Sermon on Mark 1:21-35
Mark 1:21-35
It was when Jesus was teaching that the demon raised his voice, or rather, the voice of the man the unclean spirit possessed. The devil can’t stand to hear the truth. Neither can his minions, the multitude of unclean spirits speaking lies at the behest of the father of lies.
The truth is always attacked on this earth. The devil began the attack with “Did God really say?” He continued his attack by saying, “You shall not surely die.” He finished his attack by saying, “God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
He attacks the truth. He lies. He wants you to doubt God’s Word. He speaks a truth – your eyes will be opened – and mixes it with a lie – you will be like God. He gives you a justification for believing that you are like God, that you can do what you want, because you know good and evil. And men follow him by the droves. They believe his lies and the lies of his spirits.
But look at what one of the devil’s soldiers does when he hears Jesus. He can’t stand it. He outs the man he is possessing and makes him clamor, “Leave us alone! What have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are – the Holy One of God!”
They all knew the man had an unclean spirit. The members of the synagogue questioned themselves, saying, “What is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.” We don’t recognize them as well as they did back then. We have lost in many ways the discerning of the spirits that was common in Jesus’ day. But it is because the devil has gotten sneakier and more wily after the death and resurrection of Christ. Jesus launched a surprise attack on the devil. He comes and attacks the devil’s kingdom by teaching the truth.
“Leave us alone!” He couldn’t stand it. The truth made mad the spirit who made a man mad. The Jews ran at Stephen with their hands on their ears, and dragged him out and stoned him. They refused to listen. But everything Stephen said had to do with the Jews who denied Christ and resisted the Holy Spirit. “What have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth?!” This is a confession of powerlessness. Unclean spirits only have authority and power over sinners. Jesus had already defeated their lord, the devil. There was no sin in Him. The demons take this seriously. They know that Jesus is the Holy One of God. He is the One by whom God makes sinners holy. He cannot be overcome by evil, but overcomes evil with good.
Why does Jesus say, “Be quiet!” to the unclean spirit? Because Jesus will not tolerate lies. He will not tolerate demons mixing the truth with error. Yes, Jesus has come to destroy the unclean spirits. He has come to silence them. That is how he works. He is the way, the truth, and the life. He says, “If you abide in My Word, you are my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.
It is the truth that cast out the unclean spirit. It is the truth that casts the unclean spirits out of you. This is no allegory I am talking about. Behind every false doctrine is the devil and his unclean spirits, his unclean breaths. When we believe that we can sin without any consequence, then we have an unclean spirit. The devil doesn’t need to take total control, as he does in other places and times. He only needs our hearts. He only needs us to be ruled by sin, to be unrepentant, to be unclean and unable and unwilling to pray to God because we are guilty and ashamed and hiding with Adam and Eve.
But the Lord God was walking in the Garden in the cool of the day, and he asked Adam and Eve what happened, but he did not ask the serpentine devil what happened. He just cursed him. He told that devil what He had to do with Him. Whoever attacks His creation attacks Him.
And that is why, every time you stumble and are afraid you will fall, call upon the name of the Lord who told the unclean spirit to shut up and leave. Every time you see that you have committed mortal sin and resisted the Holy Spirit, then confess your sin, and turn to Him who has everything to do with you, who took on flesh and blood like yours to cleanse you from all unrighteousness by bearing your sin, suffering the punishment of your guilt, dying your death, and crushing the head of your enemy, the liar, the devil, the spirit who makes us unclean.
But Jesus makes you clean. How? By teaching you. With His Word He makes you clean. With His Word He casts the demon out. With His Word He teaches you that truth which sets you free from your fear of God’s righteous anger against you, because He came into this world to save sinners, to save the unclean, those who had been deceived, but He speaks the truth and whenever you hear Jesus’ Word you know that He is there just as much as He was when men could see Him.
We see Him by faith. Jesus can rebuke a fever and it leaves Peter’s mother-in-law, and what does she do? She gets up and serves Him. The truth sets you free to serve Jesus. That is the best life, serving Jesus. He is so gentle in His discipline, so sincere in His words, because everything He says and does is truth, written and signed and sealed in the blood He spilt for His guilty creatures.
So bring to Him the sick and demon-possessed. Bring to Jesus all that ails you and those you love. Bring them to Church, confess Christ to them, speak the word of the demon-slayer to those who have believed the lies of unclean spirits. He has come not to destroy flesh and blood, but to destroy the unclean spirits.
Finally, take our Lord’s example. When you go to be alone and recoup, make prayer your first priority. If the Son of God become man needed to pray after working hard, then you, a sinner find your peace and Sabbath in this privilege which God has given to the baptized. To call upon God in truth, because He has promised that what He says is truth, and we have every reason to believe Him. We have everything to do with Jesus. Amen.