Lent III 2015
“Blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it.”
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Amen.
We have two great lessons on this third Sunday of our Lenten
journey. In his Epistle to the Ephesians, St. Paul tells us that we are
to be “followers” of God, more properly translated, “imitators” of
God. That seems a tall order doesn’t it? Well, it really isn’t if you
think about it. It simply involves good behavior. Paul continues
with a list of what not to do in order to achieve our goal. After a
litany of sins to be avoided, he reminds us that when we “walk in
light” all goodness, and righteousness, and truth will result as a
fruit or gift of the Holy Spirit.
Following or imitating God begins by imitating the example of His
Son. But do we truly know the Son? That is, have we accepted Him?
Defending our Christian faith can often prove difficult. Although we
know what we believe, it is sometimes hard to explain it to others,
especially non-believers. After all, there is no earthly explanation
for most of what we profess. And we live in a world that demands
proof of everything.
This morning we have just such a situation in St. Luke’s Gospel. But
as we’ll see, even when the proof is there, many will still refuse to
accept the truth.
In this short passage of scripture, Luke presents us with three
questions:
Is Jesus the Son of God as He claims?
How do we know?
And if He is the Son of God, what must we do?
Our story begins in a familiar way: Jesus engaged in ministry. In
this case, he cures a demon-possessed man. Like most of the
characters in our Lord’s miracles, we know little of the background
of this man, only that his possession prevented him from speaking.
But the miracle is not the focus here. Rather, the focus is on those
watching the miracle and their responses.
We are told that once the devil is cast out of the man, the people
“wondered.” What were they wondering? Well, just exactly who
this Jesus was. Now we can imagine that there were some “ooh’s
and ah’s” from the crowd. But also amongst the mix of folks were
the religious leaders who were already unhappy with Jesus.
Although Luke doesn’t tell us who the specific religious were,
Mark’s parallel account of this story identifies them as the Scribes.
Our scribes cannot deny that a miracle has occurred; a miracle that
required explanation and interpretation. Obviously Jesus has the
power to cure, but instead of accepting that it was of God, they
claim that it came from Beelzebub.
During their dialogue with Jesus, the scribes level two accusations
against him:
First, they claim that he casts out devils by Beelzebub. If you recall,
we first read of Beelzebub in the Second Book of Kings. The name
meant “Lord of the flies” and came to be another name for Satan.
Their Second accusation was a bit stronger. In this account from
Matthew and Mark’s Gospels, they claim that not only is Jesus
possessed by Beelzebub, he is actually empowered by him.
Now that’s from the religious leaders. But look at your crowd who
are just as bad. Verse 16 says,
“And others, tempting him, sought of him a sign from heaven.” But
wait a minute, hasn’t he just given them one? He has just cast out a
devil.
Perhaps these “others” in this crowd are like many people today.
That is, thinking themselves open minded and willing to be
convinced if enough evidence is presented. For folks with this
mindset and the crowd who was watching Jesus, more is never
enough.
And don’t miss the irony here. Some of them have said he
performed miracles by the power of Satan, but look at their follow
up demand: show us more miracles.
So those are the accusations: Jesus you are NOT God, AND, in fact,
receive your power from Satan.
So how do they know that Jesus is the Son of God? How do we
know?
Well, look at our Lord’s response to their questions and comments:
First, he tells them that their accusation is illogical. Jesus basically
asks them a question: How can Satan cast out Satan? What would
be the point?
Second, he tells them that a kingdom divided against itself cannot
stand. If Satan’s goal is to destroy, and he is reversing that
destruction by healing, then how could he possibly be in the
service of Satan?
Finally, Jesus says something that hits very close to home. He says,
“If I by Satan cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out?”
You see, Jewish contemporaries of Jesus also performed exorcisms
and most believed they did so by the power of God.
Were these men also empowered by Satan?
Of course not! So if not by Satan, the miracle must have been
through the power of God.
In verse 21 Jesus says, “If I cast out demons with the finger of God,
surely the Kingdom of God has come upon you.”
Logic would demand that the religious leaders acknowledge that
Jesus was God or that his power was God’s power, and yet in the
face of all the evidence, they refused.
The religious leaders, and from what we can see, the crowds
present that day, made their choice. But what about us? What must
we do?
Well, we’ve been given evidence that demands a choice. Jesus said,
“He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather
with me, scatters.”
The question today is, are you a Gathering or Scattering?
You cannot have it both ways.
If you notice in almost every account where there’s a dialogue with
religious leaders or even mixed crowds, there’s an attempt to
straddle the fence; to inhabit some non-existent, neutral spiritual
ground, and not make a decision about Jesus. This is based on the
thought that there is some middle ground. But there isn’t . The
truth is, it is impossible to be neutral in this spiritual war. In these
weeks prior to the holiest time of the year, there will be, and there
numbers increase every year, shows, documentaries, and every
sort of publication imaginable, seeking to scoff at the idea that
Jesus was God’s Son, and especially that he rose bodily from the
grave. There were two such programs on discovery last week. As
Christians, as believers in Jesus Christ, you and I are called to stand
up and defend what we profess here each Sunday. Think about how
many people you come into contact with on a daily basis, perhaps
in your own families. How many opportunities have we missed to
share our faith in Christ? We often make light or even fun of
religious groups that actively proselytize, but for everyone that
laughs them off or refuses to answer the door, the next encounter
might well mean a convert.
Lent is a time of renewal. Let us remember to proudly profess Jesus
as Lord.
And I’ll leave with just a small excerpt of those words from C.S.
Lewis, of which, you’ll be quite familiar:
“You must make your choice. Either this man Jesus, was, and is the
Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut
him up for being a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon;
or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God.”
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Amen.