Around this time, out in the countryside of southern Illinois as it started to get warmer, on sunny days, my smaller kids had fun taking their fly swatters outside. Why? Because all the houseflies were coming up out of the soil from wherever they have been hiding during the winter. They were swarming and sunning themselves on the sun heated sides of the house, on the rails and concrete. I don’t think they made a huge dent in the fly population, but they had fun.
In this morning’s Gospel lesson Jesus healed a man who had a demon that would not let him talk. Some people immediately accused Jesus by saying “He casts out demons by Beelzebul”. Who is Beelzebul? He was the “Lord of the flies”. Beelzebul was a god demon worshiped by the Philistine Caananites: one of the gods related to Baal. He was the Lord of pests: flying bugs, those things that feed on human and animal dung and rotting bodies. The Philistines believed that if they worshiped this ba’al he could cast out the “flies” from within the person suffering from illnesses. So, when the people said that Jesus was casting out demons by Beelzebul, they were accusing Jesus of using this specific Canaanite demonic power to cast out demonic possession.
Jesus refuted this immediately. He said the famous line that has been used in the course of history, especially during times of war, to stoke the fires of nationalism, even though it is not exclusively earthly kingdoms that Jesus is referencing, but also church bodies and denominations. He said: “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls.”
The devil certainly was not going to operate so that he would be divided against himself, The Devil is all about causing division against and away from God. But Jesus was casting out demons and exposing their lies, releasing people from their bondage, by the preached power and true Word of the stronger one: God.
Let’s step back for a moment and look at what kind of demon it was that Jesus had cast out. What was the demon doing? This demon was keeping a man from speaking: “a demon that was mute”. As soon as Jesus cast out the demon, the man could speak. It is interesting to note how the devil works. Sometimes the devils and demons would cry out and declare who Jesus was and sometimes they were “dumb” and made the people that they possessed like wild beasts. But the Devil is always trying to attack speech in one way or another.
This time the demon had possessed the man’s capacity to talk, but when he left that man, it was almost as though the demon swept back around and entered the people gathered so that they spoke,spoke what? Wild accusations against Jesus. Why?
It is because the devil always seeks to silence, discredit, and humiliate those who speak God’s truth. He wants people to cling to the lies which the devil, the world, and the flesh whisper and “buzz” into your ears like pesky flies. “You do you. Instead of telling somebody something’s wrong, maybe you should try it. Don’t speak up when you see evil or something seems off, people will make fun of you. They will reject you. You don’t want that.” Or. “See nobody’s listening to you, see how they hate you. Why not break down and join in? Why go to church, why do devotions tonight, why talk to people about Jesus, they will hate you. You will be labeled. What if you lose your job? No, just do what’s easy; what’s safe.”
Satan knows that division against what is good and right is easy if he can get through to our fleshly desires to be liked, to get our way, to be jealous of the world. He also knows that what jars people awake from the hypnosis and possession of hearts and minds: is the voice of God’s Word. His Truth in rebuke of sin and in comfort for those in pain and repentance. God can and does use anyone to dispel and cut through the droning buzz of satanic, earthly voices: a pastor, a sister, brother, father, mother, daughter, son, neighbor, any Christian who cares enough to sound the alarm: “hey, that’s not good for you. That doesn’t build you up in Christ. Come back.”
We often think that people of today react so horribly and quickly because of the internet and social media. It may have emboldened people to a certain extent, but look at the people in the Gospel of Luke in their reaction to Jesus, look at the people’s reaction to Jeremiah in the Old testament lesson. They did not want to be told the warning to turn: that if they did not repent and return to the Lord, the disaster of captivity and slaughter would befall them. What did they do? They tried to hush Jeremiah by sentencing him to death, even though he spoke the truth…but he made them uncomfortable, you see. Did Jeremiah’s prophesying help? Perhaps. There must have been some who heard this voice and repented and retained faith and the confession of God’s truth and some were spared from the bloodshed and judgement of God, to take this Word even through the cruelties of Babylonian captivity. God’s Word does not return to Him empty. Sadly many did not heed the Word of God spoken by Jeremiah. They continued their evil, their idolatry, their worldly ways, that they received in fulfillment the very troubles which they were warned against. The devil, the flesh, the world, when it is in the wrong desire silence, from those who would rebuke them. They desire acceptance and approval, the truth they desire to bind, silence, and kill.
But Jesus is the answer. He sets free the mute and those held in demonic constraints to fear, worry, and temptation. As Jeremiah was a threat to the comfort and corruption in Israel, so Jesus was a more than a threat to the demonic presence of His Day and beyond. Jesus had come to bring judgement upon the earth in His ministry not by strength of armies, not by slaying many foes, but by judging the strong man: Satan himself and then taking Satan’s goods and setting them free.
Jesus bound the devil, overthrowing the Lord of the Flies by taking all the dung, the refuse, the deadness of our sins upon Himself. Jesus allowed Himself to be bound and taken to the cross to pay for our sins and the sins of the world, taking the shame, pain, anguish, and judgement of God’s wrath upon His human flesh, dying upon the cross. This was the judgement brought upon the earth at that time. Christ crucified crying out that “the judgement is complete; It is finished”. His voice is the voice which ultimately mutes and silences the Devil to free people from His captivity.
So, take heed. Repent of your sin, be returned to the Lord at the cross of Jesus Christ and remember His promise to you in baptism. You have been freed from the bondage to your sin and to your failures. You must not return to those sins, to be re-enslaved. Now in Him you have been given faith to believe and be saved. Jesus Christ died for you. Now be bold in His name.
Be warned: In this spiritual war, there is no middle ground, as Jesus said: “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” In other words, if you are in Christ, there is no condemnation, but if you are not with Him, you are still in your sins. These are strong words of warning. Let us heed them. The devil would have us be against the Lord, against His truth, and be scattered from Him by our excuses, our shame, and our pride. He wishes us to be silenced by our being comfortable with the world or by our fear.
No, rather, let us be gathered, and gather all who would heed God’s Law and Gospel in Jesus Christ. Let us open our mouths to say, sing, and shout the praises of God, even as we speak as God’s instrument of warning to a lost and dying world. Let us not be silent but speak of God’s Word: pointing others to Jesus Christ crucified and raised. Speak out, hunt down, and swat the Lord of flies in the name of Jesus. Chase him away and scatter him, his plots, and his demons, as you sing and pray, speak, and read God’s Word.
Let us be gathered here each Sunday, and as often as we can around the cross of Jesus to hear Him speak words of forgiveness which casts out the demonic spirit which would silence us. Let us open our mouths and be fed upon the living bread of Jesus Christ. Here our victorious Lord having conquered the devil comes to us to eat of his crucified and living flesh and blood. The Lord gives us gladness taking away all our pain and sadness reminding us that He has prepared for us an eternal feast in heaven with Him forever. He will give us boldness and strengthen us when we feel weak and unsure. He leads the way to victory. He will carry you when you are faint. You are His children: redeemed to walk in His love. You are His treasures and God will guard your hearts and minds against the Devil and all that would try to deceive you as you gather to receive from Him all that is good and right for you through faith in Jesus Christ. Amen.
Pr. Aaron Kangas