Leave the Demon Be?
St. Luke 11:14-28
March 12, 2023 anno Domini
It might have been better if Jesus had just let the demon be. From an economic standpoint Jesus didn’t get much of a return on His investment. This wasn’t a crowd-pleasing, we all love Jesus now, miracle. (Most of them weren’t). Oh, the mute man might have been happy. Now he could tell his wife, “I love you.” When he went to Synagogue he could sing his favorite Luther hymns all 15 stanzas. He was happy, but no one else was. Maybe Jesus should have left the demon be.
After all, what does He gain for this miracle? Not praise, not worship, not faith. He gets blasphemed. He is accused of working with Beelzebul. He’s in league with the lord of the manure pile. The other half of the crowd, who wasn’t in league with Satan, was in league with selfishness. Show us a sign, which really meant, “Great, you healed the mute guy, but what about me? My IRA is down 20% and I want to retire so I can move to a state where they don’t murder children in the womb and mutilate confused teenagers. Jesus, show me, I mean us, a sign and we’ll believe.
So why weren’t the crowds happy? Why was there no faith? How could something so good, the casting out of a demon and the restoring of God’s good creation, be considered no good by the crowd? If Jesus did something like that among us, we would have praised Him. Wouldn’t we?
Here’s the rub. The crowds then and now like the status quo. They were quite content that the mute man was mute. They were used to his silence. They were comfortable with the brokenness of creation. That’s just the way things are. Some people suffer from disease and disability. There’s great evil in the world, but that’s just the way it is. Keep your head down, get used to it. Cope. Be resilient. Do your best. Go with the flow.
Repent of such nonsense. The status quo might be appealing, but it will kill you. Jesus chides the crowd for their comfort with chaos and their acceptance of evil. There is a battle being waged and you are the prize, to the victor goes the spoils. On one side is Beelzebul, the lord of the flies, and on the other side is the Lord of Lords. On the one side is Satan and slavery to sin, death, and hell. On the other is the Lord who brings forgiveness and freedom to live. It seems like such an obvious choice, like Moses in his farewell sermon to the Israelites. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, Deut. 30:19 (ESV)
And what did Israel choose? Again and again? They chose death. Not by voting for death. Not by confessing their love of Satan, but simply by believing they could accommodate evil alongside of good. When in Canaan they acted like Canaanites, instead of Israelites, like God’s chosen people, chosen that Christ Jesus might come into the world to save us sinners.
Which side are you on – life or death? Or do you like the seeming security of the middle ground? In your heart you oppose evil, but you keep quiet for the sake of peace. You see things that are not good, not God’s way, but you’ve been schooled to be tolerant and timid, to keep calm and be quiet. But heed Jesus’ warning – there is no middle ground. You cannot be a Christian and identify as a Canaanite. It’s binary, just like gender. There’s only two options – you’re either Christian or you’re not. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
What we need, to be for Jesus, is more Jesus. We need to hear and believe and trust that He has won the battle and He is the good guy. And that this fight is good, even if it isn’t always better for us. He’s the guy on whose side we want to be and need to be.
We need to hear Jesus’ Word to this crowd. The Devil is strong. Don’t doubt it. He is a mighty, spiritual being and he rules this fallen world with his demons. He has powerful weapons and he guards what is his – and that’s you and every sinner apart from Christ. He owns you – body and soul – because of sin, and he doesn’t want to lose you.
But in this season of Lent we hear of the man stronger than the strong man. Jesus of Nazareth, a man, did not give in to Satan’s temptations in the wilderness. He fought back with God’s own Word. Last week Jesus cast out a demon from a Canaanite girl and this week He cast out the demon of a mute man. How does Jesus disarm Satan? With His goodness and His obedience. Jesus uses order against the Devil’s chaos. Jesus follows His Father’s voice instead the Devil’s lies. He gives the Devil no quarter, no room, no territory. He won’t let the Devil have a Canaanite woman, a leper, a prostitute, a IRS agent, and not even you.
We know how Lent ends. It ends with Jesus on the cross. The cross is Satan’s defeat, for there Jesus disarmed Satan. Why does Satan own you? Because of sin. What does Jesus do at the cross? He takes your sin away. He suffers hell for it. He dies with it. And because Jesus is true God, His blood shed and His body offered on the cross fully and completely do away with your sin. If you have no sin Satan has no power over you. He cannot accuse you. He cannot shame you. He cannot tell you that you are worthless or beyond God’s love. When Jesus has you Satan has lost you.
That is your comfort, but also your warning. Jesus told the crowd what happens when an unclean spirit is evicted. He wanders around seeking a new neighborhood and should he return and find your house empty of Christ, he’ll move in, but this time with seven friends. To have Christ and lose Christ is worse than never having Him at all. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t fight or try to hold the middle ground.
One of the principles of fighting a just war is that you don’t declare war unless you have a high (very high) probability of success. If you’re not sure you’re stronger than the strong man, don’t enter the battle. Is this why we are slow to condemn evil and confess what is good? Is this why we try to hold the middle ground, because we’re unsure who the stronger man is? We’re afraid to be on the losing side.
Have no doubt. Jesus won. Lenten spoiler alert – Jesus rose from the dead. After He came to life again in the tomb the first thing He did was descend into hell to preach His victory speech in the Devil’s house. You need to hear that, as Jesus Himself tells you, “Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it!” The Word keep doesn’t mean obey it means watch, be vigilant, keep your eyes on it. If you value something you won’t let it out of your sight. You won’t let it get out of your reach or too far from your grasp.
Might it have been better to just let this demon be? Perhaps for Jesus and those who didn’t believe, but not for the mute man and certainly not for you. In the same way it might go better for you to keep your mouth shut and not enter the battle. Your life will be easier if you leave the demons alone and remain silent in the face of evil. Your life will be better, but it will not be good, because you’re on the wrong side, the side of death. Jesus didn’t open the mute man’s mouth so he could keep quiet and he didn’t open the blind man’s eyes so he would remain the in dark. He didn’t forgive you so you could chum around with sin and be safe on middle ground. He forgave you that you have life, that your eyes might see Jesus and your lips might confess that He is the Stronger Man. He saved you that you might be in on His victory and fight on His side until good triumphs over evil (and it will). You have God’s Word on it. So keep it and you will be blessed in the name of Jesus. Amen.