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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
If you recently searched Google News for “demons”, one of the top stories is about a Canadian man on trial for attempted murder, who told a court on Friday that a demon inside of him, who comes out when the man is drunk, had been looking for a victim for years (Citizen). Another top story is about an Irish Roman Catholic priest, who wrote an open letter to the country’s bishops urgently calling for his church body to train more exorcists, due to a recent increase in demonic activity (Newsweek). Whether or not we believe their claims, with our supernatural world view, we cannot dismiss them out of hand. In fact, as we this morning consider today’s Gospel Reading, we realize that “Jesus destroys unclean spirits to save us”.
As you may recall from hearing last week’s Gospel Reading, after John the Baptizer was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the Gospel of God, calling people to repent and believe, and, passing along the Sea of Galilee calling Simon and Andrew and James and John to be fishers of men. As we heard in this morning’s Gospel Reading, they went into Capernaum, and, immediately on the Sabbath, Jesus entered the synagogue and was teaching, and immediately there was a man with an unclean spirit (or a man within the power and sphere of an unclean spirit [Voelz, ad loc Mark 1:2-3, p159]), which spirit Jesus ordered out of the man, and at once Jesus’s fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee. This morning we heard of Jesus’s first actions involving the present Kingdom of God that St. Mark’s Divinely‑inspired account reports, and, as a result of those first actions, we heard of the first confrontation with the forces opposed to Jesus and His reign and rule (Voelz, ad loc Mark 1:21-28, p156).
The unclean spirit cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” The contrast is striking: the unclean spirit knows the Holy One of God, and the unclean spirit seemingly also knows that in that Holy One’s presence he deserves judgment and its resulting destruction (confer James 2:19; Kretzmann, ad loc Mark 1:23-28, 168; Mann, ad loc Mark 1:24, 212). The spirit was certainly unclean religiously, in that he could not be brought into contact with the divine, and but the spirit was certainly also unclean morally, in that he was viciously evil (BAGD, 29; Hauck, TDNT 3:428 with n.6). The unclean spirit possessed a man, who no longer had control over himself, but the man was not necessarily himself guilty of more horrible sins than anyone else but was a victim of possession. Others may deliberately ally themselves with the devil, but they are not strictly “possessed by an unclean spirit” (or what is called elsewhere a “demon” [Mark 1:34]). Demon possession is a particular illness of the soul, and not deliberate enmity against God. Jesus as necessary rebuked, warned, or condemned those who allied themselves with the devil, and He generally showed mercy on and healed those who were possessed, casting out their unclean spirits, as we heard this morning. (Scaer, CLD XI:185-186.)
I am not aware that any of us here this morning are possessed by a demon, but, as we confessed this morning in the preparation for Divine Service, Setting One (Lutheran Service Book 151), we are by nature sinful and unclean. Perhaps somewhat in league with the devil—or, at least under His influence since shortly after Creation (confer Voelz, ad loc Mark 1:27, p162)—we sin against God in thought, word, and deed, by what we do, and by what we leave undone. Like the unclean spirit, we justly deserve God’s present and eternal punishment. But, the eternal fire was prepared for the devil and his angels, not for us (Matthew 25:41). God calls and enables us to turn in sorrow from our sin, to trust Him to forgive our sin, and to want to do better than to keep on sinning—in order for us to avoid that eternal fire. And, when we so repent, then He forgives our sinful natures and all our sin, whatever our sin may be; He forgives it for the sake of His Son, Jesus Christ.
In today’s Gospel Reading, we heard how Jesus astonished and amazed those who heard His teaching and witnessed His miraculous deed. His speech and acts are one (Roehrs-Franzmann, ad loc Mark 1:27, 46): He does not say one thing and do another! Jesus truly was and is the prophet like Moses, Whom we heard about in today’s Old Testament Reading (Deuteronomy 18:!5-20). But, more than that, Jesus truly was and is, as the unclean spirit said, the Holy One of God (confer John 6:69), Who came to destroy the works of the devil, or, perhaps, to free us from the devil’s work (1 John 3:8). Jesus is the Son of God, our Eternal Savior, the source of life and truth and grace, the Word made flesh, Whose birth among us unclean people hallows (that is, makes holy), all our human race (LSB 842:1, 4). Later, Jesus’s opponents accused Him of being possessed by a demon (Mark 3:22) and, because of His healing on the Sabbath and the crowd’s astonishment at His teaching, His opponents wanted to destroy Him (Mark 3:6; 11:18; confer Voelz, ad loc Mark 1:23, p162). And, in fact, they did bring about the crucifixion of Jesus, but Jesus only went to the cross out of His great love in order to save all people, including you and me. After an extended period of time without any prophets, Jesus’s teaching was astonishing and amazing, unlike anything the people had ever heard from their scribes or from anyone else (BAGD, 394), arguably because Jesus did not cite any other authorities but the Old Testament and spoke of its being fulfilled by Him and His reign and rule. Jesus did not offer more law but offered the Good News and the effecting of God’s Kingdom of grace (confer Voelz, ad loc Mark 1:27, p161, p162).
Jesus for the people in the Capernaum synagogue then personally exercised God’s authority and power not only to heal but also to forgive sins (Mark 2:3-12; Foerster, TDNT 2:568-569), as He does for us in our time through those whom He sends similarly to preach His Gospel and administer His Sacraments, His miraculous deeds. In Moses’s day, the people asked for someone to go between them and God, and God said that they were right, and so still today He gives men to speak and act with His authority and power (Matthew 9:8). Pastors read and preach God’s Word. Whether with or without an exorcism, pastors administer Holy Baptism and so wash the unclean of their sins and rescue them from death and the devil. Especially at the Baptismal Font, Jesus “continues to show His mercy on those who have fallen under Satan’s power and reestablishes God’s kingdom in territory over which Satan illegally rules” (Scaer, CLD XI:185-186). Pastors comfort with individual Holy Absolution those who privately confess the sins they know and feel in their hearts. And, in the Sacrament of the Altar, pastors distribute both in bread the Body of Christ given for you and me and in wine the Blood of Christ shed for you and me, and so they also distribute to us the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.
Notably in today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus does not command the people to people to repent and believe, but Jesus’s commanding the unclean spirit and the unclean spirit’s obedience led the people in their astonishment and amazement to acknowledge the presence of God in Jesus and His Word and miraculous deed in their midst. Likewise we should have proper regard for Jesus’s Word and Sacraments, for by them we receive the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. And, as we heard in today’s Epistle Reading (1 Corinthians 8:9-12), we use our freedom to care for our brothers and sisters in Christ, neither causing them to stumble nor otherwise wounding their consciences (COW). When we fail in those or other ways, as we will fail, with daily contrition and faith, we live in God’s forgiveness of our sins.
Regardless of whether or not that Canadian man truly is possessed by a demon or is found not guilty because the court thinks he might be, and regardless of whether or not the Roman Catholic church body trains more exorcists, we know that “Jesus destroys unclean spirits to save us”, and we praise and thank Him for that salvation, now and for eternity.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +