Sermons

03/23/2025

Lent 3

Text: Luke 11:14-28

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Let us pray. “On my heart imprint your image, blessed Jesus, king of grace. That life’s riches, cares, and pleasures, never may your work erase. Let the clear inscription be, ‘Jesus, crucified for me.” Is my life, my hope’s foundation, and my glory and salvation.” Amen.

“And [Jesus] was casting out a demon, and it was mute. So it was, when the demon had gone out, that the mute spoke, and the multitudes marveled.”  The multitudes’ response was appropriate. They marveled because they beheld a great victory. Look at the cover of your bulletin. Imagine for a moment that you’ve never heard about Jesus or about demons. But if someone asked you about what’s going on in that picture, you could still tell the truth—somebody’s getting a woopin’.

Not everyone knows Christ, but we all know what winning and what losing looks like. The crowds marveled because they saw a great, impressive victory worthy of admiration.

“But some of them said, ‘He casts out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of demons.’ Others, testing Him, sought from Him a sign from heaven.’” Some of those people tried to claim that this wasn’t a victory. It was a cunning feint. Beelzebub was a name for the Devil. They said that Jesus cast out the demon by the power of Satan. So what looks like a victory is actually a devious tactic before striking back with a vengeance.

In response to that accusation, some other people called on Jesus to prove Himself, to perform some sign that would show whose side He belonged to—heaven or hell.

Jesus refuses to perform a sign because casting out the demon was sign enough. Then, He rips apart their foolish naysaying. First, He demonstrates the absurdity of their statement “He casts out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of demons.”

Jesus says, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls.” These are general principles. They’re obvious. We know them from experience. You can easily add more. “If you can’t play as a team, you’re not going to win.” “You avoid friendly fire in war.” “A defensive line doesn’t sack its own quarterback.”

Jesus goes from the general to the specific: “If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? Because you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebub.” Satan’s kingdom is no different than any other. Infighting is counterproductive. Friendly fire will destroy his ranks. It won’t further his fight. The charge that Jesus casts out Satan by Satan’s power is ridiculous. It’s an absurd conclusion that does not make sense of what the crowd just saw.

But Jesus hasn’t finished. He says, “And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges.” Jesus entertains their accusation for a second. Suppose I do—but what about your sons, your friends? By your logic, anybody who casts out a demon is working for Satan—but you don’t really believe. Jesus reveals the insincerity of their accusation. Not only is it absurd, but it’s dishonest. Like everyone else in the crowd, Jesus’ naysayers know a victory when they see one. And anyone else cast out a demon, they would praise it as a victory. Their absurd statements reveal that they don’t like Jesus and so their unjust claims condemn them.

Clearly, Jesus is not a secret agent. Satan is not trying to execute a clever feint. But “When the demon had gone out and the mute was spoke,” Satan was being defeated by Jesus. What does that mean? It surely means, as our Lord says, “That the kingdom of God has come upon you.”

The casting out of demons reveals that the Kingdom of God is here. It reveals that Jesus is king. He is no underling in Satan’s hire. But He is Lord. He is almighty. With His almighty power He comes to destroy the kingdom of Satan and establish His own righteous reign in men.

Jesus offers an illustration. He says, “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.” Satan is a strong man. He’s powerful. More powerful than any man, that is true. He’s an angel, a spiritual being created by God. Satan rebelled against God, he deceived man to join in his rebellion, and he seeks to assert his rule in the hearts of sinful men. And he does reign through sin in the hearts of unbelievers. He might not send his demons to bodily possess and torment everyone like he did that mute man, but wherever hearts are enslaved by greed, lust, sorrow, envy, spite—there the evil spirit asserts his rule and keeps his goods in peace. Satan is more powerful than any man. He lords it over man.

But Satan is a creature. He’s not as powerful as God by any means. And so he must flee when one stronger than he overcomes him. The Son of God, the Lord Christ, is stronger than Satan and casts him out of his palaces. Satan has power over men because he deceived them and led them into sin. Satan can stand before God and accuse men of sin. His accusation is true. Sinners cannot behold the holy and just God and live. But the Son of God, who is Himself holy and just has died to pay for sins of the ungodly and unjust, that sinners might be counted just in the sight of God and live. In Christ’s death sin is removed. In His resurrection acquittal belongs to all men. And that means that now Satan’s accusations are false. He can lay claim to the heart of no man because the hearts of men have been claimed by God.

Satan is overcome, his armor is taken from him and Christ plunders his house and divides the spoils. Our Lord establishes His kingdom, the kingdom of God in the hearts of men where Satan once reigned.

You see the victory of the stronger man when demons are cast out and the mute speak.  You see the victory of the stronger man when the veil was torn from top to bottom and the earth quaked and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened before the foot of the cross. You see stronger man’s victory when the guards before Christ’s tomb fell as though dead and the stone is rolled back.

The crowds got it right. Christ’s victory is good and should be marveled at. But many join the foolish naysayers in the crowd who don’t marvel at Christ’s victory and don’t see the good of it.

And so Jesus pronounces a warning to his detractors and to all who follow in their ways. “He,” our Lord warns, “Who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.”

Let no one deceive himself and think that he can stay on the sidelines in this war. There are only two kingdoms. The kingdom of Satan and the kingdom of God. Either your heart is ruled by the one or by the other.

Jesus compares the hearts of men to a house. He says, “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.” 

Christ has cast out the ruler of this world, but those who despise the kingdom of God when it comes to them are those whose hearts are empty and put in order, ready for an inhabitant. It will not remain empty long. Either Christ and His Spirit dwell  in your heart, our Satan returns. Jesus warns us that the state of those hearts who saw that the kingdom of God was upon them and knew it to be God’s kingdom but willfully rejected it will be worse than at first. Satan will return with a vengeance.

Let this serve as a warning to you. The kingdom of God is upon you. Satan is cast out and sin atoned for. Christ’s kingdom is marvelous and good. But your sinful flesh will foolishly despise the kingdom and will claim that Christ’s reign is constraining, that the rule of His Spirit in your heart is harsh. Like the children of Israel who longed in the desert for the fleshpots and cucumber patches of Egypt, our flesh looks back to sin with longing. The Israelites despised the manna and quail given them and called it worthless. Your flesh tempts you to despise the fruit of the Spirit and turn back to your evil ways, as if that would be more freeing. But that’s a lie! And so St Paul reminds us that “fornication, and all uncleanness or covetousness let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting…For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.”

So repent. Don’t push out Christ from your house. You can only fill it with evil. You open the door of heart once more to Satan and his demons. They will destroy, and enslave, and entrap you in the devil’s miserable kingdom. Heed Christ’s words. The kingdom of God is upon you. But remember that the kingdom of God is the winning side. It’s the good, not the bad, kingdom.

The crowd that marveled knew that. And one woman among them cried out, “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!” She desires to be part of Christ’s kingdom but does not understand how. All she knows is this life where your citizenship is determined by birth. In her day, the privileges of Roman citizenship were prized. But most likely, no one in that crowd could obtain it. New citizenship was something to wish for but out of reach. She longingly thinks of how blessed, how privileged, Mary must be as the mother of this king. For who has closer access to a king than his own family?

But Jesus gently corrects her and says, “More than that, Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.” This woman should need not think that the blessing of Christ’s Kingdom is out of reach. The blessings and highest privileges of His kingdom aren’t only for a chosen few. For, as our Lord reminds us, the blessing of God comes upon all who hear the word and hold it fast.

The kingdom of God is upon you because the word is preached to you. The kingdom of God and its blessing does not belong to those born of the flesh, but to all those born again by the imperishable seed of the word. Jews and Gentile, slave and free, male and female: everyone has a portion in Christ’s kingdom because His death was for all and His life is for all.

You are part of the kingdom because you have Christ’s words. Christ’s word delivers His kingdom. Through His Word, Christ asserts His victory over Satan in your heart. He makes your heart a place of peace, not war. His Spirit dwells in your heart and makes it a holy house, a temple for the Lord. You enjoy the Lord’s protection from Satan. He does not have power over your heart because the kingdom of God is upon you. Indeed, as Jesus says later in Luke’s Gospel, the kingdom of God is within you, because God has claimed your heart as His dwelling.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.