~ Oculi ~
Readings: Exodus 8:16-24 | Ephesians 5:1-9 | Luke 1:14-28
Text: Luke 11:14-28
Jesus’ teachings in today’s Gospel readings go from difficult to startling. It’s one thing to say that, in broad theological terms, that Jesus is the strong man who binds the devil, and leads captivity captive, while we are brought by Him into liberty. This is a vivid expression of the Gospel.
It’s more disturbing to consider the idea of a demon personally inhabiting someone. That’s the stuff of fringe documentaries and Hollywood. But it surely isn’t reality, we tell ourselves. So long as heads aren’t spinning, people aren’t speaking in unnatural voices, and there are no Ouija boards, we think we’re safe from the demonic.
It’s quite another thing when Jesus says that the way we can see this dichotomy between those who have been liberated by the Son of God and those who are enthralled by Satan is how they regard the Word of God.
John 1 says that,
9“The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:9-12)
That is, He was coming into the world to do battle with sin which captivated us, but our sinful flesh would rather embrace darkness. Left to ourselves, we would rather have captivity! Yet, we proud Americans would say, “[we] have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” (John 8:33) That is, we have freedom in a bodily way, in that nobody has force over how we are to direct our lives, tell us where to live, or command us whom to vote for.
But spiritually, it’s a different story. Without the Holy Spirit, our sinful desires become our guide: Either what can we get away with, or what can be deemed as acceptable before others (even if it’s a small slice of selected peers). Even for the Christian, it’s a battle between what our “old Adam” wants and what the Spirit of God within us says is good. Galatians 5 highlights this struggle:
if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:18-23)
The Spirit fights against what our sinful flesh is seeking. He also defends us against what the devil and his demonic host promote. “Blessed rather are those who hear the Word of God and keep it,” our Lord says. But what destruction is wrought when the Word is brought into contempt in the hearts of its hearers!
It often starts in academic circles, where some have a breakthrough of a new way to look at things. Adolf von Harnack reduced all things into the universal fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man. Rudolf Bultmann sought to extract what he considered the mythological nature of the teachings of Jesus. Scholars like this had an impact on how generations of pastors were trained, to think less of the truth of Scripture and more of the here-and-now impact of churchgoers as a force for good—however good was defined.
It’s also seen whenever the biblically-founded Christian faith is conflated with other causes. The German Christians of the Nazi party only saw value in what was ethnically German, not in anything of Christ (who was a Jew after all). Our own time sees a Christian label that really just stands for conservative political views and putting republicans in office. But all the time, there is less and less of hearing the Word and keeping it. Instead, the cause is emphasized, and the Bible is simply there to provide traditional or transcendent legitimacy.
Apart from hearing the Word of God, there is no blessing. It’s not in the heritage of Christendom, or even in the blessed Virgin herself that we are saved from the strong tyrant, the devil, or purged of his wicked ways. It’s in hearing the Word of God in faith, and holding it sacred, and walking in His ways.
We do live in a time of much information, and plenty of words. Ideas abound, and you may have your favorite sources that you follow and support. Above all of that, however, is the simple-looking but too often misunderstood Bible. The Greek word used in verse 28 means to guard and keep watch over. It’s too easy to have a once-and-done approach to reading and hearing God’s Word. Oh yeah, I know that. If you say that, it’s probably high time you read it again. And what do you have to lose? Here in clinging to and treasuring the Word, we have the blessing of the Lord, rescue from Satan himself, and protection from all demonic forces!
Thomas Cranmer, of the English Reformation, composed a prayer that seeks this blessing. In it, we ask for God’s grace to “read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest” the Scriptures. We read them, not just as information, but as the words of eternal life (John 6:63). We mark them, meaning we pay attention to how they teach, reprove, correct, and train us in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16). We learn the Scriptures, ever as students never as masters, modeling ourselves after humble Mary of Bethany who sat at the Lord’s feet and left all matters aside for joy of hearing His lessons (Luke 10:38-42). Finally, we inwardly digest, not with our stomach but with our heart, that we “delight in the law of the Lord, and on his law meditate day and night.” (Psalm 1:2)
So, let us pray:
Blessed Lord, You have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning. Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them that, by patience and comfort of Your holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
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