Mark 3:20-27 (Third Sunday after Pentecost/Proper 5—Series B)
“Jesus Defeats the Strong Man”
Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer, Enfield, CT
June 9, 2024
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God, our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Our text is the Holy Gospel recorded in Mark 3:20-27:
20And [Jesus] went home. And the crowd gathered again so that they were not even able to eat bread. 21And when they heard about it, His relatives went out to seize Him, for the were saying, “He has gone crazy.” 22And the scribes who had come down from Jerusalem began to say, “He has Beelzebul” and “By the ruler of the demons He casts our demons.” 23And when He had summoned them, He began to speak in parables to them, “How is Satan able to cast out Satan? 24And if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom is not able to stand. 25And if a house is divided against itself, that house is not able to stand. 26And if Satan has risen against himself and is divided, he is not able to stand, but has an end. 27But no one, upon entering the house of the strong man, is able to plunder his goods except first he bind the strong man, and then he will plunder his house.
I like going to the zoo. I enjoy seeing birds and animals that I would never be able to see in the wild. It was such a thrill to go on my fifth-grade field trip to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. to see the giant pandas! There’s no way I would ever get to China to see them. I read the other week that there will be a new panda bear couple coming back to the National Zoo this summer. But the opportunity to see the wonderful creatures the Lord God has made is tempered by the fact that these animals are not in the wild. They are in captivity. But we can applaud and support zoological parks that strive for the most excellent care of the animals and work to faithfully recreate their habitats in which they would live in the world.
But let’s return to the idea of “captivity”. It has a certain negative connotation, doesn’t it? In the Bible, we read about the Northern Kingdom of Israel being taken captive into the nation of Assyria in 722 B.C. Then we read about the Babylonian captivity of the Southern Kingdom of Judah, culminating in the third deportation of exiles in 587 B.C. Captivity implies something against a person’s will—being a prisoner, lacking personal and perhaps even physical freedoms to go and do as one wishes. No human being goes into captivity willingly. Jewish men, women, and children under the Third Reich did not go to concentration and death camps willingly; they were forced. American Indians, the Native Americans, didn’t go onto reservations willingly; they were forced. Japanese-Americans, full American citizens, did not willingly go into relocation camps during World War II. They were made to go. These are examples of human captivity.
Our Gospel text today encourages us to look at another aspect of human captivity, a spiritual aspect. We are born captives under the reign of Satan. That is a frightening reality, to be sure! As the devil’s subjects under his reign and rule, we live according to his will. This means that our human nature—its powers, free choice, righteousness, and wisdom, is actually incapable of freeing itself from the devil. We are held by him as his secure possessions—in captivity—and so our natures use their powers and choices and wisdom to do what pleases the devil! From birth we only have the inclination to do, think, desire, and say what is contrary to God and the things of God revealed in His Word. In the devil’s captivity, we are turned away from God and unable to look to Him for security, meaning, and righteousness. St. Paul writing to the Corinthians says, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are [foolishness] to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14 ESV). As God Himself said in Genesis 8, “The intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Gen. 8:21).
This is spiritual captivity to the devil. In John 8, Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin” (John 8:34 ESV). Slavery is captivity. This spiritual slavery to sin and Satan is a real captivity in which we all find ourselves because we are by nature sinful and unclean. We are found in the devil’s kingdom, in Satan’s house, where he keeps us bound by chains, holding us back from God, drawing us deeper into captivity, enticing us with the world’s fleeting and perishable goods, while constantly tempting us to lust after those things that cannot satisfy and soon perish. Martin Luther used this illustration, “[The devil] makes use of our highest wisdom [and] righteousness, the best gifts and creations of God, to our eternal ruin, just as a robber makes use of a healthy, strong, and beautiful horse which he holds captive—to the horse’s detriment, in fulfillment of the robber’s every whim, even forcing [the horse] to carry its tyrant through a thousand dangers. And in the midst of this, the horse seems to itself to be quite healthy and strong, being unaware of how unjust is the lord it serves and with what great harm to itself. Thus, in his own eyes, a human being seems to be righteous, wise, and strong, just like the horse and mule, and yet he does not know that he is a subject serving a monstrous tyrant, to his own [condemnation].”[1]
Now it was precisely at the time when we humans were unaware of the gravity of our slavery to the devil that God showed His love for us spiritual captives. The words of Romans 5, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. . . . but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:6-8 ESV). Yes, fellow captives, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15 ESV). He came into Satan’s “house,” taking upon Himself human flesh to live in Satan’s “kingdom,” in order to set us prisoners free (Psalm 146:7b).
In Mark’s Gospel, demonstrations of Jesus’ power over against the devil’s kingdom are found in exorcisms far more often than any other type of mighty deed. In the first 3 chapters of Mark alone we have four instances where Jesus casts out the unclean spirits and heals the demon-possessed (Mark 1:23, 34, 39; 3:11). Far from being in league with Satan and casting out demons by the authority of the ruler of the demons, Jesus is bringing the reign and rule of God crashing into the devil’s domain! In the casting out of demons, in the healing of the sick, in bringing resurrection to the dead, and in the granting of the forgiveness of sins, the Lord Jesus is plundering the devil’s house and setting the captives free. As the prophet Isaiah announced beforehand, “For thus says the Lord: Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken, and the prey of the tyrant be rescued, for I will contend with those who contend with you, and I will save your children” (Isaiah 49:25 ESV).
That is what God the Son, was doing! The stronger man, Jesus, was overcoming the strong man, Satan, by the power of His Word. The demons were subject to Him. Christ is far stronger than even the prince of demons himself! He brought God’s reign and rule crashing into the devil’s kingdom, plundering the devil’s property—you and me!
Satan’s hold on humanity is broken because Jesus has broken into Satan’s house. Satan and his forces are neutralized. Jesus confronted Satan on his own turf and crushed him on all fields. Even when it looked as if the devil was conquering Jesus as He died on the cross, the devil himself was actually being conquered! When Jesus was crucified, the blood of Him who had no sin at all was shed for the forgiveness of our sins. The One who was guilty of no sin freed us from captivity to sin, Satan, and death with His own death and the shedding of His most valuable blood. So Luther continued, “The victor over our tyrant is Christ alone, who releases us by His own merits and casts down the devil from our necks, just as if the prince of the land were to throw the robber off the horse, freeing the horse, and seizing and killing the [scoundrel]—it is not the horse who frees itself! Therefore, it is by the power of Christ that we are freed, saved, and have our victory. It is [Jesus] alone who overcomes the strong man, binds him, and plunders him. . . .”[2]
We have the victory over the devil! We have been set free from captivity by Jesus’ blood through the forgiveness of sins. Jesus paid the price on the cross, securing our freedom from the slavery of the devil, the world, and our flesh. And He shares that victory with us in His resurrection. Romans 6, “For if we have been united with [Christ] in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.For one who has died has been set free from sin.Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him” (Romans 6:5-8 ESV). We live with our Lord Jesus Christ now through baptismal faith in Him as our Savior who rescued us from the tyranny and captivity of Satan. Colossians 1:13-14, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins”
(Colossians 1:13-14 ESV). We have eternal life now in HIS reign and rule because we have been made members of His family through His life, death, and resurrection—Jesus’ brothers and sisters who do the Father’s will by grace through faith! “And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith” (1 John 5:4 ESV).
Christ is the Victor over Satan. He has defeated the strong man because He is the stronger man—the Son of God made flesh—to save us from captivity. Know, then, that it has pleased your heavenly Father to give you the kingdom (Luke 12:32). You can be most certain that you are a child of God, an heir of the reign and rule of Christ, sharing in the victory of your Lord and King now through faith and in the age to come, with your Savior in His new creation. Go, then, in peace. You are free! Amen.
[1] Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, ed. Christopher Boyd Brown, vol. 67 (Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2015), 171–172.
Lutheran Church of our Redeemer 