The Burr in the Burgh

Third Sunday in Lent
February 24, 2008
Text: Lk 11.14-28

We don’t know much about the man who was possessed by the demon in Luke chapter 11. We don’t know his name or where he came from. We don’t know how long he’d been possessed or how he came to become possessed. All we do know is that while he was under the control of Satan, he was mute. And when Jesus performed the exorcism, the man began to speak.

There were three types of response to this miracle. The Scripture says that some were amazed. So it was, when the demon had gone out, that the mute spoke; and the multitudes marveled. They conclude, and rightly so, that this is clear evidence that God is moving amongst them in powerful ways. Matthew's account tells us that a hopeful murmur went up from the crowd, "Could this be the Son of David?" Is he the one?

Incredibly, some of them doubted and said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.” The word “Beelzebub” is usually translated as “Lord of the Flies.” It could also be “Lord of the Dung Heap.” This verse reminds me that there are always people who insist on seeing everything in the worst light. They aren’t happy unless they’re mad at something. A man is delivered from a debilitating demonic affliction. It must be the work of the devil. They can’t tell the difference between good or evil. God blesses them and they insist that it’s a curse.

Others, testing Him, sought from Him a sign from heaven. But if releasing a man from demonic possession is not a sign, I don’t know what is. What they had just witnessed in the cleaning of the demoniac was an unambiguous demonstration of the power of God. Yet they are so blind to God’s mercy that they fail to see the obvious.

Jesus' exorcism of demons should be seen as signs pointing to the arrival of the Kingdom of God, just as seeing leaves budding on the trees is an indication that the lifeless tyranny of winter is coming to an end. The exorcisms indicate that an invincible, world-transforming potency has been set in motion. The visions of the prophets are being fulfilled! The day is dawning. The night is over.

Remember the song?

Ding Dong! The Witch is dead. Which old Witch? The Wicked Witch!
Ding Dong! The Wicked Witch is dead.
Wake up - sleepy head, rub your eyes, get out of bed.
Wake up, the Wicked Witch is dead. She's gone where the goblins go,
Below - below - below. Yo-ho, let's open up and sing and ring the bells out.
Ding Dong' the merry-oh, sing it high, sing it low.
Let them know The Wicked Witch is dead!

The scene in The Wizard of Oz when the munchkins realize that their oppressor had been crushed under Dorothy’s house?

Jesus is not a pacifist. Elsewhere he said, “Do not think that I came to bring peace to the world, but a sword.”

The Muslims speak of the concept of a jihad, or a holy war. The only holy war is the war that Christ has waged against the Devil. And it is a war that will not be fought and won with bullets and guns. Our sword is the Word of God that pierces through your armor of defensiveness and self-justification. There is no diplomacy. There is no negotiation. There is no appeasement. There is only crushing, brutal, devastating victory from the ashes of which springs new life.

There are no Switzerlands in spiritual warfare. Neutrality is not an option. No one is merely an onlooker. If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. It is impossible to remain uninvolved in the conflict of the ages – the conflict between the Church Militant on earth, and the satanic realm of darkness and evil.

On the one side, there is joy and peace and knowledge and power. And on the other is madness, horror, idiocy, rage, impotence, and eternal loneliness.

In Matthew chapter 16, Jesus said, “Upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” I think many times Christians understand this to mean that God will preserve His Church on earth through every toil and pain, that no matter what evil Satan pours out upon us, the Holy Church will endure by the grace of God. It certainly means that, but also something more. The idea is not merely that the Church will survive, but that the Church will prevail. It says the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against us. We, the church, are on the offense. We are not quietly enduring the assaults of the devil. No, the Church is laying siege to hell itself. And the battering ram of the gospel, of the good news of forgiveness, will shatter the gates of Satan’s realm. The chains of guilt which bound us drop from our arms and the prisoners, newly freed, go delirious with their freedom. In Christ, the dominion of evil is ended. By his glorious resurrection from the dead, our Lord Jesus is not merely a survivor. He is the victor. Christ’s epic battle with Satan is not some kind of draw or stalemate or deadlock. He won the decisive victory. He is the champion and his scars are his trophies. Jesus is the victor and He shares the spoils with all of us.

But that does not mean there will not still be trouble for us here. The enemy insurgents are still trying to sabotage Christ’s victory. But do not be afraid.

A couple of years ago, when I was still pastoring a congregation in Pittsburgh, PA, there was one Sunday morning when I was sitting in the Sedalia off the to the side of the chancel during the hymn just before the sermon and I saw coming toward me on the carpet a big, black, fuzzy spider. Of all of God’s creatures, the spider is one of the few that creeps me out. I know I should have been paying attention to the hymn or at least thinking pious thoughts in preparation for delivering the message. But I just kept watching that little fiend coming closer and closer. Finally, it came to the point, where I felt action was required on my part. So right when he got to my foot, I lifted my black, leather, wingtip shoe to send him to his maker when the most amazing thing occurred. For at that moment, the spider must have detected my challenge and he stopped in his tracks and he raised up his legs at my shoe like this (demonstrate). Now I almost had to laugh because, his threatening gesture aside, I knew without a shadow of doubt that I was going to smoosh him. And I did. That spider was no match for the sole of my shoe.

In the words of Jesus this morning, Satan is the strong man who has built a fortress around his possessions. And we are born into this world as objects of God’s wrath. Before we do or say anything, we are alienated and enemies of our Creator. And we are fully subjects of the Evil One. Looking all around you, it is obvious the mastery which Satan has in this world, this fallen order of things. Yes, Satan is strong. He is the strong man. But Jesus Christ is the stronger man who comes to invade the devil’s fortress. Jesus Christ breaks down the doors of hell and He overpowers the tyrant. And He expels that bully, that braggart, from our lives forever. And He did so with the flick of His finger.

Once upon a time, the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, and Pharaoh would not let them go. How were they eventually freed? God Almighty attacked the arrogance of Pharaoh and his evil magicians with one plague after another to confound them. In exasperation the sorcerers and witch doctors of Egypt exclaimed: "This is the finger of God" (Exodus 8:18). That is the same unusual phrase Jesus uses this morning. He casts out demonsby the finger of God. We are also told that after God finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, He gave him two tablets of stone, written by “the finger of God.” Jesus had the same power and authority as Yahweh when He emancipated His people of old. And He comes to emancipate us as well.

Think of that the next time you see your pastor use finger to make the sign of the cross upon the baptized to mark him as one redeemed by Christ the crucified. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The famous first line of the novel Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy is: Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Tolstoy was a brilliant writer but I think he’s got it wrong. It’s exactly the opposite. It’s unhappiness that is monochrome, uniform and boring. Joy is lively and complex and filled with an abundance of variation.

Thanks to Rev. Paul McCain for bringing this fine article by Pastor William Weedon to light. Did Lutheranism exist before there was a Martin Luther? In other words, did the Lutheran Reformers innovate a new doctrine or are the standards of the Reformation truly catholic? Read and enjoy.

UPDATE: Here it is as a pdf.

If you are a conservative Republican but find yourself getting tired of Rush and other rightist blowhards talking as if a McCain nomination will be the end of the world, check out this article from the National Review Online by William Bennett and Seth Liebsohn. They argue quite soundly that John McCain is no liberal and would be lightyears better for America than any Democratic nominee. In fact, McCain is a conservative who has taken some liberal positions. While I don't necessarily agree with everything McCain stands for, I'd take him as president in a heartbeat.

The two issues that speak loudest to me personally are life and national defense. John McCain's voting record in the Senate speaks for itself. He is strongly pro-life and strongly pro-military.

HT to Gene Veith.

Some people are dog people and some are cat people. I'm both. Or one of each. Or whatever. Growing up we always had a dog. But then as a married couple, me going to seminary, living in apartments, Julie and I decided to get a cat. Well, actually, a group of sixth graders in Alhambra, California decided to get us a cat, a kitten. Julie was their teacher and that was her going away present. And we have been cat people ever since. Now our household includes 2 cats and a Golden Retriever. Yesh, cats and dogs living together.

Somewhere I read a quote, I believe from C.S. Lewis, where he opines as to why God gives us animals for pets. Scientific studies show that pet owners tend to have less stress, lower blood pressure, and live longer. Having an animal can be beneficial for a person's physical and mental health. But the quote I'm seeking says something to the effect that God teaches us to be gentle and merciful through animals. In other words, if a man is able to have pity on a beast, it inclines him to being merciful with other people.

Of course, we know with the extremes of the animal "rights" movement today that loving animals and loving people do not automatically go together. They say that Adolph Hitler loved dogs. But the extremists aside, there may be a principle truth in the elusive quote nonetheless. At least the adverse is true. People who are intentionally cruel to animals, who take pleasure in the suffering of senseless beasts, are deeply impaired and are likely incapable of compassion. Most serial murderers and sociopaths have a history of tormenting animals before they take out their aggressions on other persons.

Does anyone know the Lewis quote I'm thinking of?

Below is the homily I delivered this morning in chapel.


Kramer Chapel
February 4, 2008
Text: Luke 9:23-27

And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 26For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God."

In a fundamental sense, your salvation is something that happens out side of you, extra nos. We speak in our circles of objective justification. By this, we mean that your redemption was accomplished as a real historical event when the Son of God bled and died as a sacrificial lamb upon the altar of the cross. At that moment, God’s just anger toward sin was quenched and satisfied forever. And that is not a thing which happens in your heart or as a result of your actions or by any movement of your will.

Another Christian once asked me, “Are you saved?” And I said, “Yes.” The person then asked me, when were you saved? And I said: “I was saved when Jesus died on the cross for me. Why? When were you saved?”

Your salvation is an objective fact, a reality that occurs outside of you. Christianity then at its very heart is not about you. It is about Jesus. From our perspective, it is never about us.

But from the perspective of God, it is always about you. It is you specifically that our Lord had in mind when he He told Nicodemus that God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son. Jesus said that God loved the world. Who is meant by that phrase, “the world?” The world is not just some abstraction, some generic concept, not a platonic idea. The world refers to you! Whom does God love? The world. That is to say, He loves you.

Love is never a hypothetical. Cartoonist Charles Schulz once said, “I love mankind. It’s people I can’t stand.” Its corollary for the church, I suppose, would be, “I love the church. It’s the individual members I can’t stand.” That line is humorous to us because it’s so obviously ridiculous but it’s also how most of us feel at least part of the time. But the truth of the matter is that you cannot love in the abstract. Nor does God. The world which God loves and for whom He sent his only-begotten Son is you and it is me.

Likewise, when John the Baptist hollered from banks of the Jordan, “Behold, there goes the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” There is a part of you that finds it easier to believe that God loves the world than that he loves you. And that same part finds it easier to believe that the Lamb of God paid for the sins of the world than to consider that He has atoned for your sins. This is manifest in every Christian, particularly every preacher, who confidently declares to others the mercies of God in Christ, but who continues to languish in guilt of his own.

I started this homily pointing out that there is something objective and external about the justification of sinners. But that coin naturally has another side to it for whoever heard of a one-sided coin? On one side, your salvation is objective, occurring outside of yourself, taking place through historical events and residing in the heart of God. Jesus Christ died for you. His death is the once for all, all-sufficient sacrifice to pay for our disobedience: thought, word and deed. But you also must undergo death and resurrection in Him. Salvation is founded extra nos, outside of us, but it does not remain extra nos.

See how naturally Jesus goes from speaking of his own cross to speaking of ours:

22And he said, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life

23Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

Crucifixion was a demeaning form of execution. It is an absurdity. It is an obscenity. The cross means one thing: death by torture. To die in Jesus Christ is the painful death of the old nature. German theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, wrote in his most famous book, “When Christ calls a man, He bids Him come and die.” Sounds very appealing does it not? Not too many evangelism programs will be adopting that line as their motto. And if every Christian is called to suffer and die in Christ, then that cross is all the heavier for those called into the Office of the Holy Ministry. Here is what Martin Luther said in one of his house postils: "To the devil with this position! I'm ready to chuck it. That's what it means to have an office. To be on top is no frolic or bunny dance. It entails work and stress, so that no one in his right mind would actively seek it." No one in his right mind, Luther said, would actively seek to hold an office in the church.

First of all, I’d be very curious to know what a “bunny dance” is exactly. But I think I get the gist of it. Do you love this world? Do you desire comfort and pleasure? Then you should not be a student here. I say this with every ounce of sincerity I am able to muster, the pastoral ministry is filled with moments of tremendous joy. I, Scott Stiegemeyer, am very pleased to work at this institution, but I would be able to return to parish ministry without a blink of hesitation. To paraphrase slightly one of the characters in The Hammer of God, I can think of nothing more wonderful than to be a pastor in God’s church. But a “bunny dance,” my friends, it is not.

Here we are, on the brink of lent. Tomorrow is fat Tuesday, one last huzzah before seven weeks of stricken, smitten and afflicted. While Rick Warren talks about his 40 Days of Purpose, we begin our 40 Days of Purple. And when, not if, but when you fast and practice self-denial, it is likely that the words of Luke 9:23-27 and similar passages will underlie your observance and rightly so.

But we do dis-service to these words of Jesus if we make them nothing more than an injunction to being a more committed Christian, as it were. These harsh and hard words are not merely law. They are also promise. To die with Christ is also to rise with him.

You are made participants in the death and resurrection of Jesus by God’s Word as it is applied to you especially in baptism and as your once-in-time baptism continues to unfold its power in you in daily repentance and faith. Matthew and Mark record this passage nearly identically. But it is Luke’s sources that add the word “daily.” The Christian life is a daily dying and rising in Christ. A work both completed at Calvary and ongoing in your heart.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.

February 1, 2008 .................... LCMSNews -- No. 11

World Mission re-evaluating situation in Kenya

By Paula Schlueter Ross

LCMS World Mission has asked its missionaries to Kenya to remain indefinitely in Ethiopia after they attend regularly scheduled meetings there, according to Travis Torblaa, the mission board's personnel care manager.

The move came in the wake of post-election rioting in the East African country that has left more than 600 dead, hundreds of thousands displaced, and widespread destruction of property, including as many as 10 churches of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya (ELCK), an LCMS partner.

LCMS World Mission decided Jan. 30 to temporarily relocate the missionaries -- Dr. Paul and Joy Mueller and Rev. Claude and Rhoda Houge -- after receiving a recommendation to do so from its crisis-response management service. The two couples will remain in Ethiopia "while we re-evaluate the situation" in Kenya, Torblaa said.

"We are hopeful that it will be for a very short time," he added.

Dr. Carlos Walter Winterle, former president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil who has been serving for more than a year as pastor of an international congregation in downtown Nairobi, also is leaving Kenya, according to Torblaa. Winterle's ministry is a partnership of LCMS World Mission and its partner churches in Kenya and Brazil.

Two days earlier, on Jan. 28, Joy Mueller had said via e-mail that the missionaries had no plans to leave, but were taking precautions, especially regarding their travel within the country. She said U.S. embassy officials there were "very optimistic that the [peace] talks will go well and reconciliation and peace will be restored." Some ethnic fighting is still taking place in isolated areas, she said.

Mueller said that Bishop Walter Obare of the Kenyan church body met Jan. 25 with political, community, and gang leaders in Kibera, and the group is "working together to bring peace into Kibera and restore harmony in the community."

In a Jan. 29 telephone interview with LCMS World Relief and Human Care staff, Mueller described the Kenyan people as "very resilient."

"The people have gathered their strength in the Gospel and they've gathered to worship in His name," she said. "They aren't waiting for outside help to come in and solve their problems, but they're getting together, they're praying together, and they're going into communities and they're serving each other out of the love of Christ."

LCMS World Relief and Human Care has sent $60,000 in emergency grants to the ELCK to help people in need. Mueller said the Kenyan church body is using the funds "to help restore lives, homes, churches" and to "share God's love with all."

Contributions to help Kenyans may be sent to LCMS World Relief and Human Care, P.O. Box 66861, St. Louis, MO 63166-6861 -- please make checks payable to "LCMS World Relief and Human Care" and note "Kenya Relief Effort" on the memo line. Or, to make a donation by phone, call the toll-free gift line at (888) 930-4438.

To hear the audio interview with Joy Mueller, visit the Web site of LCMS World Relief and Human Care at http://www.lcms.org/?12981.