Meditationen am Gnadenstuhl: Saturday Easter IV - Luke 11:14-26
Saturday Easter IV
Daily Lectionary Readings: Leviticus 19:9-18, 26-37; Luke 11:14-36; (Smalcald Articles: 2/2:21-2/3)
Luke 11:14-26:
[14] Now he was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled. [15] But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,” [16] while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven. [17] But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. [18] And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. [19] And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. [20] But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. [21] When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; [22] but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away the armor he trusted and divides his spoil. [23] Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
[24] “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ [25] And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. [26] Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.” (ESV)
The Lord Christ proclaims a powerful warning in today’s text. When we pay close attention to what Jesus is saying, we have a concise description of what Christ, His kingdom, and the Gospel are all about. “Now he was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled.”1 If we put all the accounts of his miraculous exorcism together as a single narrative, this poor man had four problems. St. Matthew says he was blind.2 Luke tells us he is mute and possessed. In Greek, κωφός kōphós means both mute and deaf, so he was deaf as well as blind and mute. But it is the demon possessing this man and causing all of his other ailments that concern us today.
Second, we are taught how Christ and His Gospel fare in the world by showing us three different kinds of hearers. Some are astonished and “marveled” at Jesus. These are the true believers who hold Christ so highly that they are amazed at His grace. But another group slanders Him, like the Pharisees, identified by Matthew as the ones who said, “But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, ‘It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.’”3 Mark tells us the Scribes, those "Doctors of the Law" who are supposed to be teaching the people the meaning of God's word, are, right alongside the Pharisees, accusing Jesus of being in league with the Lord of the Flies, as St. Mark tells us.4
Lastly, some try to tempt Jesus “to test him, [and] kept seeking from him a sign from heaven.”5 They were looking to be entertained, just as King Herod will seek to meet Jesus shortly before Pilate hands him over to be crucified, not to encounter the Savior of the world, but to see a show: “When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long desired to see him, because he had heard about him, and he was hoping to see some sign done by him.”6 Jesus has an answer for both the slanderers and the tempters that no such sign will be forthcoming from Him other than the sign of Jonah – that the Christ will be put to death and in three days rise again, just as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish before God “resurrected” Him upon the shore of Nineveh.7
Today, Jesus' teaching is pretty clear in our text if we actually read the words He said. Where we get in trouble is thinking too hard about it and reading our thoughts and feelings into it, as though the plain speech of Christ is insufficient. Jesus said to them, “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?”8 It is common sense, isn't it? Suppose a nation is divided against itself and, because of this, people are fleeing the country in droves. In that case, there is no reason to make war against it because that country will collapse of its own accord. In the first century BC, the Roman historian Sallust wrote of such things: "Through unity small possessions become great, but great possessions fall to pieces through disunity."9 In other words, if demons were so set against one another that they were casting one another out, then the kingdom of Satan would be a kingdom of dust, and we would not be bothered by him or his minions.
Yet we continue to be plagued by the assaults of the devil, and he remains the prince of this world. This world is doing an outstanding job of behaving just as Satan would like to have it behave, which is in an increasingly ungodly and profane manner. He continues to hinder the clear proclamation of the gospel, which impediment the world seems to embrace with the passion of a lover, as Beelzebub veils the eyes of the most vulnerable from the truth, as St. Paul teaches, “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."10
What can one say to such a clear argument? Jesus' detractors' mouths might be stopped up for a time, but their hearts were no softer. The problem with a hard heart is that it will not allow itself to be instructed, no matter how clearly reasoned or simply explained the teaching is made. For those who believe, anything that shows the foundation of their faith is good and true simply reinforce and strengthens what they already believe. To the unbeliever, it is just the noise of a fly buzzing around their head that needs to be swatted at, then ignored.
So it should not come as any surprise when the things we believe and treasure come under attack from the ignorant, nor that their ignorance stubbornly refuses to listen to reason. Yet we must still proclaim the gospel and not stoop to their level. “Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself.”11 And at some point, when they continue to be hard-hearted and try to stir up divisions, it is time to take the advice Paul gave to Titus: “As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.”12
Jesus said, “For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.”13 These “sons” Jesus is speaking of must be the local exorcists among the Scribes and Pharisees. Luther said Jesus called them “sons” as if to say, “Hey, I’m the Son of God, but you say I cast out demons by the devil, yet your sons, born and taught by you, are doing God’s work here. See any problem with that?”14 So Jesus says they will also be their Judges. In other words, Jesus appeals to them to judge that they have unjustly slandered Jesus. If one demon can not cast out another, then some other power than the devil or man must cast them out – namely, divine power. And Jesus is divine power made flesh. “But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”15 The finger of God is the Holy Spirit. If the kingdom of God is to come to anyone, then the devil must be cast out, and the Holy Spirit takes his place.
This mute, deaf, blind, and possessed man represents all of us who, through our fallen, sinful nature, are possessed by the devil in original sin and act according to the will of the Lord of the Flies. Left alone, we are blind; we do not know God. We are deaf; we do not listen to God's word. We are mute because we can not have anything to say about God's grace or mercy. But we are in sensory overload with the devil's teachings and our own worthless ideas. We accept everything our human senses tell us is good.
The strong man is Lucifer. There he sits like a king in a castle, safe and secure unless the sword of the word of God comes to do him harm. The stronger man that comes is Christ, and the devil's peace is ended. The mask comes off, and that lying devil is exposed. Then he lashes out, persecuting believers, luring the unbelievers with a blacked-out van full of sensual candy, and raging against creation. But Christ makes him weaker, divides the spoil of battle (which are souls), and uses each for His good purposes. The devil's kingdom might glitter like gold and sound like wisdom, holiness, and strength, but it is a lie as old as creation. Only the gospel exposes it.
“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.”16 Let there be no mistake, friends, that the devil does not take days off. He does not rest. He does not sleep. All the devil seeks to do is to hold on to people who are ignorant of God, whom he already owns, and to catch those who believe but are slumbering through life, unaware that he is stalking them. These are the “waterless places” the devil wanders through “seeking rest:” those who think they are above the devil's notice or have allowed the world to convince them that the evil one is not even real.
When the devil is defeated or cast out, he may go to actual desert places or wilderness to regroup and bide his time. For those in whom the Holy Spirit dwells, in whom the Word of Christ is active and living, he will return to find the house “swept and put in order.” He finds a Christian man or woman girded with the armor of God, decked out like a bride for her groom. Then he leaves. There is nothing in this clean-swept house for him to do for now. Instead, he goes and gets reinforcements and redoubles his attacks so that the “last state of that person is worse than the first.”
When Christ becomes known, and the devil's former kingdom is reoccupied with His righteousness, Satan goes out into the world to attack us with diluted Christianity, false teaching, and doubt. He tries to create new heretics who think they are following the way of Christ. He makes them so that they cannot stand good teaching and listen with itching ears to false gospels.17 For all these reasons, Jesus warns us to be watchful. That is our lesson today. Be vigilant.
1Luke 11:14 (ESV).
2Matthew 12:22.
3Matthew 12:24 (ESV). Cf. Luke 11:15.
4Mark 3:22.
5Luke 11:16 (ESV).
6Luke 23:8 (ESV).
7Luke 11:29.
8Luke 11:17-18 (ESV).
9Sallust, Jugurtha. Loeb Classical Library. 116, p.148-9. Concordia parvae res crescent, Discordia maximae dilabuntur (my translation).
102 Corinthians 4:3-4 (ESV).
11Proverbs 26:4 (ESV).
12Titus 3:10-11 (ESV).
13Luke 11:18-19 (ESV).
14Paraphrase of Luther, Martin. Church Postil II. AE 76 p.394.
15Luke 11:20 (ESV).
16Luke 11:24-26 (ESV).
172 Timothy 4:3.