19 June 2016 St. Athanasius Lutheran Church
Pentecost 5 Vienna, VA
“Where Jesus Enters In,
Satan Is Cast Out”
Text: Luke
8:26-39 (Galatians 3:23 - 4:7)
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God
our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
Just to be clear: the
picture on the cover of the bulletin today was not selected for Father’s
Day! Though this crazed, homeless man we heard about in the Holy Gospel today may
have been someone’s father. And he was some father’s son. So the
demon-possession that afflicted him didn’t just afflict him, but possibly many
more people, including his father who lost a son, perhaps his own children who
were being forced to grow up without a father, and maybe also his wife to live
without her husband. Collateral damage in this spiritual war.
So the Good Shepherd
acts. The satanic wolf has come and snatched one of His flock.
And so He leaves the ninety-nine in Israel and goes after the one who was lost,
who had been captured by satan.
The people of that region had tried to bind this man and contain him for their
own lives and self-preservation. Jesus had come to unbind him, to set
him free, and give him his life back again. For this He goes to the country of
the Gerasenes. For to the Good Shepherd, no place is
too far, no place too lost, to go after one of His own.
Now, this is a story that
seems pretty fantastic in our day and age in which demons and demon-possession
is scoffed at and regarded as ignorant, superstititious,
religious mumbo-jumbo, even by many Christians. Our western, reasonable,
educated minds know better. We come up with scientific reasons why
things happen. Demons, possession, the supernatural, is
the stuff of movies and fantasy. We’ve moved past that and don’t think that way
anymore.
But maybe we should. Or
at least, maybe we shouldn’t write it off so quickly. In other parts of the
world, the demonic is taken much more seriously and seems to be much more
visible. Is that because they don’t know as much as us? Or is it because they
know more? Is it because the demons are more active there than here? Or
do the demons like the fact that we don’t think about them much here and so
they have more free reign to act . . . and want to
keep it that way? Satan is a pragmatist: whatever works.
So when it comes to
demons and the demonic, there are two errors you can make: to fear them too
much or to think of them too little. To fear them too much is to give them more
credit than they deserve; to think of them too little is not to give them
enough. We don’t want to fall into either of those ditches, but stay on the
road of the truth. So this is a good story for us to consider today . . .
For if you think for one
moment that what satan did
to this poor man isn’t what he wants to do to you - to possess you, to
drive you, to torment you, to harm you, to destroy you - you are sorely
mistaken. This is exactly what he wants to do to you. The reason he does
not, or cannot - the only reason - is because God does not
permit him to do so.
But that doesn’t mean
that satan is not active in
your life. For consider for a moment: what things are you captive
to? What sins controlling you, binding you, driving you? For some it is sexual
sins whose appetites they cannot satisfy. For others anger, rage, and
bitterness make them act how they do not want to act. For some despair and
hopelessness is all they can see and feel. For others it is greed - the quest
for riches and success at any cost that drives them. And the list is endless.
Maybe we look more civilized and tame compared to this man, but maybe
appearances are deceiving . . . maybe we are in as much danger as he . . .
So how good that the Good
Shepherd has come here for you. To us who are even farther away
from Israel in both time and place than the region of the Gerasenes,
He doesn’t come in a boat but in the waters of Holy Baptism. Here He steps into
our world to deliver you from your sin and captivity. That’s why when a person
is baptized, it is said: Depart unclean spirit and make way for the Holy
Spirit. And in those waters with the Word of God, God is at work. The
Father adopts, the Son frees and forgives, and the Holy Spirit makes His home
with you, puts you in your right mind, and clothes you with Jesus’ perfect
righteousness. And then just like that once-possessed man, we sit at Jesus’ feet
and learn from Him.
But satan doesn’t then give up - he just changes tactics.
He’ll try to lure you away from Jesus’ feet, from Jesus’ teaching, Jesus’ life.
To forget how bad his captivity can be. To bring new
false gods into your life that look and seem really
good and helpful and right. To distract you, blind you, fool you, scare you -
again, whatever it takes. And maybe he’ll do it sooner, maybe later - makes no
difference to him, as long as the end result is the same. For remember what
happened to Jesus after He was baptized? He was tempted in the wilderness. And
after that failed? Satan departed from him until an opportune time
(Luke 4:13).
And while perhaps there
were many such opportune times, ultimately that time came again when Jesus was
hoisted up on the cross. When His disciples abandoned Him, His Father forsook
Him, and the people He came to save were mocking and humiliating Him. You gonna die, Jesus, for folks who don’t even want you as
their Saviour?
Yes! Yes He is. For just
as He left the ninety-nine in Israel and went to the country of the Gerasenes to save this one man, so He left His throne in
heaven to come down and save us. All of us who since the Fall of Adam and Eve
in the Garden have been under the oppression of the evil one, captive to sin,
and lost. He enters this world of sin and death and graves that we
live in, to set us free and give us hope. He is the stronger man who has come
to bind the strong man who has bound us (Matthew 12).
And the enemy of your enemy isn’t just your friend, He is your Saviour. For Jesus didn’t just enter our world of
sin and death and grave, He actually entered our sin and death and
graves themselves, in order to destroy them and their
grip on us in His resurrection. To set us free and give us
life again.
And so after the freedom
and life given to us in Baptism, there is also Absolution - the blessings and
benefits and promises of Baptism applied again and again, to us who wander and
fall and weaken and believe the lies of the devil and so need them again and
again. Our Good Shepherd never tires of speaking those words of forgiveness to
us - words also spoken from the cross - Father, forgive them (Luke
23:34). And also speaking to the evil one: Depart from my
child!
But then after this
wonderful work of Jesus, the story takes a, perhaps, unexpected turn - the
people are afraid and ask Jesus to leave. Was it because
of the loss of the pigs and so the loss of income? Maybe they were frightened
of what happened to the man, and maybe didn’t particularly like it. They were
used to the way things were. What would Jesus’ presence mean, then, for them? For their lives?
Those same fears are
still with us today. For though Jesus’ freedom and forgiveness and the life He
gives is better, we don’t always see it that way. We love what we love and we
want what we want and we do what we do, and used to the way things are, we don’t
want to change. Perhaps the things that happen make it seem as if God is taking
life away from us - the only life we know. But if what we don’t want to change
are false gods - people and things we love more than God - and the lives we’re
living leading us away from God, or in conflict with God and His Word, we need
change. We need to repent. We need those pigs in our lives to run away and be
drowned. But instead, some avoid church, won’t talk with the pastor, hide in
the graveyards of sin, deny, or even ask Jesus to leave . . . or at least leave
that part of our lives alone.
And while Jesus’ does
leave in this account, He does something else very important: He leaves the
man behind. Or maybe better to say it this way: He stays there in the
Word of this man. That as this man stays and tells his family and friends
and all of that region what God has done for him, that
the Spirit work through that Word in the hearts of those who hear. To take away
their fear and give them the life and faith they need. To
know that Jesus hasn’t come to take their life away from them, but to give
them life. A better life, real life, eternal life.
And so today He sends
pastors to preach, and He leaves you, too, in the places He has put you, and
given you folks to speak to you - to tell of all that Jesus has done for you. You
might not have all the answers - I’m sure this man didn’t. But this he knew: he
had been possessed, and now he was free. He was frightened but now joyful. He
was an outcast, but now a child of God. And that he could tell.
And so can you. To
whoever God has gathered around you and whoever He has put you in the midst of.
Especially when we see satan
and his demons at work. When things are frightening and the world seems to be
falling apart. Like when mass shootings occur and people are looking for answers.
The answers aren’t to be found in ourselves, or our wisdom, or how we
can somehow make society better. The answer is only in the One who goes after
the one. And not just the one, but each and every one.
The One who gives freedom and life. The
One who has come to be the light in our darkness, the hope in our despair, and
our confidence in a world gone mad. He has gone to His throne in heaven,
and yet is here for us in His Word and Sacraments. Still
working, still giving, still saving.
And
now here at His Table as both the host and the meal, to feed you.
To give you what you need the most - Himself. Him and His life and forgiveness in His Body and Blood, given for
you on the cross, and now given to you here. For where
Jesus enters in, satan is
cast out. So while satan
is real and sin is dangerous, we have nothing to fear.
For as we heard from St.
Paul earlier: when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son,
born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so
that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent
the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba!
Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son,
then an heir through God.
That’s what happened that
day in the country of the Gerasenes. And that’s what
Jesus done for you. Making this a very good Father’s day, indeed!
In the Name of the Father,
and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.