The Third Sunday in Lent - Oculi - March 7, 2010

The Church Season of Lent,
Oculi,
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (March 7, 2010)
One Year Series

“The Strong Man”

Readings:
Psalm 136
Ex. 8:16-24
Eph. 5:1-9
Luke 11:14-28

Sermon Form: Deductive

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Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the Gospel Lesson from the 11th chapter of St. Luke, especially the following verses.

Luke 11:14-28 (NIV)

14 Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed. 15 But some of them said, “By Beelzebub, the prince of demons, he is driving out demons.” 16 Others tested him by asking for a sign from heaven. 17 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: “Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. 18 If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebub. 19 Now if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your followers drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 20 But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you. 21 “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. 22 But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up the spoils. 23 “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters. 24 “When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ 25 When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. 26 Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first.” 27 As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.” 28 He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Quite a crowd gathered around Jesus in this Gospel reading for today. Some who heard His message were amazed, but all the rest either didn’t hear Jesus message, didn’t want to hear His message, or were distracted by the thoughts of their own personal agendas. That about sums it up for all but one person, and that last person heard the message, and the parable, but didn’t understand what Jesus meant.

A little bit different than today’s crowds where we have many messages coming at us from many directions and we don’t know which one to believe. But still the question is with us today, what do we believe? So, why not straddle the fence, it’s much easier that way. It’s much easier to pretend to be a Christian for an hour or so while Christ or our neighbors are watching than it is to stand up every day and defend our Christian beliefs or biblical standards. Because we’ve seen what happens to people who say they’re Christians and it ain’t pretty. Those who stand up for what is moral and right are often called closed-minded or hateful.

But, Jesus is just doing something good. He is casting out a demon from a man who had been made unable to speak. When the demon had gone out of the man, he was able to talk again. Then the crowd that saw this, marveled at the wonderful thing that Jesus had done.

But there were still some who hated Jesus, and out of envy couldn't stand or accept His goodness. And those people called good =>evil. They said, "He casts out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons."(v. 5) In other words they were saying, "The only reason Jesus can cast out demons is because He gets His power from Satan." Christ’s opposition tried to raise suspicions about Him because they saw what He did.

Isn’t this the way of the devil? To plant a seed of doubt and then work against our faith in Jesus? These people had seen a great miracle yet tested God by asking Jesus for a sign from heaven. Sounds all too familiar, we’ve all tested God daring Him to do a miracle, and usually that dare comes in our prayer. Dear Jesus, Lord in heaven I dare you to make me well, and I’ll spend the rest of my life proclaiming the wonders of God. Somehow it seems that only God keeps His part of those kinds of prayers.

The people in the crowd around Jesus had already seen a miracle. Everyone of you have seen a miracle too, in fact you’ve seen thousands of miracles. In the Gospel lesson Jesus cast out of the demon, but unbelief always wants something just a little bit more and different than what Jesus does or what He gives. Funny thing, we want what we want and we want it now, instead Jesus gives us what this crowd needs and somehow that’s not enough.

But Jesus is not hard hearted about the crowd, rather he continues by returning their obvious lack of faith by continuing to teach. So in Christian love, Jesus calls this crowd an evil generation which seeks a sign, which wants to walk by sight and not by faith, which trusts in experiences and emotions more than Christ and His Word. Jesus gives them what they need a sign. But, the only sign that would be given them is the sign of Jonah, the sign of a man buried three days in the belly of death but who rose again from the depths to new life. Jesus spoke of his own death and resurrection. He would give them a sign which faith clings to, the sign of the cross where Christ was crucified to save all us sinners.

Jesus has given us this same sign of the cross too. He has performed before us those thousands of miracles which I mentioned a few moments ago. The sign and miracle is that of baptism, where our very bodies are marked and sealed by water and the Word. At the font Jesus fulfilled the words of the old baptismal liturgy, "Depart unclean spirit; make room for the Holy Spirit." Like the mute, we are conceived and born with an evil spirit. Now, we may not come into this world demon-possessed in the strict sense. But we are by nature in the possession and the dominion of the devil.

But thanks be to God that you have been conveyed into the kingdom of God's beloved Son. The strong man has come and for those who believe and are baptized He has given you a greater miracle and that is eternal life. The tongues of the faithful are loosed to sing the praises of Jesus Christ who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Christ is the truth over and against all the falsehood of this world and of all those who call what is good an evil. satan is not divided against himself. But Christ has divided and conquered satan's kingdom by the power of His holy cross. But satan still desires to conquer us by causing us to doubt who Christ is and why He came to this earth. Satan still seeks to turn our eyes and our ears from the miracles Christ performed and to turn our thoughts to that which is around us.

We make false gods out of our desire for things, we make false gods out of the people we see in life, sports figures, politicians, and leaders. And worse yet, we even have the audacity to make heroes out of ourselves. But true faith does not trust in ourselves, nor in men, for a Christ said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”(v.28)

And Jesus made 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 is no stance of neutrality when it comes to Christ, either you're walking on the path of light or you're wandering down the path of darkness. There are no third options.

In the midst of our daily struggles, let us never forget that it is in Christ, that has won the victory for us. Christ is the strong man who defeats the devil, the world, and even our sin, and this victory He does not keep to Himself, He gives to you freely in your baptism. You are in Christ, and Christ is in You. Jesus Christ, not only the Strong man, but the Strongest One, He is the Lord over death and the devil. You have heard of Christ’s miracles, you have seen them too, thanks be to God for sending His Son into this world to die for us. For by Christ’s strong hand the door to heaven is opened for you. Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

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