Oculi, the 3rd Sunday in Lent + Luke 18:14-28
In the Name of
the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Jesus assumed human flesh
so that He could destroy the works of the devil. In today’s Gospel lesson Jesus
is helping one such poor demoniac when the devil strikes again with his lies.
Some of those who witness Jesus casting out this demon claim that Christ is in
league with the devil! They ascribe the works of God to the devil. That which
God calls good in His Word, the devil calls evil. That which God calls evil in
His Word, the devil suggests is good. So these men who are in league with Satan
by their unbelief engage in this terrible blasphemy. But the claim is absurd. “Every kingdom divided against itself is
brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls. If Satan is
also divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?” Satan cannot
work against Satan. It would be counterproductive and destructive to the growth
of his kingdom. These men suggest that Jesus’ work is nothing but devilish
pageantry and choreography from Hell so as to distract from the true deception;
claiming the good works of God are really evil. That deception is a far more
potent poison in the minds of men. Calling God’s works evil and Satan’s lies
good is a most effective strategy for Satan to claw his way into hearts of men.
Jesus goes on, “If I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom
do your sons cast them out? Therefore
they will be your judges.” If Jesus is a tool of the devil in casting out
demons, then what does that say about Jewish exorcists? “But I cast out demons by the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God
has come upon you.” Having demonstrated the foolishness of their blasphemy,
He tells them exactly who He is and how He is able to do such things. He casts
out demons by the finger of God. In the book of Exodus, after the Egyptian
magicians can’t replicate the plague of lice, they tell Pharaoh, “This the finger
of God” (Exodus 8:19). The Finger of
God is His the tiniest bit of His power, especially when one considers how
often the Lord saves with His mighty, outstretched arm. Jesus casting out
demons is just the tip of the iceberg, the smallest digit of the power of
almighty God, by which He drives out the Devil.
Jesus
goes on. “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace,
his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than he comes upon him and
overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides
his spoils.” The devil is the
strong man, fully armed, who guards his own palace, keeping his goods in peace
and safety. He keeps men in the shackles of their sin. He keeps them bound in
thralldom by incessant and persistent temptation. He imprisons them in guilt
over their sins and shame of who they are because of their sins, continually
accusing sinners. Sinners are the devil’s goods that he holds in peace through temptation
and shame, and all humanity is in His possession. Until Christ comes. He is the
stronger man who strips the strong man of his armor and rescues the spoils. The
Only-Begotten Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity, assumed human
flesh so that He could meet the strong man on his own turf, entering into his
own palace, to disarm him. Jesus strips Satan of his armor, his lies and
deceptions. Jesus exposes the lies of Satan for what they are. He shows men
they cannot save themselves through their works and morality. Christ shows men
they cannot aid God by their strivings and their decisions. Jesus destroys
Satan’s temptations, showing them for what they really are, while silencing His
accusations by forgiving sins and giving His righteousness to sinners.
He
breaks Satan’s power by forgiving sins. He removes the devil’s accusations by
filling the ears of penitent sinners with His absolution. He still does this
daily by sending the Holy Spirit into men’s heart through His Word. Through
that Word He creates faith in men’s hearts so that they believe the promise of
the Gospel. That faith, created by the Holy Spirit through the Gospel justifies
men before God so that Satan now has no claim to all who believe and are
baptized. St. Paul tells us that “He has
delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love (Col. 1:13). By
giving us faith in the Gospel and forgiving our sins He snatches us from the
devil’s clutches and transfers us into His kingdom of grace where we possess
every blessing. Faith in Christ makes all who believe into sons of God where
they had once been sons of disobedience, children of wrath, and heirs of
everlasting punishment.
Christ
then speaks a word of warning to those who believe the promise of the Gospel.
He uses this illustration: “When an
unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and
finding none, he says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when
he comes, he finds it swept and
put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter
and dwell there; and the last state of
that man is worse than the first.” Once Christ casts out a demon, whether
during His earthly ministry or through His Gospel in the church by forgiving
the sins of men, the devil does not give up. Once Satan is cast out of the
heart in Holy Baptism, he does not simply concede defeat. Once a sin is
confessed, absolved, and put away, does not mean that the devil will stop tempting
with that particular sin. He does the opposite. When sin is confessed and
forgiven, Satan doubles down with that very sin, exposing the Christian to more
fiery temptations involving that sin. Once sin is put away and striven against,
Satan turns up the heat of the fiery furnace, trying to reignite the lusts and
desires of the sinful nature. He may, “go
through dry places, seeking rest” for a brief time. He will always come
back to the house where he used to dwell. If the person who has been forgiven
of his sins and has his house swept clean does not then allow the Triune God to
dwell in the house of his heart by faith, the devil will come back. Your heart
is a dwelling place meant for the habitation of God. If He is not present
through continual faith, the devil will find his old home.
The Christian must remain ever vigilant against the
schemes and wiles of the devil. He is prowling lion, lurking around every
corner, waiting to entrap you in your desires and to allure you into false
security so that you say, “I am forgiven, therefore I am fine and don’t have to
watch and pray against temptation.” False security, cockiness, and over
confidence in oneself is deadly to the soul since the devil is waiting for any
opportunity to pounce, dragging Christ’s Christians back into sin and an evil
conscience. When the woman from the crowd shouts, “Blessed is the womb that
bore you and the breasts that nursed you,” but Jesus teaches, “More than
that, blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it.” There is no
blessedness, especially in the face of the adversary the devil, except for the
blessedness of hearing the Word of God and keeping it. There is no blessedness
of the Christian outside of being watchful in prayer, contemplating the Word.
The Word is your sure defense against the devil’s schemes. The Word is the
sword of the Spirit by which you deflect temptation. Faith in the Word, in
Christ and the promise of the Gospel, that is the shield of salvation by which
you extinguish his fiery darts. Beware false security. Beware the devil’s
deceptions. God does not sweep the house of your heart clean for its own sake,
but so that He can dwell there by faith, for “Blessed are those who hear the
Word of God and keep it.”
In the Name of
the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.