3rd Sunday after Pentecost
June 29, 2003
Mark 3:20-35

  ^3:20Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. ²¹When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, "He is out of his mind."
  ²²And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, "He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons."
  ²³So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables: "How can Satan drive out Satan? ²⁴If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. ²⁶And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. ²⁷In fact, no one can enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house. ²⁸I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. ²⁹But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin."
  ³⁰He said this because they were saying, "He has an evil spirit."
  ³¹Then Jesus' mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. ³²A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, "Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you."
  ³³"Who are my mother and my brothers?" he asked.
  ³⁴Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! ³⁵Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother." (NIV).

Jesus is not the lord of demons, but Lord of all!

  I suspect that many of us genuinely have a hard time believing in demons and the devil. We've become used to the Halloween red devil with horns, tail and pitch fork. That we don't have to take seriously. We've also been "entertained" by an endless string of horror movies. While I fail to see how any of them are entertaining and have no idea why people watch them, I'm sure that the overall effect has been to convince us that the devil is part of the fantasy world. There may be unexplained physical and psychological phenomena in the world, but not spirits and no devil. So, for example, two days ago I was buying something and out of the blue, the store owner started talking about how there are no ghosts or spirits and that all religions deceive people by talking about them.

  As I told the store owner, I don't believe in Hollywood ghosts and I know that people entertain a great deal of superstition. Nevertheless, I am convinced by the Word, that there most certainly is a devil and a host of demons. But more importantly, I am convinced by the Word that Jesus subdued the devil and has freed us from his power. Jesus is no ruler of demons, but the Lord of all spirits and powers. Furthermore, Jesus' power over Satan is not some side issue of little importance in the Christian faith. Rather it is at the very heart of the Gospel. All the Gospels, and Mark in particular, place a heavy emphasis on the fact that Jesus cast out demons. From that fact, we are to understand that Jesus has bound Satan and rescued us from his power. That is the truth that God would have us understand and trust.

  Mark has already given us a summary statement about Jesus' ministry. So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons. Just before this encounter with the scribes, Jesus chose the 12 apostles. Mark says, He appointed twelve-- designating them apostles--that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons. Clearly, for Mark, the fact that Jesus drove out demons had great significance. It has to do with Jesus identity.

  The scribes from Jerusalem give us a chance to understand the significance of Jesus' exorcisms. They don't like what they hear about Jesus. He's getting people roused up. His teaching is disturbing. He claims to have authority that only God has. And some of the people are beginning to think that he's the Messiah and that he's going to lead a political revolt. The scribes, therefore, would very much like to shut down his ministry. So they seize an opportunity afforded by Jesus' own family. Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. ²¹When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, "He is out of his mind."

  Jesus' family thinks that things are getting out of hand. Maybe he's losing it, has gone mad. That's an idea that the scribes can use! But they take it further. Jesus is not just crazy, they charge, but a demon possessed sorcerer! He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.

  By calling Jesus Beelzebub, these men hope to ridicule and ostracise Jesus. The name Beelzebub probably means 'Lord of the flies.' They probably want people to remember an incident during the time of the Kings, 2 Ki 1:1-8. Ahaziah, the king of Israel, was sick. But rather than send men to the prophet Elijah to inquire of the Lord, he sent them to inquire of Baal-zebub, a Philistine idol. God revealed this to Elijah who then met the men and told them to go back and tell the king that this folly cost him his life. He would not recover. These scribes, therefore, would like the crowds to associate Jesus with a Philistine idol, the ruler of the demons. In effect he is possessed and crazy and practicing sorcery. And, remember, according to the Law of Moses, a sorcerer must be put to death (e.g., Lev 20:27). So this was a serious accusation.

  Jesus of course has no trouble escaping their traps. Far from being possessed or a sorcerer, Jesus is the Spirit filled servant of God who has bound the strong man, that is Satan, plundered his house and established the Kingdom of God.

  Apparently the scribes were not saying this to Jesus' face. They were spreading lies behind his back. So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables: How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. In fact, no one can enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house.

  Jesus often spoke parables to his opponents and they always understood his meaning! In his first analogy, Jesus shows that their charge against him is obviously ridiculous. A divided kingdom will fall. Any group of people fighting among itself cannot fight or compete against others. Neither can Satan permit a demon possessed man to drive out other demons. He would destroy himself. They can't argue with that!

  In his second parable, Jesus gives the real meaning of his actions. The fact that he was casting out demons and giving the same power to his disciples was a sign and proof that he had entered Satan's house, bound him, and made off with his possessions! In other words, before Jesus came, Satan did have this world under his control. Much of it still is. But Jesus invaded, robed Satan of his power to accuse and control and set his prisoners free. This is a fundamental point of the Christian faith! Later, for example, Jesus will send Paul to the Gentiles, to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.' (NIV Acts 26:18).

  Why is this so important? Couldn't we just leave the devil out of the picture? Not without throwing out the whole Bible and Christ himself! Go back to Genesis. All our troubles and our separation from God began with Satan. He used the serpent to deceive Eve and so bring sin, judgment and death into the world. At that moment, he gained power over us. Remember how he tempted Jesus? The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendour, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So if you worship me, it will all be yours." (NIV Luke 4:5-7). That wasn't all a lie.

  Jesus came to destroy Satan's power over us. Beginning with his temptation through to his resurrection, Jesus succeeded where Adam failed. He bound this strong man Satan, and robed his house! You and I are the goods Jesus recovered. We were under the power of the devil. Now, however, we have been set free to live under Christ in his kingdom. The last book of the Bible portrays this truth in vivid imagery. The great red dragon, the ancient serpent, is thrown down from heaven to the earth. Then an angel binds him with a chain and throws him into the bottomless pit for a thousand years. Just before the end of time, he will be released for a little while and then Jesus will throw him into the lake of fire forever. Thus the promise made to Adam and Eve will be fulfilled. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.

  I think it is obvious that the defeat of Satan is a fundamental point of the Christian faith. The Bible begins with Satan's revolt and ends with his complete destruction. Yet we often forget about Satan and miss the great importance of what Jesus did. We live in that 1000 year period in which Satan is bound. We don't live in the age of sorcery and monsters that is the subject of fantasy literature and movies. So we don't fear Satan the way people did before Jesus. We tend to think of him as the Halloween devil, not the prowling lion, the serpent, and the dragon. We look at him the way we look at some formerly devastating disease like smallpox or plague or polio. They are distant memories; we can hardly believe that people used to fear them, at least until we decided a terrorist could use them against us.

  But we must not think that Satan is unimportant lest we think little of Christ. The sobering truth is still what Paul said. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (NIV Ephesians 6:12). That's why he also insists on another more important truth, the power of God which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. (NIV Ephesians 1:20-21).

  You see, Satan brought Adam and Eve down! It wasn't AIDS or a war or famine, but Satan. And Jesus brought Satan down! That's why his exorcisms were and are so important. We are free from Satan's power because of Jesus' power, not because of our scientific knowledge, not because we have simply denied the spiritual, but because Jesus bound this strong man. We enjoy relative freedom from the devil as we await Jesus' return. And as we do in many other ways, we take it for granted and forget what made our freedom possible. Like on Canada Day or Remembrance Day, we must be reminded of the cost those before us paid for our freedom and security. Christ had to bear our defeat, shame and sin, die for it and rise again so that we could truly be free from the power of the devil. We are free because Christ is enthroned at the right hand of God!

  This truth is so important, that to understand and reject it is spiritual suicide. Jesus said to the scribes from Jerusalem, "I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin." He said this because they were saying, "He has an evil spirit." The scribes understood what was going on. They knew the Scriptures! They knew by what power Jesus cast out demons and performed miracles for only the power of God could do that. They deliberately rejected Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit. That, says Jesus, is the unforgivable sin. When a person recognizes God's work, recognizes the Holy Spirit, then knowingly, wilfully rejects it, that is unforgivable. It is rebellion against the Holy Spirit. Why is it unforgivable? Because it is the Holy Spirit who works through the Word of God to bring us to repentance and faith in Christ. When the Church says in it's Creed, "I believe in the Holy Spirit", we mean, "I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith." If, therefore, we reject the Holy Spirit's work, there is nothing left to save us. Only the Holy Spirit brings us to Christ who has defeated Satan.

  Once again we face the sobering truth that, in this life, we are either under the power of Christ or of the devil. Then Jesus' mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, "Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you." "Who are my mother and my brothers?" he asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother."

  The lesson began by saying that Jesus' family was coming to get him because they thought he was out of his mind. Now they arrive and send for him. Jesus seizes the moment to make a point. Those who truly belong to him are those who do the will of God. But what does it mean to do God's will? Bin Laden apparently believed that he did God's will! It simply means to repent and believe the Gospel, the good news that Jesus has defeated Satan and brought us into the Kingdom of God! As Jesus said on another occasion, The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent. John 6:29. Nothing less than the blood of Christ can free us from Satan's power and bring us into God's kingdom.

  Brothers and Sisters in Christ, beware the world's efforts to deny Satan's existence and make Jesus out as a madman. The devil is very real. Though defeated, he still deceives us in many ways. But Christ is his conqueror and our Lord. So put your trust in Jesus!