Fourth Sunday
after the Epiphany (B)
January 31, 2021
Text: Mark 1:21-28
The battle is closer to you than you think. There is a battle being waged between God and
the devil, the angels and the demons, and you are the contested territory. It is a battle for your body, your mind, your
heart, and your soul. The devil knows
his condemnation is final. His defeat
has already been accomplished in the death and resurrection of Jesus
Christ. But he is not going down without
a fight. If God loves these precious
humans so much that He gives His only Son to become one of them and suffer the
shame and torture of the cross to save them, then devil is intent to drag as
many people down to hell with him as he can.
It is the only vengeance he can take.
And if he can deceive Christians, if he can deceive you,
and bring you down with him to the fire and sulfur of the bottomless pit of
damnation, then that is the ultimate trophy.
So the battle rages. It is all around you. It is within you. You are torn between two factions. Your sinful nature is pulled toward the
forces of hell, with whom the sympathies of your flesh lie. But you are baptized into Christ, and the new
creation that daily emerges from the baptismal waters and arises to live in
Christ, is pulled toward Christ. The
devil hates this. So he whispers his
seductive temptations into your ear. He
shoots his deadly arrows directly at your heart and your mind. This liar, and the father of lies, wields
even truth as a weapon, so that he speaks enough truth that you
think he is being rather reasonable, so that when he speaks a bent truth,
you hardly notice. You buy the lie. You give yourself to it. You sin. You don’t even realize the source is the evil
one. Because, for the most part, you
live your life blissfully ignorant of the battle that is raging all around you
and within you. You go about your daily
routine, unaware of the spiritual reality to which your eyes have been blinded:
Angels and demons, this world’s prince scowling fierce as he will, and Christ,
the Valiant One, who fights for us, whom God Himself elected, who holds the
field forever.
Beloved, you will not win this
battle with any might of yours. Only
Christ can win. He is your mighty
fortress, your help and protection, who shields you under the pierced wings of
His outstretched arms. You are only safe
when you dwell in His Word, in His Baptism, in His Supper. Luther says that the devil “is a liar, to
lead the heart astray from God’s Word and to blind it, so that you cannot feel
your distress or come to Christ. He is a
murderer, who cannot bear to see you live one single hour. If you could see how many knives, darts, and
arrows are every moment aimed at you [Ephesians 6:16], you would be glad to
come to the Sacrament as often as possible,”[1] to take
refuge in Christ, the Savior.
The people in the Synagogue, who
otherwise were much more in tune with the spiritual realities of the world than
you are, were nonetheless blissfully unaware that there was a man in their
very midst possessed by an unclean spirit.
The guy is a Church member!
But somewhere along the line he has fallen into secret unbelief, the
oppression, and eventually the possession of the demonic. Outwardly, his life may very well have been
quite respectable. But inwardly he had
given himself over to the darkness.
Now Jesus came on that particular
Sabbath, teaching in the Capernaum synagogue.
(By the way, you can see the remnants of that synagogue, or at least the
synagogue built on top of it. You can search
“Capernaum Synagogue” online, and see images of this very building from our
text, as well as a Church built over what is believed to be Peter’s house,
where our Lord healed Peter’s mother-in-law. That is our Holy Gospel for next
week [Mark 1:29-39].) Now, the people in
the Synagogue, just like you, are gathered for the Divine Service, mostly
unaware of the battle that is raging all around them. But they are about to catch a glimpse. Jesus is teaching them with authority,
and not as their scribes (Mark 1:22).
And now He is about to give a demonstration of that authority. The Word of Jesus Christ brings out the
demons. The man with the unclean spirit
bristles at the preaching of the Gospel.
It is sheer torture to him. And
the unclean spirit himself is tortured with the knowledge of who this is who is
preaching. This is the Christ. This is Messiah. This is the Savior of the world, and the
Judge of the demons. So the spirit, taking
control of the man’s very mouth, cries 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”
(v. 24; ESV).
Now Jesus rebukes the demon, tells
him to be silent. Why? It’s true, isn’t it? Jesus is the Holy One of God. Yes, but remember, demons are always
liars. They only wield the truth to
further the lie. And what is the lie
this demon would have us believe? He
pegs the Lord Jesus, not as a Savior, but as a destroyer. “Have you come to destroy us?” Who is the “us”? I suppose there could be more than one demon,
as with Legion, but the text only indicates a singular unclean spirit. So in other words, the demon is implying that
Jesus has come to destroy him (which is true, on the Last Day, when He sends
that demon to eternal torture in the Lake of Fire), and the man he inhabits,
as well as the other sinners present in the synagogue. It’s always that same lie on the devil’s
part, isn’t it? “Do this sin. It will be really great. Rebel against God. He is holding out on you. Oh, what’s that? You did the sin? You rebelled?
I guess there is no saving you now.
You cannot be forgiven for that.
Jesus has come only to destroy you.”
Remember, the devil is your accuser.
And so his demons. So even when
they speak the truth, they do it to lead you into temptation, and then into
despair.
“Be silent, and come out of him!” Jesus commands (v. 25). And the unclean spirit, making a great show
of the whole thing (as unclean spirits are wont to do) convulses the man and
cries out with a loud voice (v. 26). You
can almost hear the demonic shriek. But
he comes out. He has to. For that authority with which Jesus teaches
the people, is a real authority.
It is the authority of God.
Jesus is God clothed in human flesh. He is the Creator of the heavens and the
earth, and all that is, visible and invisible.
He is the eternal Ruler of the universe.
And He is even the God of the devil.
When Jesus commands, the devil must obey. The demons must depart. The unclean spirits must flee. The Lord has not come to destroy His
people, but to save them… to save you, to deliver you from the
powers of darkness, from the prince of this world, and the present evil age.
Once again, the people are
amazed. A new thing has happened in
their midst. They question among
themselves, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and
they obey him” (v. 27). Indeed, He
teaches with authority. He has authority
over unclean spirits. That is what it
means that Jesus is Lord. The
Lord is the One with the authority.
There is a new Lord in town. This
is the Lord who received the Holy
Spirit at His Baptism in the Jordan, in whom the Holy Spirit dwells. Where
the Holy Spirit is, there is no room
for unclean spirits. Where the Lord
speaks His Holy Words, deploying His Holy Spirit, every evil spirit must
depart. And that authority He has over
the unclean spirits extends to every affliction that may plague you,
beloved.
He has authority over your sin, both
your sinful condition, and every sin you’ve ever committed. We live in the midst of so much spiritual
yuckiness, the filth of sexual immorality, selfishness, greed, murder,
profanity, godlessness. And we buy into
some of that. Repent. But Jesus commands it all to go away. He takes it into Himself and makes atonement
for it by His blood. And He speaks you
forgiven, bespeaks you righteous, speaks His Spirit and life into you.
Death? He has authority over it, including every symptom
of death, every illness and injury, every ache and pain and disability. Remember, He is risen. And He will raise you on the Last Day with a
body made whole and undefiled, fit for eternity. And not only you. Your loved ones who have died in Christ. He will restore them to you, bodily. He will place them into your aching arms once
again, risen, renewed, glorified, whole.
Sorrow, heartache, depression? He has authority over these, too. When He brings you to your eternal
consolation in heaven, God will wipe away every tear from your eyes. Mental illness? He renews your mind by His holy Word. Persecution, war, violence? He is your peace. All of these evils have their origin in the evil
one. They are carried out by his
minions. So the answer is always
Christ. Christ crucified for your sins. Christ risen for your justification. Christ seated at the right hand of the
Father, ruling all things for you. And
though it may appear as though your demonic enemies are triumphing in this
world, in the end, you will see things as they really are, and you will reign
with Christ in the new heavens and the new earth.
The battle rages all around you, but
Jesus is the Stronger One who binds the strong man (Mark 3:27). The serpent is outmatched, his kingdom
plundered, and Jesus grinds his head into the dust. So to every unclean spirit that afflicts you,
Jesus commands, “Be silent, and come out!” “You cannot have this precious soul for whom
I died, and for whom I live. This one
belongs to me.” And in this time between
His resurrection victory and His coming again for your final redemption, He
brings you into the fortress of His Church, where He protects you from all evil
and cleanses you from every sin. He
binds your wounds, administers the medicine of immortality, and gives you to
eat of the Bread of Life. Which is to
say, Himself. Here the Lord speaks with divine
authority, and the unclean spirits are silenced. They are cast out, and the Holy Spirit enters
in. Jesus commands it. And so it is.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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