3-20-22 Oculi

Bible Text: Luke 11:14-28 | Preacher: Pastor Andrew Richard | Series: Lent 2022 | So far the season of Lent has revolved around Jesus’ conflict with the devil. The first Sunday in Lent Jesus was tempted by the devil and overcame. Last Sunday Jesus healed the Canaanite woman’s daughter, who was badly possessed by a demon. This week we find Jesus casting out another demon and then preaching about the devil and his demons. And the season of Lent builds up to the ultimate combat between Jesus and Satan on Good Friday.

It’s good for us to remember that we have an archenemy. Why is it good? First, because it would be foolish to go about heedlessly, as if there weren’t a diabolical adversary constantly plotting our temporal and eternal demise. So Peter warns in 1 Peter 5, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith.” Luther writes in the Large Catechism, when commenting on the Lord’s Prayer, that the devil’s “purpose is to make us scorn and despise both the Word and works of God, to tear us away from faith, hope, and love, to draw us into unbelief, false security, and stubbornness, or, on the contrary, to drive us into despair, denial of God, blasphemy, and countless other abominable sins” (III.104) “He crushes some and drives others to insanity; some he drowns in water, and many he hounds to suicide and other dreadful catastrophes” (III.115).

So it’s good to remember our archenemy so that we aren’t careless. Second, we should remember our archenemy because doing so will drive us to prayer. When are mindful of how real and powerful the devil is and how helpless we are against him, we will realize that we have nothing to do but to pray to God, who alone is more powerful than Satan. We saw the Canaanite woman do this last week. So also in Psalm 6 David recognizes his helplessness against his enemies, “My eye wastes away because of grief; it grows weak because of all my foes.” But then he says, “Depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping. The Lord has heard my plea; the Lord accepts my prayer. All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled; they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment.”

We remember our archenemy so that we aren’t careless, so that we seek help from God in prayer, and third: we remain mindful of the devil for the sake of Christ’s honor. The people of Israel didn’t honor David for slaying a bunny rabbit, which any of them could have done. The people of Israel honored David because he slew a giant of a man, of whom they were afraid and against whom they were helpless. If we regard Satan as unreal or weak, we will think less of Christ. But if we realize just how awful Satan is, then we will have great respect for the champion who triumphed over him. And an excellent passage for reflecting on the glory of Christ in defeating the devil is the one set before us today.

The reading began, “Now he was casting out a demon that was mute.” How did Jesus cast out demons? In Matthew 8 it says that Jesus “cast out the spirits with a word.” So we hear Jesus say such things as, “Be silent, and come out of him” (Mk. 1:25), “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again” (Mk. 9:25), and even simply, “Go” (Mt. 8:32). Last week we heard that Jesus didn’t even have to be in close proximity to the demon to cast it out. He told the Canaanite woman, “Be it done for you as you desire,” and his Word had authority over the demon from afar, and the demon had to leave. Even the devil himself has to obey the command of Christ. At the end of the temptation Jesus said, “Be gone, Satan!” and it said, “Then the devil left him.”

When it comes to dealing with the devil and his minions, Jesus fights with his Word. His Word is like the smooth stone that Goliath despised, yet which was also Goliath’s undoing. The people in the reading also despise Jesus’ Word. “But some of them said, ‘He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons.’” For this group, the simple Word of Jesus couldn’t possibly be what healed the man and sent the demon out. There had to be something more powerful behind that Word, something like the power of Satan. Jesus reveals to them how ridiculous and contradictory their argument is.

Then there’s the other group: “others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven.” This group likewise despises Jesus’ Word. Jesus has just performed a sign from heaven: he cast out a demon, which only God has the power to do. But the people don’t consider it a real sign, and they keep seeking another one. Maybe Jesus’ Word just wasn’t that impressive to them. Maybe they were part of that scoffing crowd that doesn’t believe in the devil or demons. Whatever the case, when Jesus opened his mouth, they didn’t think much of it.

In a little while we’ll consider the consequences of thinking little of Jesus’ Word. Now, however, we come to Jesus’ glorious description of his victory over the devil: “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.”

The devil is the strong man. He was fully armed, like Goliath, and with an iron grip he held his own. And what was the devil’s own? What were his goods? You were! You were the possession of Satan. His goods were safe, not that you had any security or salvation, but in that nothing could challenge the devil. We did not have it in us to rise against him and prevail. And since we all belonged to him, no other man could come to his palace from the outside and storm it. All mankind was bound in his dungeon. Our former state is described in Psalm 107: “Inhabitants of darkness and of the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and in irons! For they had rebelled against the words of God, and spurned the counsel of the Most High. So he bowed their hearts down with hard labor; they fell down, with none to help.”

But then Jesus came and conquered the devil. The devil with all his weaponry and regalia was no match for Jesus with his cross and crown of thorns. Jesus has bound Satan, taken away his weapons and armor, rescued us, and taken us to be his own. “He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and burst their bonds apart. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! For he shatters the doors of bronze and cuts in two the bars of iron.”

At this point in the reading Jesus makes the following comment: “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” This is to say, there are two kingdoms, and only two kingdoms, on earth. There is Christ’s kingdom, the kingdom of the victor. And there is the devil’s kingdom, the kingdom of the loser. Every person on the face of the earth belongs to one kingdom or the other. This may seem contrary to our observation. It seems there are a great many people who aren’t Christians, but who also are not hostile toward God. They appear to be little city states of their own, neutral parties who don’t get caught up in the conflict of the two major kingdoms, a demilitarized zone where there is peace.

It’s good that Jesus makes his comment, because what he has to say about the matter is the truth – and it is a truth that our eyes do not tell us. There is no neutral party. There is no gray area. There is no person who does not belong either to him or to Satan. The appearance of a third kingdom that gets to enjoy the benefits of Christ’s victory and peace and also the practices and pastimes of the devil’s kingdom is only a mirage, and a fine trick of the devil.

Jesus describes the person who tries living in such a third kingdom in the section that follows: “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person” – that is, someone whom Jesus has set free from the devil – “it goes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’” Note that even though we have been set free from the devil’s kingdom, demons still regard us as their possessions.

Now when a demon returns, it may find that a person has faith in Christ and that the Holy Spirit has taken up residence, and the demon will regard this as a filthy and hazardous place to live. However, the demon may find its former house swept clean and put in order and nicely decorated. Now if a demon regards a faithful Christian as a filthy and hazardous home, you can imagine what the demon considers to be clean and decorated. In truth, the place is a mess, but faith in Christ has been loaded into a dustpan and thrown out the back door, and so the demon considers it to be a very clean place. The place is in chaos, but the unclean spirit finds in the man all manner of unclean desires and practices, things such as we heard in today’s epistle, “sexual immorality…impurity…covetousness…filthiness…foolish talk…crude joking,” and others. The demon sees these things and feels right at home.

How did the man go from receiving the benefit of Christ’s victory to becoming an even worse captive of the devil than before? He tried to have it both ways. He tried living in Christ’s kingdom and the devil’s kingdom. In order to do that, one must learn to justify one’s own sin, and that means learning to disregard certain parts of Jesus’ Word. Eventually the man who does this will think little of Jesus’ Word in its entirety, and when the demon catches a whiff of such scorn, it finds it as appealing as the scent of a good meal that’s been simmering for hours on the stove. “I’m coming home!” it says, and finds everything so diabolical that he must bring some other demons along with him. Those who scorned Jesus’ Word in the reading could look forward to such a fate. Their last state will be worse than the first. But Lord, have mercy! Don’t let this happen to us.

And how shall it be prevented? How shall we remain firmly fixed in Jesus’ kingdom? In the final verses of the reading, Jesus points us to the simple means by which we remain in his kingdom. Even something as extraordinary as bearing and nursing the Son of God does not have such power and blessing as what Jesus mentions. He points us to the Word of God and says, “Blessed rather are those who hear the Word of God and keep it.” What does it mean to “keep” God’s Word? Keeping God’s Word means to hold fast to his Word and cherish it as a great treasure, to “hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it,” as we say from the Small Catechism. To keep God’s Word means come to church. Read your Bible. Memorize Scripture. To keep God’s Word means to confess it boldly in the face of a world that would rather kill you for it than continue to tolerate your existence. To keep God’s Word means that you have it in mind for everything: where you live, where you send your children to school. The Word of God is of the highest importance. To keep God’s Word means that, like Mary, you cling to the one thing needful and make all of life revolve around it. Delight in that weapon which has power even over demons. God’s Word is the stone that slew the giant, and that continues to attack and ward off the devil. To this Word “you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts,” as it says in 2 Peter 1. And on that last day, by the power of the Word of Christ, the darkness of the devil’s kingdom will be forever gone, and we will shine forever in the kingdom of our Father. Amen.

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