"Monsters In Our World”

In Jesus Holy Name September 12, 2021

Text: Luke 9:14-32 Text: James 2:19 Redeemer

“Monsters in our World”

Today’s message is not about “the way to heaven”. The text before is about our “walk with Jesus” and how we must confront evil in our world. We have arrived at chapter 9 in the Gospel of Mark. In Mark chapter One, I asked the question: ‘What is Mark trying to tell his reader?” The answer: Jesus is the visible presence of the invisible God. Mark is asking the reader to make a decision for one’s eternal destination hangs on one’s connection to Jesus.

In order to make his point, Mark has told us stories when Jesus caused a storm to run out of breath. He walked on the water. He healed people with various diseases. He fed 5000 with a few loaves of bread and two fish. Jesus constantly confronted the Pharisees in regards to their belief that their good works could earn them peace with God. Neither will our good deeds earn peace with God. Only faith in Jesus, Paul’s point in Romans 6.

For Mark the true mission of Jesus was played out in an ongoing “cosmic war” between God and Satan over the control of the God’s creation, both the earth and the human body. John writes in Revelation 12: “The dragon, Satan, makes war against those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.” That’s us. (Rev. 12:17-13:1)

In chapter one when Jesus was in the synagogue in Capernaum: (read the event) Mk 1:23-25) Now in chapter 9 Mark confirms the power of Jesus over demons. Leonard Sweet in his book titled “Jesus” notes: “By healing the sick and casting out demons, Jesus was effectively saying: “this is what happens when God is running the world. This is what it is like when God is King of the earth.” (p. 169)

One Jewish scholar as stated that the ancient Jews regarded the following three miracles to be proof that the Messiah has arrived.

1. The cleansing of lepers.

2. The casting our of demons that caused muteness.

3. The healing of blindness.

This is why Mark tells this story. His point to every reader. God is present in the person of Jesus.

In the “Cosmic war” Satan’s goal was to destroy God’s plan of salvation by killing the infant Jesus. Failing, Satan tried to get God’s Redeemer to break a commandment. It failed as well.

Satan with his demonic henchmen, are dedicated to the task of making sure you are eternally, spiritually dead. To that end they have developed the tools and the skills to make sure that when you breathe your last, you will be a goner for all eternity. If you're spiritually dead and by that I mean, if Jesus is not your Savior, then Satan and his legends are happy. And, if you're not dead, they stand eager and ready to nudge you along toward the direction of doubt and disbelief.

In complete contrast to the devil's attempts to cause you and me to break the Ten Commandments is the Triune God of Christianity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He has shown that He is willing to pay the price required to remove our sins. (Colossians 2:14) to make sure that when you die, you will bypass hell and begin an eternity of joy and happiness in heaven.

In Mark 9 the demon thought that this child’s body and soul belonged to him. This is the ongoing battle and confrontation with evil. This cosmic war is a religious war. It is a battle between the forces of evil controlled by Satan and God over the human life and soul. The final battle happens on the cross and at the empty tomb of Jesus with His resurrection. This cosmic conflict is not only visible in the ministry of Jesus, but in our lives as well. Look Around. 9/11 was an act of evil.

Satan’s work is made visible with the arrest of child sex traffickers throughout the country. Our own congregation supports “Breaking the Chains” which helps free women from the bondage of prostitution. In recent elections, in some states, that have decriminalized heron. Even without the decriminalization of heron we see people living in tents, camped along our highways, in city parks, enslaved to drugs of every kind. There are AA groups that meet every night in our facility that testify to the bondage of people enslaved to the drug alcohol.

The problem is this: many people, when they think of the clash between good and evil - if they think of that contest at all - consider it to be nothing more than a joke, a cartoon, a story conceived for the entertainment and edification of children. Many people never consider that the competition for our souls is something which ought to be taken seriously by a sophisticated, modern-day adult.