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Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Good morning, St. Paul Lutheran Church. Pastor Wolfmuller. You're listening to the Sunday Drive to Church podcast. Hope you had extra coffee this morning to wake you up. Or if you don't know, it's daylight savings time. Well, I guess we'll see you at the late service.
[00:00:15] By the way, Sunday Drive to Church podcast is background music by the Dulcet Tones of Dallas International Airport.
[00:00:24] You can probably hear the announcements, too. Sorry about that. Got delayed on my way back home.
[00:00:31] Well, right now for me, but yesterday, if you're listening. It's a beautiful Sunday, though, in the church here. Oculi is the Latin name for the Sunday, the third Sunday in Lent. It's the third Sunday in a row that we're hearing from the well. We're hearing Jesus dealing with the demonic today. It's going to be this favorite parable of Jesus, the parable of the strongman, embedded in this amazing gospel text talking about the demons that are sent out of the and come back and find the house swept.
[00:01:07] Well, we'll get to it, but let's pray.
[00:01:10] O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy, be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your word through Jesus Christ, your son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
[00:01:34] Amen.
[00:01:35] That's a good one. By the way, I don't know if you all will cut out the colics every now and again and use them as bookmarks in your Bible. I think that's pretty cool thing to do. This is a really good one, especially for those of you who have friends or especially family who have wandered from the faith and praying constantly that the Lord will call them back.
[00:01:58] This is a great prayer for that. Just beautiful. Well, Old Testament lesson Jeremiah 26:1 15.
[00:02:08] This is. I mean, listen to this one. In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, King of Judah, the word of the came from the Lord. Thus says the Lord, stand in the court of the Lord's house and speak to all the cities of Judah that come to worship in the house of the Lord. All the words that I command you to speak to them. And the Lord does not command Jeremiah to speak real friendly words. He says, unless you repent, the Lord is going to make this house like Shiloh. Now that's no good. Shiloh is destroyed. Shiloh is rubble. Shiloh had experienced Already the wrath of God. And now Jeremiah says, if you guys don't change your ways, you are going to be like Shiloh and the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. And when he finished speaking, all the Lord had commanded him to speak. The priests and the prophets and all the people said, you will die.
[00:03:02] What have you done this Jeremiah? So that they are enraged. I mean, they are just. They can't believe all these things that Jeremiah just said. And Jeremiah says, well, I'm not going to change my mind. That's what the Lord told me to say. If you can, if you want to kill me, fine. In fact, at the end he says, the Lord sent me to prophesy against the house and the city. All the words you've heard. Therefore mend your ways and your deeds and obey the voice of the Lord your God.
[00:03:29] And the Lord will relent the disaster that he has pronounced against you. Remember, that's that theme of Jeremiah that the Lord threatens to destroy so that he won't destroy. Remember how the Lord sends Jeremiah to the potter and says, go watch the potter, and the potter's making something, and then something goes wrong in the clay and the potter changes his mind and makes something else. And the Lord says, I'm like the potter, and if I prophesy disaster but you repent, then I'll really. I'll repent of my disaster and I'll. I'll deliver you. But if you are doing good, I promise good, and you don't repent and turn evil or do evil, then I'm going to punish you so that repentance is the key. Always repentance is the key. So the Lord wants to relent of the disaster.
[00:04:14] But as for me, Jeremiah says, as for me, bold, look, I'm in your hands. Do with me as seems good and right to you. If you kill me, though, it'll be innocent blood.
[00:04:23] Can you imagine Jeremiah in the. You got to think of Jeremiah there in the temple, prophesying that this place is just going to be a pile of rocks and all the people are ready to stone him.
[00:04:37] He says, well, fine, do it if you want, but I'm just saying what God said told me to say, you got to take it up with him. The Epistle is all. I think, by the way, I was trying to figure out why the Old Testament and Epistle are appointed for this Sunday. If I could guess.
[00:04:58] My guess on why this is the Old Testament is that the Pharisees are also accusing Jesus of casting out demons by Beelzebul.
[00:05:07] So just like Jeremiah was faithful, prophesying what the Lord said, and he was accused of being a false prophet, so the Pharisees are doing something similar to Jesus.
[00:05:21] That's. That's my guess. That's for connection. If you have a.
[00:05:25] A different idea, you can let me know. Epistle takes us to Ephesians 5.
[00:05:31] This is Paul's discussion of love, how we are to live as Christians, starting with verse one.
[00:05:39] He says, therefore be imitators of God as beloved children.
[00:05:44] That's such a beautiful picture. He says. He says, you know how.
[00:05:50] How children act like their parents and like, you can see the little boy, like, pushing the pretend lawnmower behind his dad who's mowing the grass.
[00:06:01] Or you can, you can see the, the young girl, like, putting on high heels, walking behind her mother or something like that. How the children imitate their parents. So, so he says, you all are imitating God.
[00:06:18] This is an amazing thing to think of.
[00:06:21] Our imitation is of our heavenly Father.
[00:06:24] Like Jesus says, be holy as your Father in heaven is holy.
[00:06:29] Be imitators of God as beloved children.
[00:06:32] Walk in love as Christ loved and gave himself up for us. A fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
[00:06:42] And then, and then Paul's going to list a lot of things, so that's what we are supposed to do. And then he's going to list a lot of things that we're not supposed to do.
[00:06:51] Sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you as is proper among the saints. Let there be no filthiness or foolish talk or crude joking which are out of place.
[00:07:05] Instead, let there be thanksgiving.
[00:07:07] For you may be sure of this. Everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetousness, that is idolater and idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
[00:07:18] Let no one deceive you with empty words.
[00:07:21] Because of these things, the wrath of God comes on the sons of disobedience.
[00:07:25] So there's two.
[00:07:27] You're a son of something, you're a son of disobedience, or you're a son of God.
[00:07:32] And you testify of that not only by what you say, but also by what you do and don't do.
[00:07:42] Therefore do not associate with them. For one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the world. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of light is found in all that's good and right and true.
[00:07:54] Children of God are children of light. Not children of darkness and children of disobedience.
[00:07:59] So there's thanksgiving and there's.
[00:08:05] And there's love and mercy, and there's no immorality or coarse jesting, covetousness. All these things do not belong to the Lord's people.
[00:08:17] All right, now that takes us to the gospel, which we have from Luke 11, 14, 28. Remember last week we had the Canaanite woman whose daughter was demonized the week before, Jesus was tempted in the wilderness. Now we're. We're week three of Jesus overcoming the kingdom of the devil, bringing about the kingdom of God.
[00:08:43] This is how it starts, though.
[00:08:45] Jesus was casting out a demon that was mute, which is amazing and a noted thing here, because this demon not only made this person mute, but it says the demon was mute as well, so not speaking. So this is particularly difficult because Jewish exorcism had to do with, like, identifying the demon, the demon speaking its name, and all this stuff. Jesus doesn't care about that.
[00:09:08] And the demon leaves, and the man speaks, and the people marveled.
[00:09:13] Some said he cast out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons.
[00:09:18] Others, to test him, kept seeking a sign from heaven. But Jesus knows their thoughts, and he says, every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste. The house divided falls.
[00:09:29] Jesus is quoting Abraham Lincoln here.
[00:09:35] Oh, boy.
[00:09:38] I could hear you guys laughing all the way from Dallas at that hilarious joke.
[00:09:45] I do think it's ironic sometimes how Abraham Lincoln quoted this text, but Jesus was talking about the demonic kingdom. It's a little bit out of context from Abraham Lincoln, but I suppose it's a truism. Every kingdom divided against itself falls.
[00:10:00] Jesus goes on to conclude, if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?
[00:10:07] You say, I cast out demons by Beelzebub. If I cast out demons by Beelzebub, who do your sons cast them out? Remember, there was Jewish exorcists like the sons of Sceva. We hear about them in Ephesians, in Ephesus, Acts, chapter 19, they'll be your judges, says Jesus. If by the finger of God I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Oftentimes in the Old Testament, the arm of God is talking about the Father, the hand of God is talking about the Son, and the finger of God is talking about the Spirit.
[00:10:39] And I think that's probably what's being referred to here. Jesus says, it's the finger of God, the Holy Spirit. I'm casting out demons by the spirit.
[00:10:47] Then he says, I think this is Jesus favorite Parable.
[00:10:54] When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe.
[00:10:59] But when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trust him and divides the spoil.
[00:11:07] Now this one little one verse parable. And Jesus is not teaching us how to be like cat burglars. He's not giving us instructions for how to loot someone's house.
[00:11:19] You go home from church, you're like, hey, we were listening to the parable from Jesus and he was telling us how to rob strong men. You gotta tie him up first.
[00:11:27] This is not the point. The point is the strongman is the devil.
[00:11:31] His goods are us.
[00:11:33] His house is the world. His goods are at peace as long as Jesus isn't there working by the word and spirit, overthrowing him. But he is working.
[00:11:42] This is the whole point. Jesus is casting out demons and he's binding the strongman. I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Jesus says, for this reason the son of God was manifest to destroy the works of the devil. First John 5:8, he overcame him who had the power of death, that is the devil.
[00:12:01] Hebrews 2:14.
[00:12:03] So all of these beautiful passages that talk about he made a public spectacle of them triumphing over over them in the cross. All these beautiful passages about how the death and resurrection of Jesus is the overthrow of the devil. It's keeping that garden promise that the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent.
[00:12:24] Done, done.
[00:12:27] Jesus has done it.
[00:12:29] He's bound the strong man and he's looted him, and we are that loot.
[00:12:38] Beautiful.
[00:12:39] And then Jesus tells this a strange thing.
[00:12:52] Sorry I had to stall. I can't remember what I was saying. I just got the good news that my flight's delayed a little bit longer, so I'll be able to make a longer Sunday drive to church podcast. Oh boy. So.
[00:13:05] Oh, yeah. So Jesus goes. I know what I was talking about. Jesus goes on with this very strange explanation of the demonic kingdom.
[00:13:15] He says, when an unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest and finding none. It says, I'll return to my house, from which I came. And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order.
[00:13:29] It goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself.
[00:13:32] They enter and dwell there. And the last state of the person is worse than the first.
[00:13:38] Now, this is.
[00:13:40] What is going on here is pretty. I mean, it's very interesting. It's kind of hard to know exactly what Jesus is talking about, but it's the idea that.
[00:13:51] Well, it's the idea that just because Jesus removes a demon from someone, it doesn't mean that they're better off.
[00:14:00] Especially if the evil spirit leaves and the Holy Spirit doesn't move in, it makes it worse.
[00:14:11] So the key thing is not just that the demon is being sent away, but that the Holy Spirit is being invited and welcomed. Ian, I think we'll wrestle through that in the sermon, which will be great.
[00:14:26] I mean, I don't know if the sermon will be great, but it'll be great to wrestle with that.
[00:14:30] That's good. Sermon. Proudly be so so. And he said these things. A woman in the crowd. Listen to this woman gets so excited.
[00:14:36] This is one of the favorite characters in the whole Bible. This lady, she's sitting there listening, and she just can't help herself. And she says, blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts in which you nursed.
[00:14:48] Can you. Can you imagine that lady? And like her kids next to her, like, mom, what are you saying?
[00:14:56] But Jesus looks at her with such compassion, and he says, no.
[00:15:00] Well, not no. He says, blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it.
[00:15:06] And that's an amazing text because so many people want to bless Mary for her role in being the mother of God and the bearer of our Lord that Theotokos. But which is true, and we do, and we honor her. All generations will call her blessed. But Jesus says, here's an even greater blessing.
[00:15:27] An even more profound blessing is those who hear the word of God and believe it, including that lady Jesus is saying to her, you're even more blessed than Mary.
[00:15:39] Well, Mary also heard the word of God and believed it. So she has the double blessing. But we're more blessed than Mary bearing our Lord Jesus.
[00:15:47] We're rejoicing that we hear his word and we believe it and that protects us from the demons. It's an amazing thing that the devil who's always attacking the Word, remember the parable of the sower and the seeds that fall and the birds that snatch them up. That's the devil's attempt to snatch up the Word, but it's the Word that destroys them.
[00:16:14] The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
[00:16:18] So good.
[00:16:20] I didn't talk about the psalm.
[00:16:22] The psalm. Let me go back. And I skipped right over Aha. Psalm 4.
[00:16:29] This is one of the most beautiful psalms. It's probably the best evening psalm.
[00:16:38] Whenever people have trouble sleeping, I prescribe to them Psalm 4 because it has this last verse. In peace I will both lie down and sleep for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.
[00:16:56] What a beautiful time text. There was an old chant version of that. I will lie down and sleep in peace.
[00:17:07] This is beautiful. And it's probably a good one for daylight savings. So you guys can sing that psalm and take a little nap. But look at what it says. There are many who will say, who will show us some good. Lift up the light of your face on us, O Lord. In other words, there's not many people who are blessing us and doing good to us. But the Lord is.
[00:17:29] He says, where's this? I put more joy.
[00:17:32] You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.
[00:17:39] So you think of the harvest and when the grain is gathered in, and there's plenty to eat, and the wine is gathered up and there's plenty to drink, and there's joy and happiness because we know that things are well here. The psalm says, more, so much more joy than that is what the Lord puts into our hearts. And can we just.
[00:18:00] I mean, look, I know that things are hard.
[00:18:06] The Lord promises it, in this world you will have trouble.
[00:18:11] We know that things are difficult. We look around the world and, I mean, there's one, and there's rumors of wars and there's trouble inside and there's trouble outside. And every which way we turn, things are difficult. But the Lord is the one who puts joy in our hearts.
[00:18:31] Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness. You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer.
[00:18:41] Verse two is a very important verse of this psalm. Sorry, I'm working through it backwards.
[00:18:46] It says, o men, how long shall my honor be turned to shame?
[00:18:52] This is one of the tricks that the world does, and the devil does too, and I suppose even our sinful flesh to turn our honor into shame. The things that we should be proud of, into things that we're ashamed of.
[00:19:04] We should be boasting that the Lord is our God and that we're baptized, but we. We sometimes are ashamed of that, and we are not. So, in other words, the greatest things that we have, we're even afraid to talk of. Which it should be something like this, like, you know, I don't want to.
[00:19:20] I don't want to brag, but I'm baptized.
[00:19:26] That's the thing we posted.
[00:19:28] Okay, one more thing to talk about. That is the hymn of the day, which is. I gotta scroll down to it.
[00:19:36] Lord of our life and God of our salvation. We have the cantor on the first stanza because it's not so familiar or even easy a tune to sing.
[00:19:46] But it's a beautiful one.
[00:19:49] It's from the Reformation. It's in the Reformation section.
[00:19:53] It's about the difficulty faced by the church.
[00:19:58] Star of our night and hope of every nation Hear and receive your church's supplication Lord God Almighty.
[00:20:05] See round your ark that ark should be understood not as the Ark of the Covenant but as the Ark, a ship like Noah. The ark of the Church. See round your ark the hungry billows curling See how your foes, their banners are unfurling and with great spite their fiery darts are hurling o'. Er oh, boy.
[00:20:28] Lord preserve us.
[00:20:31] Lord be our light when worldly darkness veils us Lord, be our shield when earthly armor fails us and in the day when Hell itself assails us. Grant us your peace, Lord. Hell itself. The Lord is our peace Even in the midst of all sorts of trouble the Lord's our peace.
[00:20:49] Peace in our hearts.
[00:20:51] I like this last stanza. In fact, I used this last stanza as the theme for a Lenten devotion some time ago. Fifteen years ago or something.
[00:21:01] I'm getting old. Peace in our hearts where sinful thoughts are raging Peace in your church Our troubled souls assuaging Peace in the world Its endless wars are waging Peace in your heavens.
[00:21:18] So we're praying for peace in the heart, Peace in the church, peace in the world.
[00:21:24] That's a good prayer. That's a good one.
[00:21:28] All right. Hope you're driving safe. Hope you got all the coffee you need.
[00:21:33] God be praised for his great gifts. We'll see you in a few minutes. Sunday drive to church.