that came out this past week aren’t really undecided – “Whoever
is not with Me is against Me.” We
are not morally neutral – we are either with Christ, or we are against Him.
That says something, doesn’t it? It says something about sin. We like to slough off sin, we like to make
excuses for sin, we like to pretend that it doesn’t matter much. It does.
Sin is wicked and vile and gross.
Your sin is wicked and vile and gross.
It’s not just Hitler, it’s not just Stalin who were sinners – you are as
well. That is something that Christ
comes and shows – because all sin is against the will of God, because all sin
pleases Satan. When you sin, you make
Satan rejoice and cackle with glee.
And this is where too often our defense mechanisms kick
in. How dare you say that about me! Why, I’m a good person! How dare you accuse my little angel of doing
something! How dare you say it is my
fault! We don’t like hearing that. We are like the people of Jeremiah’s time,
hearing the Law preached in it’s full bluntness, hearing that we are sinners
who by our sin bring folly upon our own head, and all too often we don’t like
that. We fuss, we fight against it, we
blame the messenger as it were, we cry out kill the preacher, we cry out
“that’s just your interpretation”, we cry out “don’t be so negative, we just
need to think happy thoughts.”
Know this for what it is.
This is your old, sinful nature kicking in. This is the Old Adam, this is your flesh
wanting it’s own way – which since the fall is actually Satan’s way. And Christ knows this – He knows the truth
that since the fall you, along with every other naturally born human, have been
stuck in Satan’s kingdom, fast bound in Satan’s chains. And we hear the Law, and we are terrified, so
terrified we try to deny it and avoid it.
The Law means by rights we should be destroyed, that we should be cast
out, cast down, just like Satan. It
means by nature we are on the wrong side and God would be within His rights to
smite us, and so our old sinful nature wants to find any reason, however lousy
it is, to duck and dodge Jesus. But
Jesus has something else in mind, because He is good and loving. Listen – “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his
own palace, his goods are safe; but when one stronger than he attacks him and
overcomes him, He takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his
spoil.” Christ doesn’t come to
smite you – He comes to smite Satan and claim you, you who were fast bound in
Satan’s chains; He comes to take you back from Satan.
Don’t you realize that Satan with his temptations, with his
urging you to sin, is just trying to keep you trapped? Satan is trying to keep you bound to sin,
wrapped up in petty thoughts and jealousies, wrapped up in doubt and fear and
misery, wrapped up in trying to pretend you’re perfect when you know you are
anything but. That’s his kingdom, where
the best you can hope for is a vain, smug, false self-righteousness. But Christ our Lord is not content to let mankind
linger there in Satan’s clutches.
Instead, He bursts in – for He is the Stronger Man, and He takes up the
contest against Satan, and He defeats Satan.
And you, dear friends, are the prize He seeks, the treasure our Lord
would fight to reclaim – and He finds you, dented and bruised and dirty as you
are, for being kept in Satan’s kingdom is a harsh thing, and He washes you
clean – claims you as His own – takes you and brings you unto His own house.
That is what your Baptism is. It is where the struggle that Christ fought
against Satan upon the cross is made real in your life – it is where it is
applied to you – where you are washed clean.
And dear friends, the life of Repentance, Confessing your sins, is
nothing else than saying, “There, at the font, in my Baptism, is where I
live. I am Baptized, I am one whom
Christ has claimed and washed clean and forgiven.” As part of the baptismal rite, we ask the
person being baptized if they renounce Satan and all his works and all his
ways. What is confessing your sin but
merely once again renouncing Satan and all his works and all his ways, even the
works and ways that pop up again and again in your sinful flesh in this life? Confession is a return to baptism – and we
need to return to our Baptism, we need to remember what Christ gave us there
all of our days. Christ tells us why.
When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through
waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, “I will return to my
house from which I came.” And when it
comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits
more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of the person is worse
than the first. The idea of
“once saved, always saved” just isn’t Scriptural. People can fall away – people can renounce
their baptism – and then things are worse than before. When we abandon our Baptism, when we refuse
to repent, when that font is no longer the Truth of our life, of who we are – we
open ourselves up to great shame and vice and wickedness. We say, Satan, have your way with me.
Therefore, we are to repent, to see that we continually
strive to live out our lives as the Baptized.
That is why Christ calls us to the Supper. The house in the passage was empty – but
Christ calls you to the Supper and He fills you with His own Body and Blood so
that you are full, so that you are never empty – so that you are always ready
to resist the lure of Satan. This is the
reality of life on this earth. If we are
not with Christ, we are against Him – but see that He calls you unto Himself,
He fought to claim you as His own, and He provides His Word to keep you as His
own – that is why those who hear the Word of God and keep it, who remain in the
Word and in the blessings of life and salvation and forgiveness that the Word
gives are indeed well and truly blessed.
Dear friends, turn away from the false excuses you would
raise for yourself. They are false, and
they only give Satan joy. Rather this,
call out to God for mercy, cry out that you know your sin and need rescue, and
our Gracious and Loving God will create a clean heart in you, He will renew a
right Spirit with you. He does not
desire to cast you away, but our Lord’s delight is in casting out and thrusting
down Satan, so that you belong to Christ alone, so that He can restore you and
uphold you. This is what Christ does –
He defeats sin, including your sin. Do
not fear to face down your sin, for Christ faces it down with you, indeed, for
you. This is the promise He made you at
your baptism – this is His promise to you for life. In the Name of Christ the Crucified +
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