Sermon for the fourth mid-week Lent service - "Who receives this Sacrament worthily?"

 

 Mid-Lent 4

                                                Who receives this

 Sacrament worthily?

 4/2/25

 

          “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.”  This is what the apostle Paul says about the reception of the Sacrament of the Altar as he writes to the Corinthians.  Paul says that the Sacrament must be received “worthily” – it must be received in a way that is fitting and proper. To fail to do so is to become guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.

          Paul is addressing this topic because there were problems at the Corinthian celebration of the Sacrament.  The Corinthians were acting in a way that did not recognize the significance of Christ’s true body and blood. We will speak about those specific circumstances next week as we consider how the Sacrament unites us as the Body of Christ.

          Tonight we focus on what Paul says about receiving the Sacrament.  We confess that the Sacrament is the true body and blood of Jesus Christ, under the bread and wine.  Jesus gives us his body and blood, given and shed for us for the forgiveness of sins.  We receive into our body, the true body and blood of Christ.

          This is no minor thing.  It is the body and blood of the incarnate Son of God. And so Paul says, “Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.”  Paul says that a person must examine himself. The reason for this is that a person eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not discern that it is the body of Christ.

          The apostle describes the nature of the way this was taking place at Corinth.  He says, “That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.”  In the Sacrament, the true body and blood of Christ is received into the individual, and Paul says that this has bodily consequences.  This is no mere bread and wine. It is not just a symbol that that makes us think about something.

          Paul’s words lead us to ask the fourth question in the Small Catechism: “Who receives this sacrament worthily?” The answer given to this question begins by saying, “Fasting and bodily preparation are certainly fine outward training.” 

In the history of the Church, people have engaged in several practices as they prepared to receive the Sacrament.  The most common has been fasting, as the reception of the Sacrament was the way in which the fast was ended.  Another has been sexual abstinence in preparation to receive the Sacrament.

The Small Catechism says that fasting and bodily preparation are fine outward training.  God created us as body and soul in a unity, and bodily preparation such as this focuses the individual on what he or she is going to receive.  However, the Small Catechism goes on to say, “But that person is truly worthy and well prepared who has faith in these words, “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” But anyone who does not believe these words or doubts them is unworthy and unprepared, for the words ‘for you’ require all hearts to believe.”

After the initial definition of what the Sacrament is, all three subsequent questions return to the same words: “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”  Martin Luther focuses on these words because they summarize the Sacrament.  It is the true body of Christ that was given in death on the cross. It is the true blood of Christ shed as he died on the cross.  This was done to win the forgiveness of sins.  This was done for you, and now it is given to you in the Sacrament.

Luther said, “This Sacrament is the Gospel.” The Gospel is the good news that God sent his Son into the world. Paul told the Galatians, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” In the Sacrament, the incarnate Son of God is present in his true body and blood.  He gives it to us to eat and drink.

Before he entered Jerusalem, Jesus told the apostles, “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” In this season of Lent we are preparing to remember what happened when Jesus went to the Jerusalem for the final time.  Jesus redeemed us from sin – he freed us – as he gave his life in death on the cross. His body was nailed to the cross and his blood was shed as he received the judgment against our sin.

Yet Holy Week leads us to Easter, when Jesus Christ rose from the dead.  On that first day of the week the angels said to the women at the empty tomb, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?  He is not here, but has risen.”  Jesus demonstrated that he had won victory over death as he was seen by the apostles.

The crucified and risen Lord has given us the Sacrament.  We must eat and drink the Sacrament worthily, so that we do not become guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.  In order receive it worthily the apostle says, “Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.”

About what are we to examine ourselves? We find this in the words, “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”  First, we recognize that we receive the body and blood of Christ for the forgiveness of sins.  In order to receive forgiveness, we must repent. We must confess our sin.  As David says in Psalm 32, “I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD.”  Our examination leads us to consider how sin is present in our life, and to confess this sin to God.

Second, we examine ourselves to see that we recognize and believe what the Sacrament is, and what it does.  Paul told the Corinthians, “For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.” We discern the body as we believe that the Sacrament is the true body and blood of Jesus Christ.  We receive worthily when we believe it is the true body and blood of Christ through which we receive forgiveness.

The Sacrament of the Altar is the precious gift of the Lord.  It is a central blessing in the life of the Church.  But Scripture teaches us that it is possible to receive the Sacrament unworthily.  One can become guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.  A person can eat and drink to judgment. 

The Church does not want this to happen. And so we as the Church, and specifically pastors in the Office of the Ministry, must take responsibility for who is admitted to the Sacrament of the Altar. This practice is called closed communion.  It has been the practice of the Church throughout her history.

Those who do not repent of sin cannot receive the Sacrament, since it is only for repentant sinners who want forgiveness.  Individuals who live in unrepentant sin – who refuse to turn away from their sin – cannot receive the Sacrament until they do repent.

Those who do not believe that the Sacrament of the Altar is the true body and blood of Christ cannot receive the Sacrament.  We recall that it is Christ’s word that causes the bread and wine to be his body and blood.  Christ says it is, and this is true no matter whether a person believes it or not.  To receive the Sacrament while not believing it is the body and blood of Christ is to be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.  It is to eat and drink to judgment. And so those who deny the body and blood of Christ cannot receive the Sacrament – and this for their own good.  At the same time, this does not yet exhaust what needs to be said about the practice of closed communion.  And so there will be more to say next week as we consider the corporate nature of the Sacrament of the Altar.

Who receives this sacrament worthily?  That person is truly worthy and well prepared who has faith in these words: “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”  We examine ourselves as we repent and confess our sin for which we need forgiveness.  We examine ourselves as we discern – as we recognize and confess – that the Sacrament is the true body and blood of Christ given and shed for us for the forgiveness of sin. For in this way we receive the Sacrament as the blessing from Christ that gives forgiveness, life, and salvation.            

 

 

  

 

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Lent - Laetare - Gal 4:21-31

 

          Lent 4

                                                                                                Gal 4:21-31

                                                                                                3/30/25

 

            The promise, faith, and freedom, or the flesh, works, and slavery? That is what the apostle Paul is setting before the Galatians in our text this morning. The apostle is trying to bring the Galatians back to the Gospel – to keep them from losing the Gospel. In our text, he uses what happened with Hagar and Sarah in the Old Testament in order to illustrate his point.

            The apostle Paul had preached the Gospel to the Galatians in Asia Minor – what is now Turkey – during his first missionary journey.  As he describes in the first verse of the letter, he had gone there as “an apostle--not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead.”  The Galatians were Gentiles. They were not Jews. But they had heard the message of the death and resurrection of Christ, and the Holy Spirit had called them to faith.

            Paul had returned to Antioch at the conclusion of the missionary journey.  But in his absence, other teachers had come to Galatia.  These men also confessed faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus.  However, they told the Galatians that Paul had not told them the whole story.  Yes, they needed to believe in Jesus.  But if they wanted to be part of God’s people, then they needed to do what God’s people the Jews had always done.  They needed to keep the Law that God had given to Moses at Mt. Sinai when he took Israel into a covenant with himself.

            Faith in Christ was not enough. Instead, they also needed to keep the law of Moses.  This meant that these teachers were urging the Galatian men to be circumcised.  Circumcision marked a great divide in the ancient world.  Jewish men had received circumcision in accordance with the Law of Moses. Gentile men, on the other hand, were not circumcised.  In fact, the Greco-Roman world viewed circumcision as a kind of mutilation of manhood.  It was held in contempt.

For an adult male Gentile to receive circumcision meant not only undergoing a painful procedure.  It meant taking on a condition that those around them disdained.  It meant becoming a Jew and keeping the law of Moses with its food laws. It meant keeping the Sabbath. It meant following the Jewish calendar with its observances such as the Passover.

However, these teachers were saying that all of this was necessary in order for a person to be saved.  Faith in Jesus was not enough. The works of the law – the doing of the law of Moses – also had to be done.  Only in this way could a Gentile become part of God’s people.

Paul knew that to require doing of the law was a denial of the Gospel.  He said at the beginning of the letter, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel--

not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.”

            The apostle rejected the idea that works of the law could have anything to do with salvation.  He says in chapter two, “we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”

            Paul says exactly why the law cannot save.  He states, “For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.’”  The law is about doing – doing that is full, complete, and perfect.

            However, no one is able to do this.  We cannot because of our sinful condition.  Paul told the Galatians, “But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin.” The law cannot provide the power to obey God’s will. Instead, our violation of the law brings God’s curse. The apostle describes this life under the law’s curse as slavery. In fact Paul tells the Galatians that if they submit to the law they will be enslaved just as they were when they were pagans who did not know the true God.

            We all sin in violation of God’s law – his will.  But God sent his Son into the world in order to free us from slavery of the law’s curse.  Paul writes, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us--for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.’”  Jesus received the curse in our place as he died on the cross. And then on the third day God raised Jesus from the dead as he vindicated Christ and demonstrated that he had been working through the cross to give us forgiveness.

            This salvation is now received by faith in Christ. Faith believes God’s promise of the forgiveness that we have in Jesus. Paul says that this is how God had dealt with Abraham – by the faith in the promise. He says, “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed.’ So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.”

            Paul says that the promise to Abraham has been fulfilled in Christ, the seed of Abraham.  Now through faith and baptism, the Galatians – and you – have been joined to Christ and you are part of the people of God.  Paul writes, “for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” You are in Christ and so Paul draws the conclusion, “And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.”

Salvation is by Christ or by the law.  It is by faith or by works.  There is no middle ground. And the result is either freedom or slavery.  Paul seeks to drive home this point in our text.  He says, “Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise.”

Abraham first had his son Ishmael who was born through Hagar, his slave woman.  This son was not born on the basis of God’s promise, but instead through his own action in the flesh.  Then, Isaac was born to Sarah his aged wife in miraculous fulfillment of God’s promise.

In our text, Paul uses these two woman in a non-literal way.  He says, “Now this may be interpreted allegorically.”  He is using them to illustrate the two options that are before the Galatians. Paul explains, “One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.”

Ishmael was associated with Arabia where Mt. Sinai was located. And so the apostle identifies Hagar with Mt Sinai and the covenant God made with Israel through Moses. And in turn, Paul connects this covenant and law of Moses with the present Jerusalem – with the Jews who are seeking to keep the law of Moses. Paul says that they are in the slavery of the law.  If the Galatians go this way, they too will be slaves.

Then Paul says, “But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.”  Jerusalem above is a reference to the end time salvation of God worked in the Son and now given through the Spirit.  It is this work of God that has given you salvation. As Paul said earlier in this chapter, “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.”

Paul tells the Galatians that, like Isaac, they are children of promise.  They cannot give in to those who are trying to bring them back into slavery under the law.  Instead, they must follow the instruction of Scripture which says, “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.” They must remove these false teachers.

The apostle’s words teach us that the Gospel is never Jesus plus something.  It is not Jesus plus works as medieval theology taught at the time of the Reformation, and Roman Catholic theology continues to teach today.  It is not Jesus plus holy living.  It is not Jesus plus my ability to choose to believe in Jesus.  Like Paul’s opponents at Galatia, all of these pervert the Gospel by adding our doing – they add the law.

Instead, salvation is God’s gift – it is purely by grace.  It is the gift made possible by Christ’s death on the cross and resurrection from the dead. It is received by faith in Christ – a faith that is itself God’s gift as it has been worked by the Spirit.  Through faith in Christ we have freedom.  We have been freed from the slavery of sin and the curse of the law.

Yet this freedom doesn’t mean we are free to do whatever we want.  That is not how things work for those who have new life in Christ through the work of the Spirit – for those who are led by the Spirit.  Paul says in the next chapter, “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

This is the life of faith because it is Christ living in us through the work of the Spirit.  Paul said earlier in this letter, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”  This is, as Paul describes it, “faith working through love.”

The law continues to reflect God’s will, and so the life of faith – the life led by the Spirit – fulfills the law.  That is why Paul can say in the last chapter of this letter, “Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” 

As a new creation in Christ, the Spirit leads and we follow. The Spirit makes the new life possible, and we apply ourselves to living in those ways that are true to God’s will. As Paul says, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit” – or “let us keep step with Spirit” as it can also be translated. 

We avoid and turn away from what Paul calls in chapter five “the works of the flesh” – things like sexual immorality, enmity, jealousy, fits of anger, and envy. And instead as the Spirit produces the fruit of the Spirit – we seek to live the life that is characterized by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  For in this way the life of faith fulfills the law.

Paul’s words remind us this morning we have received salvation through God’s promise fulfilled in Christ.  We live by faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave himself up for us on the cross. Because of Christ we now have freedom from sin and the curse of the law.  And through the work of the Spirit our life of faith is active in love as we fulfil the law of Christ.

 

Sermon for third mid-week Lent service - How can bodily eating and drinking do such great things?

 

        Mid Lent 3

                                                                                    How can bodily eating

                                                                                    and drinking do such

                                                                                    great things?

                                                                                    3/26/25

 

           

Forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation – those are the benefits of the Sacrament of the Altar that we confess in the Small Catechism.  These are blessings that give us peace with God.  They are blessings that are true now, but also extend into the new heavens and new earth which God will bring about when Christ returns on the Last Day. These are mighty blessings that affect both the spiritual and the physical, since we are people who are body and soul.

However, in the Sacrament all that we see is bread and wine. We eat bread and drink wine – and not very much of it at that. The question naturally arises, “How can bodily eating and drinking do such great things?”  How can the simple act of eating bread and drinking wine give forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation?

The Small Catechism answers this question by saying, “Certainly not just eating and drinking do these things, but the words written here: ‘Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.’ These words, along with the bodily eating and drinking, are the main thing in the Sacrament.” 

In the Small Catechism, Martin Luther directs out attention to the words of Jesus Christ. Our Lord said that the bread is his body that was given for us. He said that the wine is his blood shed for us.  As we heard last week, it is Christ’s word that causes his body and blood to be present. This word first spoken at the Last Supper continues to have the power of the Lord each time it is spoken in the celebration of the Sacrament.

It is only the word of Christ that can do this. The Large Catechism says, “we do not claim this of bread and wine – for in itself bread is bread – but of that bread and wine that are Christ’s body and blood and that are accompanied by the Word.  These and no other, we say, are the treasure through which such forgiveness is obtained.  This treasure is conveyed and communicated to us in no other way than through the words ‘given and shed for you.’”

Jesus does not only say that it is his true body and blood.  He says that it is his body given for you.  It is his blood shed for you. Christ identifies it as his body given into death on the cross.  It is his blood shed on the cross. 

During Lent we are preparing to remember that death.  At Christmas we celebrated the wonder of the incarnation as the Word – the Son of God – became flesh.  God became man without ceasing to be God.  True God and true man, Jesus Christ lived without sin in our world. 

He did because we are people who do sin.  In thought, word, and deed we do not love God with all that we are.  We do not love our neighbor as ourself.  As we confess at the beginning of the Divine Service using the words of the apostle John: “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

Jesus had no sin.  But God the Father sent him to take our sin as his own. The apostle Paul wrote: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”  The holy and just God executed his judgment against your sin when Christ died on the cross.  Through this action Christ atoned for your sins.  They no longer stand as a barrier between you and God.  Instead, you now have forgiveness.

Jesus suffered and died for us.  And then on Easter, God raised him from the dead.  The sin of Adam brought death.  But Christ has brought life through his resurrection because he is the firstborn from the dead.  His resurrection is the beginning of the resurrection that we will experience on the Last Day.

Our Lord says that in the Sacrament it is his body and blood given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.  As we noted last week, Christ gives to you the very price he paid – the very means by which he won the forgiveness of sins. He puts it into your mouth as he applies that forgiveness to you as an individual.

It is Jesus’ word that causes the Sacrament to be his true body and blood.  Our Lord says that it is body and blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. And like all of the Means of Grace, this Gospel gift is received by faith.  The Small Catechism says, “Whoever believes these words has exactly what they say: ‘forgiveness of sins.’”

We believe Christ’s word in the Sacrament. We believe him as he tells us what it is, and what it does.  We believe that it is the true body and blood Christ, because he says it is.  We believe that through eating and drinking the body and blood of Christ we receive forgiveness, because this is what Jesus promises.  We believe that this gift is given to each one of us because Jesus says, “for you.”

Our faith does not cause the Sacrament of the Altar to be the body and blood of Christ.  The Lord’s word does that, no matter whether you believe it or not.  But faith must be present if the bodily eating and drinking are to do the great things of giving the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. The Large Catechism says, “And because he offers and promises the forgiveness of sins, it can be received in no other way than by faith.  This faith he himself demands in the Word when he says, ‘given FOR YOU’ and ‘shed FOR YOU,’ as if he said, ‘This is why I give it and bid you eat and drink, that you may take it as your own and enjoy it.’  All those who let these words be addressed to them and believe that they are true have what the words declare.”

Faith believes Christ’s word about what the Sacrament is and what it does.  Faith believes that this is the gift “for you.”  And so faith wants to receive the Sacrament of the Altar.

The Sacrament is Christ’s gift that he gives to the Church.  It is also a gift that needs to be used.  Three factors should lead us to receive the Sacrament frequently. First, there is our need.  We face the continual struggle against sin in this fallen world.  We need forgiveness for the ways we fall into sin.  We need our faith to be nourished and strengthened so that we can live as the sons and daughters of God.

Second, we have Christ’s command that we are to receive the Sacrament.  As the Large Catechism says: “In the first place, we have a clear text in the very words of Christ, ‘DO THIS in remembrance of me.’  These are words that instruct and command us, urging all those who want to be Christians to partake of the sacrament.  Therefore, whoever wants to be a disciple of Christ – it is those to whom he is speaking here – must faithfully hold to this sacrament, not from compulsion, forced by humans, but to obey and please the Lord Christ.”

Finally, we have Christ’s promise of forgiveness.  We have the promise that here we receive the true body and blood of Christ, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.  We have the promise of Christ being bodily present with us, and so encouraging us in faith as we look for his second coming on the Last Day.

For these reasons, frequent reception of the Sacrament is a characteristic of the Christian life and persistent rejection of this gift is not the action of faith.  As the Large Catechism comments, “Nevertheless, let it be understood that people who abstain and absent themselves from the sacrament over a long period of time are not to be considered Christians.” Faith says “yes!” to Christ’s gifts and it does not reject them.

Faith wants to receive the body and blood of Christ.

From the time of the New Testament, the Church has celebrated the Sacrament every Lord’s Day – every Sunday. This is a practice that the first Lutherans continued as they confessed in the Apology of the Augsburg Confession: “Among us the Mass is celebrated every Lord’s day and on other festivals, when the sacrament is made available to those who wish to partake of it, after they have been examined and absolved.”

In an unbroken line from Christ’s institution of the Lord’s Supper until today, Christians have celebrated the Sacrament every Sunday.  The reason for this is very simple: the Church makes use of this great gift by which she has the assurance that the Lord comes into her presence each week in His true body and blood, and delivers forgiveness.  Our Lord wants to give this gift, and the Church joyfully answers with the “Yes!” of faith.  We believe that bodily eating and drinking can do such great things because we have faith in our Lord’s words: “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”     

 

  

 

 

         

 

Sermon for the Third Sunday in Lent - Oculi - Lk 11:24-28

 

Lent 3

                                                                                      Lk 11:24-28

                                                                                      3/23/25

 

          “China is a big country and other countries are small countries, and that’s just a fact.”  China’s foreign minister made this statement to his counterpart from Singapore at a meeting of Asian nations in 2010.  The Chinese foreign minister was asserting that China could do what it wanted, and that other nations didn’t have any choice in the matter.

          China is a big country and it has a huge population.  In this century its economy has grown at a remarkable pace, and its industrial output makes it a world leader.  China has spent an incredible amount of money on its military, and it now possesses the largest navy in the world. 

          China is a strong country, and in the South China Sea it has done what it wants.  While a number of different nations lay claim to the water and islands in this area, China has asserted that it controls them and that no one else can sail there.  It has occupied a number of these islands, such as the Spratly Islands which are 800 miles south of mainland China.  Really nothing more than reefs, China has expanded the size of these islands by dredging and adding sand.  It has turned them into military bases with airfields, anti-aircraft missiles and anti-ship missiles.

          The Chinese navy and coast guard employ dangerous tactics to harass other nations that sail in this area.  Their ships have collided with the ships of other nations, and the Chinese coast guard has blasted ships with water cannons. China is stronger than the other countries of the region, and so it does what it wants.  The problem is that there is another strong country that is concerned about this strategic area – the United States.  The U.S. is now rapidly trying to build up its capabilities in order to deter China from every trying to prove it is stronger through military conflict.

          In our Gospel lesson this morning, Jesus describes how a stronger man overpowers his opponent and does what he wants. We learn that Jesus is the stronger man, because the reign of God is present in him.  He has overcome Satan, sin, and death in order to free us to be the children of God.

          We learn in our text that Jesus was casting out a demon who caused a man to be mute.  When the demon had been cast out, the man was able to speak.  The people who witnessed this marveled at what Jesus had done.

          However, some did not react in wonder and amazement.  Instead, they said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons.”  Beelzebul was another name for the devil that was used by Jews.  These people were saying that Jesus was able to cast out demons because he was in fact in league with the devil.  He was on the devil’s side.

          In addition to this, others kept asking for Jesus to give them a sign from heaven.  They did this in order to test the Lord.  He had just cast out a demon, and yet somehow this wasn’t proof for them. They demanded something more.

          Our Lord knew what they were doing.  He knew their thoughts and so he said, “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.”  Jesus pointed out the absurdity of their claim. If Jesus was allied with Satan in casting out demons, then Satan would be fighting against himself!  He would be working to overthrow his own kingdom.  Satan is evil, but he is no fool, and he would never do this.

          Those who opposed Jesus had claimed that he was casting out demons by being in league with Satan. Christ had refuted this claim.  And now he went on to state what was really happening. He said, “But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” 

          Jesus’ words draw upon our Old Testament lesson this morning. God had sent Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh with the message that he must allow the Israelites to leave Egypt. God had worked through them to turn the Nile into blood, and to cause frogs to come upon the land.  However, Pharaoh’s magicians had been able to replicate these actions through their magic arts – through their use of the demonic.

          Then God had used Moses and Aaron to bring gnats upon the land.  Pharoah’s magicians attempted to do this, but failed.  Confronted by this power that outstripped them, they said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” 

          Jesus declared that he was casting out demons by the finger of God – by the power of Yahweh who had rescued Israel from slavery in the exodus.  And since Jesus was acting with the power of God, it meant one thing: the kingdom of God had come upon them.  The kingdom of God - the reign of God that was overcoming Satan – was present in the person of Jesus.

          Our Lord then explained what was happening. He said, “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.”  A strong man can defend his possessions.  But when someone stronger comes along, he is overpowered and losses them. The devil is spiritually powerful.  But now, Jesus Christ, the stronger One was present.  He was overcoming the devil and taking from him those he held in his power.

          Our Gospel lesson this morning teaches us that our world is a setting of spiritual conflict.  There is a battle – a war that is going on. You won’t read about it in news services online. You won’t hear about it, neither on NBC, CBS, and ABC, nor on CNN and Fox.  The secular world is oblivious to the reality because it is spiritually blind, and is controlled by a power it doesn’t even believe exists.

          This conflict is between God who created all things, and the devil.  Created in the image of God and for fellowship with him, Adam and Eve were tempted by the devil and fell into sin.  They lost the image of God, and instead became sinners who brought forth more sinners.  All of humanity became sinners under the power of the devil.  We were conceived and born as people who were slaves of Satan.  We belonged to him and were going to receive the destruction that awaits him on the Last Day.

          However, in his love God did not leave us to this slavery and destruction.  Instead, he sent his Son into the world as Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.  Anointed by the Spirit at his baptism, Jesus was the presence of the kingdom of God – the reign of God – that was overcoming Satan, sin, and death.

          Jesus demonstrated that he was the presence of God’s reign by casting out demons. He healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, and made the lame walk as he overcame all of the ways that sin has marred physical life.

          Sin is the power by which the devil possesses people and separates them from God.  Jesus was in the world to bring God’s reign by freeing us from sin – by winning forgiveness for us.  His great action to do this was not one of might and power.  Instead, he the sinless One, offered himself in death on the cross. He received the judgment against our sin.

          Sin brings death.  Jesus was the presence of God’s reign that brought forgiveness.  He was also the presence of God’s reign overcoming death itself.  On the third day God raised Jesus from the dead through the work of the Spirit. In his resurrection Christ has begun the bodily life that will never die – the life that will be ours when he returns in glory.

          Christ is now the risen and ascended Lord.  But as the Lord exalted to the right hand of the Father, he poured forth the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.  Now, through work of the Spirit he calls people to faith through his word and baptism.  The kingdom of God – the reign of God – continues to be present and at work.

          You have been rescued from the devil’s power.  In the water of baptism you were born again through the work of the Spirit.    You are a new creation in Christ. You are a saint in God’s eyes – a holy one – on account of Christ.

          Now Jesus is your Lord.  And in this battle between God and Satan, there is no middle ground.  Jesus says in our text, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” You are with Jesus, and so you are different from the world around you that is controlled by the devil. When wronged, you do not bear a grudge and seek payback, but instead you forgive.  When you see others who need help, you do not ignore them, but instead you provide assistance and support. 

          Jesus Christ has brought God’s reign to you.  He has freed you from the devil’s power, and made you a child of God.  But the devil is no quitter.  He is a fierce and tenacious opponent.  He wants to regain control over you.  As the apostle Peter warned: “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

          In order to remain a child of God, we must continue to receive God’s saving reign.  The Spirit of Christ who called us to faith and gave us new spiritual life continues to be present and at work in the Means of Grace.  When we read God’s word during the week at home; when we hear it read and proclaimed here in the Divine Service, the Spirit nourishes and sustains us in faith.

          We come to receive the Sacrament of the Altar, for here Christ is present as he gives us his true body and blood for the forgiveness of our sins.  As we heard on Wednesday night at the Lent service, Christ gives the Sacrament to us as food for the soul for it nourishes and strengthens the new man.  It is food and sustenance by which our faith is refreshed and strengthened so that it does not succumb in the struggle against sin and unbelief, but instead becomes stronger.

          You have received God’s saving reign in Christ.  You no longer belong to the devil.  Instead, Jesus is your Lord.  You have a salvation that death cannot take from you, because to die is to be with Christ and he will raise up your body on the Last Day.

          But in your life there are people for whom this is not true.  They are under the devil’s power, and they don’t even know it.  They are sinners who are trapped in sin, and have no forgiveness before God. They will face God’s eternal judgment on the Last Day.

          You are the one by whom God’s saving reign can come to them. You have the Gospel – you know that Jesus died on the cross for the sins of all, and rose from the dead.  When you speak this Gospel word to them, the Holy Spirit works to create faith.  The reign of God in Christ is present to free them from Satan and sin. We cannot control how this word is received. But because it is the Gospel of the risen Lord we know that his words continue to be true each time we tell people about Jesus: “the kingdom of God has come upon you.”