Exodus 8:16-24/Ephesians 5:1-9/St Luke 11:14-28
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
First things first, the devil is real. Do not be deceived otherwise. He fell from heaven, or more precisely, he was εχβαλε, that is, thrown down from heaven; exorcised from that celestial paradise to roam and wander the earth, always dreading that coming Last Day when Christ the Lord of Hosts, YHWH Sabaoth, returns to judge the living and the dead, and slam the devil in his cage of hell forever.
Until then, beloved, he roams to and fro upon the earth, prowling as a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. It was he who slithered into the House the Lord built, that familial relationship established in the Garden of Eden, God’s blessed gift of marriage, and tempted our First Parents to fall, effectively capturing that palace and goods for himself.
Why do you suppose there is such contempt and discord concerning both the definition and reality of marriage in our world today? And why is there such discord within our marriages? Without a doubt it is the subtle (and not so subtle) work of the devil, the usurper himself who seeks to undermine both Church and State concerning this blessed gift of our Father in heaven, bestowed as a beautiful picture of the everlasting relationship between Christ, our heavenly Bridegroom and His Bride, the Church.
But know this, he is not its rightful owner. Neither of marriage and all its re-definitions, nor of the heavens and the earth in which he dwells and temporarily rules. He is a pretender to the throne and not the Heir. You heard the Psalm: Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever. He, through Wisdom, created the heavens and spread out the earth and set the great lights. He who performed the plagues upon Egypt through the hand of Moses and Aaron and by His own mighty hand and outstretched arm, lead Israel out of bondage in Egypt. He is the rightful Lord and King of all creation. Therefore Satan must remain fully armed and guard his spoil because it does not belong to him and he will not retain it forever.
Indeed the in-breaking of the kingdom of the Father, the very reign and rule of God, comes in the person of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh. He is the Stronger Man who does battle against the Tempter in the wilderness, as you heard on the First Sunday in Lent. He resists His enticements and disarms your Adversary by the Word of the Lord which proceeds from the mouth of the Father.
Then last Sunday, our Lord Jesus healed the demon-possessed daughter of the Canaanite woman praising the faith of an outcast Gentile for it looks to the hand of her Master for mercy. Her eye and her prayer were toward the Lord, for He alone is merciful and compassion, and His steadfast love endures forever. He is the very finger of God which drives out Satan and overthrows His kingdom; redeeming the woman’s daughter as the rightful house of the Lord. The demons cannot have her.
So also today, our Lord performs an exorcism on a demon that was making the man mute. When He had cast out the demon, the once-mute man spoke. Is it coincidence that this account follows our Lord’s instruction to His disciples in how to pray? St Luke’s version of the Our Father concludes with the petition, And lead us not into temptation and does not have the familiar ending, but deliver us from evil. Or, more precisely translated, Deliver us from the Evil One.
But it does have this miracle of the exorcism of the mute man and the parable of the unclean spirit. Is this account, then, to be seen as the practical implication of the Seventh Petition? Is not the Lord’s Prayer an exorcistic prayer? Every petition begging our God and Father for the sake of Jesus Christ and His Word and promise to break and hinder, to restrict and restrain the evil plans and purposes of the devil which do not want us to hallow God’s Name, to let His Kingdom come, His will to be done, or allow us to have a single crust of bread and enjoy the forgiveness of sins?
Indeed the entire work and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ is an exorcism; a routing of the old evil foe from his ill-gotten palace and goods! And as He sets His face toward Jerusalem, our Lord’s battle engagement with Satan intensifies even as the reactions to His liberating work grows increasingly more hostile.
Even the pagan Egyptian magicians recognized the finger of God in the plagues of Moses and Aaron. But these Israelite crowds accuse Him of casting out demons by Beelzebul, that is, of being in league with Satan! It is the height of blasphemy! This is the sin against the Holy Ghost. For those in the crowd who insinuate such allegiance with the Lord of the Flies, the King of the Dunghill (which is was Beelzebub means), they themselves are under a satanic delusion and servants of sin, obedient subjects of the kingdom of the Prince of Darkness.
How does such obstinate unbelief occur in the hearts of men? It occurred then in the same manner as it occurs today: through false preaching and teaching, through the poisonous doctrines of the devil who has a willingly and complicit ally in our own flesh, in our adamic hearts. Why do you suppose St Paul admonishes you so strongly, saying, Let no one deceive you with empty words? That is, with vain speech and flattering tongue. For “empty words” equates to false doctrine, which is demonic precisely in that it leads you away from Christ and Him crucified, away from His Word not only of the Gospel of His grace and forgiveness, but away from the truth and holiness of His Law, which is also for your good.
Make no mistake, dear ones, Satan is an equal opportunity idolator. He has no qualms in sharing your allegiance with other false gods and misbelief. His creed is tolerance. His liturgy pluralism. His hymnody is live and let live. His preaching is hedonistic self-indulgence.
He does not create, but tears down and destroys. He enters the House that once belonged to the Lord and redecorates it for himself, moving and changing things ever so subtly until you view and accept them ever-so-slightly differently than how the Lord gave them. Until at last you may not be blatantly against the Lord, but you certainly aren’t for Him, boldly confessing His will and Word against the hostile speech of a world at odds with the Christ and His Kingdom.
Thanks be to God, then, who gives you the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Stronger Man who has come to defeat Satan and plunder his domain, removing him from the home of your heart and soul, which are not his to begin with. The Lord enters to bring you out and He establishes a new house and home, not made with mortal hands, but eternal in the heavens, in His own flesh and blood.
First things first, Christ came to bind the strong man, Satan. He is the Stronger Man who defeats the devil with a different kind of strength altogether. You saw it in His temptations in the wilderness, you know it by His healing of the demon possessed girl and the exorcism of this mute demon. It is not with swagger or sinister cunning. Not with trickery, treachery, or deceit. Not with harsh threats or deadly accusations - those are all the armor and weaponry of the devil.
Christ comes with long-suffering patience, tender kindness, and gentle compassion. He does not impose His own will upon His neighbor, nor assert His own will to make a house for Himself. He will not force Himself on the world or upon you, your own heart and soul and body. But He lives as a Son in His Father’s House. He does the will of His God and Father. He stretches out His hand against that Pharaoh the devil, and allowed it to be nailed to the Staff of His Cross. By His death He struck at the very heart of Satan’s weapons: death itself. By His death He disarms your Adversary and causes him to fall on his own sword. By His death Christ destroys the power of death and by His resurrection brings life and immortality to light. The crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ is His ultimate exorcism of the devil; Satan is driven out to make room for Christ Jesus for you and in you.
But He will not force Himself upon you. He is not like those ISIS monsters capturing young women to be their sex-slaves. Jesus is the faithful and gentle Bridegroom, who woes you with the liturgy and song of His self-sacrificing love and forgiveness. He ransoms you from the darkness in which you dwelt, expels your demons by water and His Word, and clothes you in the pristine wedding garment of His righteousness through Holy Baptism, which is also His sign and ring, the seal of His pledge and faithfulness to you. You are betrothed, beloved, in chastity and honor to your rightful Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, who has prepared a house and home for you.
A marriage so begun continues only through the on-going work of the Holy Spirit of Christ upon you and in you for the sake of your sanctification and the strengthening of your faith toward God and love toward your neighbor. This happens, beloved, through regular catechesis in the Word of the Lord, through the reading, marking, learning and inward digestion of His Word, by the faithful hearing of the preaching of His Word for the forgiveness of your sins and the receiving of His Sacraments of Holy Communion and Holy Absolution. Such is the meaning of the beatitude of Jesus, who said, Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it. That is, who hold it fast in faith and love.
For in this way you keep yourself from becoming entangled once more in the world’s filth and redecorate your heart as a home for the devil. Such is the admonition of St Paul who urges you to be imitators of God, as beloved children, to walk in love and as children of light for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true. And here is the Fruit of He who is the Light of the world, the One who walked in love for you, giving Himself up as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God: His Body and Blood, crucified and risen, given to you here, by which you become a partaker of His own life and love.
For you are the beloved Goshen of our Lord Jesus Christ. A people set apart for Himself in the midst of this Egyptian world. His kingdom comes to you and for you and in you by His Word and Spirit by which He gathers you to Himself in love and faithfulness, driving away your demons. He shall rescue you from every evil of body and soul, possessions and reputation, and finally, when your last hour comes, give you a blessed end, and graciously take you from this valley of sorrow to Himself in heaven.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
First things first, the devil is real. Do not be deceived otherwise. He fell from heaven, or more precisely, he was εχβαλε, that is, thrown down from heaven; exorcised from that celestial paradise to roam and wander the earth, always dreading that coming Last Day when Christ the Lord of Hosts, YHWH Sabaoth, returns to judge the living and the dead, and slam the devil in his cage of hell forever.
Until then, beloved, he roams to and fro upon the earth, prowling as a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. It was he who slithered into the House the Lord built, that familial relationship established in the Garden of Eden, God’s blessed gift of marriage, and tempted our First Parents to fall, effectively capturing that palace and goods for himself.
Why do you suppose there is such contempt and discord concerning both the definition and reality of marriage in our world today? And why is there such discord within our marriages? Without a doubt it is the subtle (and not so subtle) work of the devil, the usurper himself who seeks to undermine both Church and State concerning this blessed gift of our Father in heaven, bestowed as a beautiful picture of the everlasting relationship between Christ, our heavenly Bridegroom and His Bride, the Church.
But know this, he is not its rightful owner. Neither of marriage and all its re-definitions, nor of the heavens and the earth in which he dwells and temporarily rules. He is a pretender to the throne and not the Heir. You heard the Psalm: Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever. He, through Wisdom, created the heavens and spread out the earth and set the great lights. He who performed the plagues upon Egypt through the hand of Moses and Aaron and by His own mighty hand and outstretched arm, lead Israel out of bondage in Egypt. He is the rightful Lord and King of all creation. Therefore Satan must remain fully armed and guard his spoil because it does not belong to him and he will not retain it forever.
Indeed the in-breaking of the kingdom of the Father, the very reign and rule of God, comes in the person of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh. He is the Stronger Man who does battle against the Tempter in the wilderness, as you heard on the First Sunday in Lent. He resists His enticements and disarms your Adversary by the Word of the Lord which proceeds from the mouth of the Father.
Then last Sunday, our Lord Jesus healed the demon-possessed daughter of the Canaanite woman praising the faith of an outcast Gentile for it looks to the hand of her Master for mercy. Her eye and her prayer were toward the Lord, for He alone is merciful and compassion, and His steadfast love endures forever. He is the very finger of God which drives out Satan and overthrows His kingdom; redeeming the woman’s daughter as the rightful house of the Lord. The demons cannot have her.
So also today, our Lord performs an exorcism on a demon that was making the man mute. When He had cast out the demon, the once-mute man spoke. Is it coincidence that this account follows our Lord’s instruction to His disciples in how to pray? St Luke’s version of the Our Father concludes with the petition, And lead us not into temptation and does not have the familiar ending, but deliver us from evil. Or, more precisely translated, Deliver us from the Evil One.
But it does have this miracle of the exorcism of the mute man and the parable of the unclean spirit. Is this account, then, to be seen as the practical implication of the Seventh Petition? Is not the Lord’s Prayer an exorcistic prayer? Every petition begging our God and Father for the sake of Jesus Christ and His Word and promise to break and hinder, to restrict and restrain the evil plans and purposes of the devil which do not want us to hallow God’s Name, to let His Kingdom come, His will to be done, or allow us to have a single crust of bread and enjoy the forgiveness of sins?
Indeed the entire work and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ is an exorcism; a routing of the old evil foe from his ill-gotten palace and goods! And as He sets His face toward Jerusalem, our Lord’s battle engagement with Satan intensifies even as the reactions to His liberating work grows increasingly more hostile.
Even the pagan Egyptian magicians recognized the finger of God in the plagues of Moses and Aaron. But these Israelite crowds accuse Him of casting out demons by Beelzebul, that is, of being in league with Satan! It is the height of blasphemy! This is the sin against the Holy Ghost. For those in the crowd who insinuate such allegiance with the Lord of the Flies, the King of the Dunghill (which is was Beelzebub means), they themselves are under a satanic delusion and servants of sin, obedient subjects of the kingdom of the Prince of Darkness.
How does such obstinate unbelief occur in the hearts of men? It occurred then in the same manner as it occurs today: through false preaching and teaching, through the poisonous doctrines of the devil who has a willingly and complicit ally in our own flesh, in our adamic hearts. Why do you suppose St Paul admonishes you so strongly, saying, Let no one deceive you with empty words? That is, with vain speech and flattering tongue. For “empty words” equates to false doctrine, which is demonic precisely in that it leads you away from Christ and Him crucified, away from His Word not only of the Gospel of His grace and forgiveness, but away from the truth and holiness of His Law, which is also for your good.
Make no mistake, dear ones, Satan is an equal opportunity idolator. He has no qualms in sharing your allegiance with other false gods and misbelief. His creed is tolerance. His liturgy pluralism. His hymnody is live and let live. His preaching is hedonistic self-indulgence.
He does not create, but tears down and destroys. He enters the House that once belonged to the Lord and redecorates it for himself, moving and changing things ever so subtly until you view and accept them ever-so-slightly differently than how the Lord gave them. Until at last you may not be blatantly against the Lord, but you certainly aren’t for Him, boldly confessing His will and Word against the hostile speech of a world at odds with the Christ and His Kingdom.
Thanks be to God, then, who gives you the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Stronger Man who has come to defeat Satan and plunder his domain, removing him from the home of your heart and soul, which are not his to begin with. The Lord enters to bring you out and He establishes a new house and home, not made with mortal hands, but eternal in the heavens, in His own flesh and blood.
First things first, Christ came to bind the strong man, Satan. He is the Stronger Man who defeats the devil with a different kind of strength altogether. You saw it in His temptations in the wilderness, you know it by His healing of the demon possessed girl and the exorcism of this mute demon. It is not with swagger or sinister cunning. Not with trickery, treachery, or deceit. Not with harsh threats or deadly accusations - those are all the armor and weaponry of the devil.
Christ comes with long-suffering patience, tender kindness, and gentle compassion. He does not impose His own will upon His neighbor, nor assert His own will to make a house for Himself. He will not force Himself on the world or upon you, your own heart and soul and body. But He lives as a Son in His Father’s House. He does the will of His God and Father. He stretches out His hand against that Pharaoh the devil, and allowed it to be nailed to the Staff of His Cross. By His death He struck at the very heart of Satan’s weapons: death itself. By His death He disarms your Adversary and causes him to fall on his own sword. By His death Christ destroys the power of death and by His resurrection brings life and immortality to light. The crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ is His ultimate exorcism of the devil; Satan is driven out to make room for Christ Jesus for you and in you.
But He will not force Himself upon you. He is not like those ISIS monsters capturing young women to be their sex-slaves. Jesus is the faithful and gentle Bridegroom, who woes you with the liturgy and song of His self-sacrificing love and forgiveness. He ransoms you from the darkness in which you dwelt, expels your demons by water and His Word, and clothes you in the pristine wedding garment of His righteousness through Holy Baptism, which is also His sign and ring, the seal of His pledge and faithfulness to you. You are betrothed, beloved, in chastity and honor to your rightful Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, who has prepared a house and home for you.
A marriage so begun continues only through the on-going work of the Holy Spirit of Christ upon you and in you for the sake of your sanctification and the strengthening of your faith toward God and love toward your neighbor. This happens, beloved, through regular catechesis in the Word of the Lord, through the reading, marking, learning and inward digestion of His Word, by the faithful hearing of the preaching of His Word for the forgiveness of your sins and the receiving of His Sacraments of Holy Communion and Holy Absolution. Such is the meaning of the beatitude of Jesus, who said, Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it. That is, who hold it fast in faith and love.
For in this way you keep yourself from becoming entangled once more in the world’s filth and redecorate your heart as a home for the devil. Such is the admonition of St Paul who urges you to be imitators of God, as beloved children, to walk in love and as children of light for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true. And here is the Fruit of He who is the Light of the world, the One who walked in love for you, giving Himself up as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God: His Body and Blood, crucified and risen, given to you here, by which you become a partaker of His own life and love.
For you are the beloved Goshen of our Lord Jesus Christ. A people set apart for Himself in the midst of this Egyptian world. His kingdom comes to you and for you and in you by His Word and Spirit by which He gathers you to Himself in love and faithfulness, driving away your demons. He shall rescue you from every evil of body and soul, possessions and reputation, and finally, when your last hour comes, give you a blessed end, and graciously take you from this valley of sorrow to Himself in heaven.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
RSS Feed