Lent 3

Lent 3 – March 23^rd and 24^th, 2019 – Luke 11:14-28

In the Name of Christ the Crucified +

In the season of Lent, we see Jesus tackle problem after problem. The first week in Lent, Jesus took on Satan in the desert and toppled his temptations. Last week, Jesus took on sinful and arrogant pride that would have us look down upon others. And today Jesus tackles another major problem – the problem of self-justification. And self-justification is a bigger issue than we normally think, it's a more pernicious problem than we normally give it credit for. As an example – just for a moment, think back on this past week and an argument or disagreement that stands out in your mind – and imagine you're going to tell someone how things played out, how things happened. Got the rough shape of your story? Alright – is that a story of how you messed up, or is it a story of how someone else messed up and did you wrong and its not your fault? I'd wager that for most of us it's one where “there I was, just minding my own business when so-and-so suddenly went and did blah blah blah.” We like to spin the story so that the fault, the blame, rests upon someone else – or even if we have our bit of wrong doing, the real heel or villain of the piece is them. In fact, if we do end up going a bit too far, well, it's because they made me do it. Think for a moment of all the ways you've spun the stories so that your fault is minimized and it's really the other person's fault, it's really what they did, not you. That is self-justification, and as we are sinners my friends, there is always an ever present temptation and desire to self-justify. And when self-justification is left unchecked and unfought and uncalled out, it leads to rank stupidity.

Listen. Now [Jesus] was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled. 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. Here we have two examples of utterly stupid self-justification. You have people who want to reject Jesus, to ignore Him – and this is not mere foolishness. My friend Thomas, who I do my podcast with, mentioned last week that he had read the first 11 chapters of Matthew out loud while he was on a trip – and he was dumbfounded at just how blunt and heavy the Law of God is – how the standard is beyond us. Jesus' ministry isn't all just healings and miracles; it is often blunt teaching on the law. And these complainers are hearing that, and they need a reason to ignore Jesus, they need to justify themselves apart from and without Jesus – they need a reason to spin it where He's the villain and they are the righteous hero. And they find the flimsiest excuses, they grasp at the weakest of straws. Oh – this Guy casts out demons, um, He's probably in league with demons. Oh, um, we need a sign from heaven, something in the sky – down here in front of us with a demon just isn't enough. These are all excuses tossed out to keep themselves the hero and cast Jesus as the bad guy.

But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them.... Note first – Jesus knows what they are thinking. He knows that this isn't an actual logical bit of confusion on their part, or a simple misplaced expectation – Jesus knows self-justification when He hears it. So He calls them on it – Every Kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. And if Satan is also divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. Boy, seems like Satan's been really powerful and effective for someone whose kingdom is as poorly run as you are asserting. That sounds kind of dumb. But it gets worse – And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. Oh, yeah, that's right – people all over Judea are casting out demons in My name (this sort of annoys the disciples a bit, because the disciples want to be the heroes of this story) – if I'm wicked I guess that means your son is wicked too. You wanna try running that one by him, hmm? But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. You can't admit that this is divine, because then you'd have to admit that this is the Kingdom of God – but you don't want to be justified and rescued, you want to self-justify your dislike of Me and what I say – and you know you can't.

No, you want to know and understand what Jesus is doing in His healings, in His preaching – 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. Satan thought He was pretty tough. Well, I'm bigger than Satan, and I have come kicking down the doors of his house and am beating the tar out of his demons and I'm rescuing My people. Oh, and by the by - you in your sin think you are pretty tough too, pretty righteous. Well, I have come preaching the Law of God in its full sternness, showing you your sin, taking away that armor of self-righteousness that you trusted in – and I'm actually doing it to rescue you. Be rescued, because Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. You can be rescued – or you can be the problem. You don't get to be the hero of this story. You can be My friend and sidekick whom I have rescued, but you don't get to be the hero, because I know your sin, and you're in a world of hurt.

My friends in Christ Jesus, be on guard against the sin of self-justification, because it is subtle and it worms its way in and it will grow and grow and taint everything. There is nothing more dangerous to your faith than self-justification. Think about it – is Satan going to tempt you successfully to rob a bank. Probably not today – and if you are actually tempted to knock off the bank – don't. That's a far, far hill. But can Satan tempt you, even successfully, to start thinking of yourself as the innocent victim, to start seeing more and more how it is all their fault? That's one's easy... the thing is, it grows and grows, and the more and the more villainous you see them, the less and less you love them – you remember that whole love your neighbor thing – in fact, love your enemy, pray for those who persecute you? But when the seed of self-justification grows and grows – there's just anger and disdain. 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. Do you see how that works, how that story plays out? I used to be really bad, but then I got my act together, started going to Church. I am so much better now than I used to be. But I tell you what, Bob over there, oh, he is terrible. Why, just this past week, do you know what he did – why I never thought that someone could do that.... and the last state of the person is worse than the first.

This the the temptation that Satan will lay upon you – to make you stop seeing your sin, to try to sweetly and quietly put sin as a thing of the past. Satan will make you think that you are a good person, that you are just fine. I know we in the LCMS will often rail against the liberal churches that go on and on about accepting all sorts of sexual sin – but do we not do the same thing with ourselves all... the... time? Do we not do the same thing every time we tell the story where they are wrong and I'm just here as innocent as a dove? If we say we have no sin – we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

Jesus will not let your self-righteous and your self-justifying lies stand. Jesus will not let it be about how great you are. As He said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” But He said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the Word of God and keep it!” Oh, but can it be about how great Your mom is at least, Jesus? No. Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and – don't mishear that Word keep. “Keep” does not mean “do”. This isn't you're blessed if and only if you do all the things the bible says and see how I'm such a good person and better than Bob over there – and that leads you to being a hell bound unrepentant sinner yourself. “Keep” means to cling to, to protect, to keep on hearing it over and over, even when it says things about you that your sinful flesh doesn't like.

Because that's what the law of God will do. It will show you your sin. Over and over again. And there's never going to be a day in your life when you'll come to service here and you won't have sin to confess – that is just the simple reality of it. You will always, always need Jesus. And what Satan is trying to do with all of his temptations towards self-justification is to tell you that you really don't need Jesus, that you can make perfectly valid excuses to ignore His word and not hear it.

But Jesus brings the Word to you again. The Holy Spirit brings to your mind the Word again. You are His Baptized child, and Jesus came to be your Redeemer. He came to justify you – you don't justify yourself, Jesus justifies you – that is what He did with His death and resurrection. And He doesn't meekly let Satan have you. He doesn't meekly let your sinful flesh have you. No, Jesus will show you your sin – that's part of what we need here in this place, to see our sin. But Jesus does not stop there – isn't that how our terrible self-justifying stories go? I spin it so that Bob is a jerk and I leave it there and feel smug and good about myself? Not what Jesus does. Jesus shows you your sin, and then He forgives you. He rescues you from that sin. He frees you from it. He declares that you are not defined by your sin or your pretend lack of sin but rather defined by the fact that He has suffered and died for you. Your life is not about, centered, or defined by you – it's defined by the blood of Christ Jesus shed for you and for the remission of all your sins. That's the old term – remission - and I like it. It's not just that Jesus forgives you, it's that He keeps driving down your sin – whatever that sin is. Whether it's something big and obvious to everyone, or whether it's that subtle self-justification – Jesus gives you His Supper to forgive that sin and drive it down into the ground. He washes you in Baptism to drown that sin, so that a new man might emerge.

Forgiveness is not a gentle thing, my friends. It's simple and easy – the Word, maybe attached to water or to bread and wine – but it is not gentle. It declares war on your sinful flesh, and the Son of God fully armed and dangerous declares war on your sin to rescue you from it. And He does so in His Word. In the Name of Christ the Crucified +