Sermon: Oculi (Lent 3) - 2021

7 March 2021

Text: Luke 11:14-28 (Ex 8:16-24, Eph 5:1-9)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Our Lord’s opponents and enemies are so jealous of Him, that no matter what He does, it must be evil.  So when He heals people from horrific diseases and gives them a new lease on life, His enemies attack Him for “working on the Sabbath.”  Of course, they don’t mind the priests working on the Sabbath, nor do they refrain from saving one of their livestock animals that falls and needs rescued on the Sabbath.

In addition to miraculous healings and feedings of thousands, our Lord casts out demons.  And today’s Gospel deals with one such successful exorcism done by Jesus.  Instead of giving thanks to God that this man who was formerly held captive by a devil that actually made him unable to speak, the people that hate Jesus came up with a novel way to explain the successful exorcism and express hatred of Jesus at the same time: “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons.”

Can you imagine being at war, and your county’s general continues winning battle after battle, taking the fight to the enemy and crushing them – only to have the news media back home spreading a conspiracy theory that the general is only winning battles because he is secretly in league with the enemy that he is defeating?

Our Lord points out how ridiculous this charge against Him is by appealing to common sense and history: “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls.  And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?”  He also points to the Jewish exorcists, and asks rhetorically by whom they cast out demons. 

Satan is the enemy.  We mention him every time we pray the Lord’s prayer: “Deliver us from evil.”  A better translation is “deliver us from the evil one.”  In Luther’s morning and evening prayers, we pray “Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me.”  Satan has been our enemy ever since he brought death and chaos into our perfect world by deceiving Eve and by luring Adam to participate in her sin.  And because of Adam, we are all plagued by sin and death.  Jesus has come to cure us of every disease, raise us from death, defeat the devil, and to accomplish all of this at the cross by crushing the head of the devil.

It is easy to forget that we are at war – especially when we assume that our tomorrows will always be better than our yesterdays, when we are relatively free, unlike people living under tyrannical governments, when we are wealthy and can afford luxuries and have plenty to eat.  Technology just keeps getting better, and we have plenty of things to distract us from really looking evil in the eye. 

But every now and then, we are reminded of the devil’s hatred for us, and the fact that we need to be rescued.  And just as Jesus had His enemies when He walked the earth, He still does today.  There are mockers, who make us ashamed to be Christians.  There are haters, who are on an active campaign to destroy the church and cripple our faith.  There are cultural and political forces that know that we are their enemy, and they apply pressure to stifle and silence us – even if many Christians still think we are friends with the world.  There are demons – the same unseen spirits that Jesus cast out – who oppress us, tempt us, and try to separate us from Christ.  And Jesus is still with us to deliver us from evil, to free us from bondage to sin, Satan, and death, and to provide us with the weaponized Word of God and fortifying sacraments as we fight for King and kingdom – and for each other.

We do not cast out demons by our own strength.  We do not forgive sins by our own righteousness.  We do not win the victory over the devil by our own mighty power.  We have a general who is our King and our Savior, our Redeemer, and our access to God Himself in space and time.  God never slumbers nor sleeps, nor does He take off Sundays to leave us at the mercy of the devil.  And He certainly never cooperates with the kingdom of darkness nor does the bidding of our old evil foe.

Jesus describes His power over Satan using a curious term: the “finger of God.”  There is a famous painting by Michelangelo, depicting the creation, in which God is touching fingers with Adam and giving him the spark of life.  Indeed, the Holy Spirit is the “finger of God” by whom the Father gives life to mankind.  For the Spirit is the “Lord and giver of life.”  Jesus uses this term “finger of God” because it was used in the Old Testament – and we heard it read again today.

The term “finger of God” was actually said by the enemies of the people of God, the Egyptian magicians who were priests of false gods – including the Pharaoh himself.  They could not reproduce the plagues that God allowed Moses to create in Egypt to try to bring Pharaoh to repentance and get him to liberate the children of Israel from their slavery.  The magicians confessed that the “finger of God” was bringing on the plagues, and their false gods and their secret arts and magic could neither recreate it, nor stop it.  When the Spirit comes to each of us, we can resist or we can receive Him in faith and repentance.  Pharaoh did not repent, rather his “heart was hardened.” 

Our Lord Jesus Christ knows that His hearers know this term.  They have heard the story of the Exodus again and again in their lives.  He is, in a sense, comparing them to the feeble magicians and the unrepentant Pharaoh, he who resisted God the Holy Spirit, whose hardened heart was to bring only more plagues, and ultimately death, to his people and his own household as a result. 

The Holy Spirit “proceeds from the Father and the Son.”  The Lord sends each of us this same “finger of God” as a free gift to fight for us and defend us from all evil – even the evil one and his demons.  But the free gift can, and often is, rejected, dear friends.  And those who reject this gift are the ones who align themselves with Beelzebul.  They are the ones whose hardened hearts will only bring more devils, more plagues, and death itself: eternal death.  Such blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, this refusal to believe that the Lord Jesus has come to free us from sin, is indeed the one sin that cannot be forgiven – because one who commits this sin refuses to ask to be forgiven. 

For as our Lord says: “If it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”  He comes upon you, dear friends, not to destroy you, but to save you.  Jesus Himself went to the cross as a willing sacrifice, a substitutionary offering for our sins, so that we may receive the gift of His righteousness.  This is given to you by the finger of God, the Holy Spirit that you receive when you hear His Word and partake of His sacraments. 

Jesus has come indeed to cast out all demons, Beelzebul, Satan, and every evil.  He calls us to repent and receive the Holy Spirit.  As St. Paul says, our Lord “loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

As we exorcise those young and old who come to us to receive the free gift Holy Baptism, we continue to cast out demons today, saying: “Depart you unclean spirit, and make room for the Holy Spirit…”

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.