Lent 3 + Oculi
Text: Luke 11:14-28
I’m not sure we fully grasp what is occurring at the beginning of today’s Gospel.
“Now [Jesus] was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled.” (Luke 11:14)
What does it mean to “cast out a demon?”
This wasn’t the first time Jesus had done this; as Jesus began His ministry in the Gospel of Mark, it’s recorded that He was preaching throughout all of Galilee in the synagogues and casting out demons. (Mark 1:39)
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus encounters two demon-possessed men who “cried out, ‘What have you to do with us, O Son of God?’” (Matthew 8:29) Per the demon’s request, Jesus cast them out and expelled them into a herd of pigs, which then rushed over a steep bank and drowned in water.
A little earlier in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus had come down from the Mountain of Transfiguration to encounter a great crowd, and a man cried out to Jesus, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. Behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out. It convulses him so that he foams at the mouth, and shatters him, and will hardly leave him.”
Jesus had compassion upon the boy; He cast out the demon that was convulsing him and returned the boy to his father.
But again, what does it mean to “cast out a demon?”
The Greek word for “cast out” is ἐκβάλλω (ekballo), and this is where the Church gets the word “Exorcism” from.
Now, the idea of an exorcism might make you feel uncomfortable. It may make you think, “That’s nothing we do today.” Or that’s the stuff of movies!
But that’s not true.
In fact, Martin Luther retained what is known as an exorcism in the Baptismal rite of the Church.
It reads, “Therefore, depart, you unclean spirit, and make room for the Holy Spirit in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
These words do not presuppose that the prince of darkness bodily possesses the baptismal candidate. Instead, they testify to the biblical truth that the candidate is a victim of the usurper and of [Original] sin. (Companion to the Lutheran Service Book, page 768)
Remember the words we heard from Luther a couple of weeks ago? He wrote concerning Holy Baptism,
It is no joke to take sides against the devil and not only to drive him away from the little child, but to burden the child with such a mighty and lifelong enemy. Remember too that it is very necessary to aid the poor child with all your heart and strong faith, earnestly to intercede for him/her that God, in accordance with this prayer, would not only free him from the power of the devil, but also strengthen him, so that he may nobly resist the devil in life and death.
And this leads us back to our Gospel today. Having cast out the demon from the mute man, the people marveled, while some accused Jesus of casting out demons by the hand of Beelzebul, the prince of demons. But Jesus responds to these individuals by saying,
“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? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul…
But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
As Lutheran Theologian Dr. Arthur Just writes, “The choice here is clearly between Satan and God. Jesus challenges his accusers to think about their own relationship to the kingdom of Satan and the kingdom of God.”[1]
This is also true of us; we must also hear Jesus’ words, keep them, and reflect on our relationship with Satan’s kingdom and God’s kingdom.
Whose kingdom do you belong to?
What are the things of life that lead you away from Jesus?
This morning’s epistle from Ephesians raises a few of these issues that you, too, may struggle with. Paul encouraged the Ephesians to avoid sexual immorality, impurity, covetousness, foolish talk, and crude joking. When you permit these things to take root in your heart, you become sons of disobedience, children of darkness.
But as Paul concludes the epistle, he writes, Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true).
So, how do you now walk as children of light? Go back to where this battle of light and darkness began and continues today, go back to your Baptism.
It’s at the font by daily contrition and repentance that the darkness of all sins and evil desires are drowned so a new man may arise to live and walk as a child of light.
To return to your Baptism and live the Baptismal life means to exercise a life of constant confession—a confession of sin, a confession of Jesus, the stronger Man, who went to the cross for you to free you from the chains of sin and evil that possess you.
For this reason, one exercises faith in Christ Jesus through confession.
You see, the word exorcism is derived from the word you know as exercise.
To confess your sins before God is to exercise your faith now so that the sins and demons that possess you might be expelled and cast out from your heart so that the Holy Spirit might take His rightful place. You are brought back from the darknesses of this life and led into the kingdom of light, the kingdom of God.
As we travel deeper into this Lententide and wrestle with the powers of darkness, cling to your Baptism, exercise your faith in Christ Jesus, and call out to Him to cast out the demons of your life so that you might walk as children of the light. +INJ+
Rev. Noah J. Rogness
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
Tomah, WI
[1] Arthur A. Just Jr., Luke 9:51–24:53, Concordia Commentary (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1997), 478.
