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Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Brothers and sisters, the texts are primarily Old Testament readings with a few verses from the Gospel as well. You may be seated.
So in that last stanza of the last hymn we just sang, it says, “Take our worthless self-made garments, clothe our shame and cleanse within.” Well, we know what shame and self are, but what would be your and my worthless self-made garments? That would be akin to the worthless self-made garments that Adam and Eve chose to clothe themselves in the garden. The worthless self-made garment probably most obviously would be referred to as your and my justifying of ourselves with our own words. Your parents would become so frustrated with you when you were pointed out, “This is what you did,” and instead of saying, “Yeah, I did it,” you took your parents’ lead, being sons of Adam and daughters of Eve, and blamed someone else, blamed something else for what you did.
The only difference between doing that as a child and doing that as an adult is our justification becomes false. Better than any attorney trained in a school of law in argumentation. That’s the self-made garment. And if you and I think that we don’t, why is it that we still explain away our behavior, our actions, and our words on something other than the heart from whence they came? So how pitiful you and I are as God’s creatures made in His image when we deny the image in which we’ve been made.
When Adam and Eve go and hide themselves, think about the profundity of that action. Never before when God came and spoke with them did His voice or any sound He made ever cause them to be afraid of Him. Ever. Never. It was as if, like the dog who runs to your door joyfully happy because he heard the door open, so Adam and Eve were the same way. When they heard the sound of the Lord God, they were thrilled to be in His presence. And now they hide. They actually feared God more than they feared Satan because they spoke to Satan, and his temptation was so sly that it didn’t cause them to fear him, did it? It caused them to fear their God in a very, very worldly way, which leads to death.
When you think about the words that were spoken about Jesus, could they not be applied to Adam and Eve? And could they not be applied to you? When you don’t turn to the voice of your shepherd, and instead rely on your explanation for what and why you are the way you are, you and I are actually depending upon our self-justifying words that flow from this orifice more than we are trusting in the very blood-bought words of Christ Jesus spoken to you from here.
You think about the discussions among couples. You heard it in your parents, and you heard it in yourself. And you think about the discussions among you and your siblings. And you think about how you use justifying words for your actions rather than just confession. It is because you and I are pitiful. We actually want to trust in the words that flow from our lips more than we do the words that flow from the crucified One for us. We’re out of our minds. We’re possessed by Beelzebul. And we have an unclean spirit.
What caused Adam and Eve to justify themselves? They were possessed by Beelzebul at that moment. What caused them to hide? They were out of their mind. What caused them to point somewhere else? They had an unclean spirit within them. And then they had to face the one that is hard for all of us to face. And we typically set it to the back of the bus until it comes screaming at us. And that’s our health because now they have to come to terms with death.
Now, as you and I know, as youth, death was the furthest thing from us. But it’s curious to ask how many of you— and you don’t have to raise your hand, but raise it in your head— how many of you had classmates in middle school, grade school, or high school that died that you knew? And then it’s like, “Wow, death comes even to young people and to children,” right? And then, you know, as you and I grow older, we realize our corruptibility and mortality. Far more aware of it than we ever were when we were taut-skinned 20-year-olds. That’s what Adam and Eve had to face. And that begets despair and blasphemy unless we are freed.
Now we move to the Gospel reading where Jesus spoke a very interesting statement to the people there. He said a strong man’s house, in essence, cannot be broken into, and his goods plundered unless what happens to the strong man first? That the strong man is bound. What is he talking about? The strong man is Satan. What are the goods that Satan has in his house that he has hoarded? Your soul and my soul. And who alone can bind the strong man and plunder his goods but the one who allowed himself to be bound and plundered of his divinity and humanity on that cross and rescue us? Christ Jesus.
The moment you were baptized, the strong man’s house was plundered, and you were saved. Every time you hear the Word of God and believe it, the strong man’s house has been plundered because he’s been bound by the Word of God, and you have been saved. So back to the garden. Whenever you did something to your parents that upset them, and they came to you, possibly with the belt dangling— for some of you who grew up with such a way of discipline— they came to you, and all of a sudden you had to create something in your heart or mind to explain it away, didn’t you? Because you feared the punishment more than the forgiveness. It’s that way with God.
But notice how God does not treat Adam and Eve the way we as parents treat our children and the way we were treated as children. He comes to Adam and Eve with a sweet voice. He comes to Adam and Eve oozing with kindness. That’s why I read that text in that voice today. He did not come to them with how you and I would have heard it: “Where are you? Have you eaten from the tree that I told you not to eat from?” That’s how you and I would have said it. Not Jesus, not God.
In this text, there’s only one who was cursed, and it sure as shoot and match was not Adam nor Eve. And by genetic connection, it is not the sons of Adam nor the daughters of Eve that were cursed. There’s only one who’s cursed in this text— Satan and Satan alone. Wait, there was another one cursed, wasn’t there? And it wasn’t you either. It was the man who bound the strong man, Jesus Christ. “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.” Wait. He who had no sin was made sin for us.
Even you do not have a curse proclaimed to you by the God who created you and knit you in your mother’s womb. Only Satan and only Christ Jesus were ever cursed by God so that you could be plundered from the strong man’s house. Notice what the parents and the family of Jesus try to do when Jesus… He’s doing all these healings. Did you notice that? It’s an interesting thing. And you and I do it too.
What they were trying to do when they were trying to gather him, in essence, and snuff his quietness and tell everybody that Jesus is out of his mind, they were trying to control their God. When mom and the brothers came, and everybody said, “Hey, hey, hey, Jesus, your mom and your brothers are here,” again, it’s the crowd and them trying to control God. Jesus did not respond in meanness or anger toward them. He lovingly said, “These are my mothers and brothers and sisters, for whoever does the will of God is that.”
And the will of God is what? To take that message that binds Satan and plunders his goods of souls out of your lips. That’s what we do every Sunday. Today, what has just happened during this sermon is Satan was bound and souls were plundered again— mine and yours. Every single time we hear the Word of God and trust in it, Satan is bound, your soul has been released from him, and you are free again.
Because it’s not as if we live in this complete and total lack of struggle. We are continually struggling because we wish to justify ourselves rather than let God justify us. We wish to listen to our reason and senses rather than the spiritual revealed word to us that says, “Thou art forgiven.” That’s why Paul said what he said. Paul said, “We don’t lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away,” let’s talk health, let’s talk oldness. Let’s talk realizing we are not what we were.
Though the outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day by His voice, not ours. By His justification, not yours. And then he goes on. “For this slight momentary affliction,” which I know at times is overwhelming. It is to me. It’s got to be to you sometimes. “This slight and momentary affliction is preparing us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.”
And that is not something that we see, which is why Paul goes on. “And we look not to the things that are seen,” a dead and dying body, change, decay, corruptibility. “We look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen that are fed to you here, that are planted in your ear here, and that are proclaimed over you.” As God did to Adam and Eve in the garden when He said, “His heel will crush your head.” Jesus crushing the head of Satan. And all they needed to do was trust in that justifying word. Just as you and I do.
In the name of Jesus, who has bound the strong man and freed you, plundering his goods for eternity. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds on Christ Jesus to life eternal. Amen.
