Jesus speaks today, saying,
“Now he was casting
out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and
the people marveled.”
What we notice from Christ’s words to us today, is that there is a distinction made between the demon and the man it possesses. Notice that a man made by God is possessed and it is the demon that is mute, not the man, for he begins to talk when the demon leaves him.
As insignificant as this seems, this distinction has profound implications. It lays out for us Original Sin and that there is a difference between us and the sin that infects us. Now, this is a distinction that only God can make, but there none-the-less.
The West is a very unique worldly creation. From Europe to America, what the West has done for the world is indisputable. The advances to civilization, peace, medicine, and all other aspects of life are staggering. Compared to other areas of the world, it truly does seem like America is God’s country.
However, that is taking things too far. The origins of Western culture are found in grace and the trust of the promise of the Gospel. God does not choose a country or earthly region (any more). He chooses to issue forth His good gifts and loving-kindness through His Son, which is how we see the world ruled by Him today.
There are no smitings or lighting bolts. There is evil and it flourishes. But there is also peace and civility, which seems to hold up much better under the west. Look at how the rest of the world lives. All of Asia lives under a lie of communism and ancestor worship. Africa is having the hardest time of all.
Because of the Son of God, the world continues. Because of Jesus, the rains fall on the righteous as well as the wicked. That is the indiscriminate Gospel God gives to the entire world. That these places flourish, even though they are brutal and demon possessed.
Yet, take another look at your own civilization. As wonderful as the West has been for the world, Europe is in major decline, and America as well. All the big cities live just as awfully as Asia and Africa. The invasion and demon possession reaches your front door.
As great as anything in this world can be, it is corrupted. You can create a world-wide utopia and it will end in disaster. You can even attempt to bring heaven on earth and you will only get hell, so much does sin corrupt our nature.
To us and our senses, we can not distinguish between our nature and the things that affect it. We can not distinguish ourselves from our sin. The cross of Jesus Christ is the necessary lens to making this distinction.
Repent. Were it not for the grace of God through His only begotten Son, the entire world would have been done in long ago. Were it not for the patience and long-suffering of the Father, because of the Son, truly there would be no hope and we would experience hell.
The Almighty God has a body. In Jesus, God and man are united and one of the reasons this is so, is because the body and soul are creations of God and therefore, good and right. The body is such, that Jesus, true God and true man, can be conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin, Mary.
Jesus has shown that the body will be redeemed. In removing the mute demon from the speaking man today, Jesus reveals that both the body and soul will be atoned for and resurrected on the last day. Jesus has risen from the dead and now sits at the right hand of God, with a body and soul.
In being made man, Jesus takes on the corruption of sin, death, and the devil. The body and soul that God has created has been corrupted and continues to show itself in all civilizations and no amount of hard work or holy work is going to remove it.
The sin that possesses you; the death that overtakes you and the devil that lies to you has been defeated, judged, and removed from you. For, Jesus has taken the human body and soul into death, down to hell, and back to life again cleansing and sanctifying it for all time.
In baptism Jesus gives this to you. Baptism saves you from this corruption. The Gospel gives eternal life and the Lord’s Supper strengthens and keeps you in the forgiveness of sins. This gives new light to what it means for Jesus to live in you. Hopefully you more fully understand when Jesus says that, it is now His life that lives, not your own.
This Gospel is the power of God for salvation. It is not the gospel of human perfection, or world peace, or utopia. It is Jesus’ answer for sin and death. It is Jesus’ condemnation of the devil and it is Jesus’ work to save you.
The possessed man was not working toward a closer walk with God; he couldn’t. It was impossible for him, so far had sin corrupted him. It is also impossible for you to get right with God. It is impossible for you to follow Jesus. It is impossible for you to do the right thing.
If it were not; if there was a small speck of “good” within you; if you were still worth saving on your own merit, then of what use is Christ to you? Much more, of what use would Jesus be to the world? Oh, Jesus; you died and rose again. Thanks, but we can handle it from here. We’re basically good folks and God will help us the rest of the way. Have a nice day.
To deny Original Sin as the complete corruption of any and all works you do, is to say that Jesus is meaningless. To deny that man is dead in his sin and can do no good towards God, is to deny Christ in front of men, the result being Him denying you in front of the Father.
Jesus has come to cast out demons by the Finger of God and He does so. Today, He works through means such as the Words and Promises of God declare; using water, words, bread and wine for your salvation.
Thus we conclude, that the Kingdom of God has come upon us as well. However, by the cross we know that it has come upon us for our good. By Jesus offering Himself in our stead and by giving us His Means of Grace today, we know that the Kingdom has not come to condemn us, but to justify us.
And each time we hear the Gospel and believe it; each time we remember God’s promise to us in baptism, and each time we commune with the Lord of all creation, we believe that we have the forgiveness of sins for this body and this soul.
You have been plundered out of the kingdom of sin, death, and the devil. You have been swept clean, put in order, and filled with the true Body of Christ. You are lead beside baptism-filled places in order that you hear the Gospel of Christ.
That is: what Jesus has done and still does for your salvation, calming your sin-filled and troubled mind with His rest and His Peace, given and shed for you.
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