Pastor Tom Johnson, June 6, 2021
Three years before Abraham Lincoln became president, he gave the historic House Divided speech in Springfield, Illinois. He names the division in the United States over slavery. He quotes Jesus: “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” Some historians say we are at our most divided since the Civil War. We are the United States of America. And yet, we demonize one another just as we see the scribes demonize the ministry of Jesus. We fear-monger and tear others down to build our own coalitions just as the scribes do in our text. In the current political climate, it seems that one is either a fascist or a Marxist. As Jesus says, it causes kingdoms and households to fall. It has become impossible for many houses to gather around the table—even on holidays—without great division arising. It has become so toxic, that many have decided that it is healthier to agree to disagree from a distance than to unite in thanksgiving to God for all his blessings that we enjoy. This is true of even the household of faith.
We are Christ’s Church—God’s people. God calls us to be in the world but not of the world. Sadly, we are all too often a reflection of this world and not light. There is a steady flow of fear-mongering all over social media by leaders of the church. But our call is not to point out the Beezebuls behind every bush. Our call is to share the Good News of Jesus. Our call is not to tell the world who we are against. Our call is to tell the world who we are for. We are for Jesus. He is first for us. He did not come for the righteous but the unrighteous—Jesus is for the sinner.
Jesus says that a kingdom or a house divided cannot stand. The irony, as Jesus points out, is that our adversary and his legion of evil enjoy great unity. Satan, Beelzebul, demons, and all agents of evil harmoniously work together to adulterate, divide, and purge this world of faith, hope, and love. So Jesus deconstructs the fear-mongering of his day. Jesus came to liberate those who are captive to fear, sin, and evil. Jesus came to unite himself to all humanity to build a new kingdom and a new household of faith.
The one sin that Jesus is alarmed by is attributing the work of the Holy Spirit to the work of the adversary. Accusing Triune God of having division is an eternal sin. As long as we believe the lie that the Persons of the Holy Trinity are not united against evil, so we cannot put our full trust in God and receive forgiveness. The adversary’s goal—and all of those united in his kingdom of darkness—the goal of evil is to undermine our confidence in the ministry of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Satan’s goal is for us to doubt that God is for us. The adversary does this by his smear campaign against God and his people. He is the accuser, the gas-lighter, and the one who makes us question our own reality. “Did God really say?” is his clever question. His greatest lie is to make God out to be rigid, joyless, and condemnatory. So the scribes join forces with the satanic kingdom when they accuse Jesus of an unclean spirit. And if we are not careful, we too as religious leaders and believers in Jesus can also join forces with the agents of darkness.
Our call, sisters and brothers, is not to demonize our perceived enemies. Our goal is not to put fear into the hearts of God’s people so that they will vote red or blue. Our mission is not to purge sinners out of the church. When we lose focus on our core beliefs, we let those cracks fracture us even further. We make division even worse when we do not rally around what unites us. God calls us to love our enemies and pray for our enemies. The great command is to love God with our whole being and our neighbor as Christ loved us—to fear, love, and trust God above all things. Jesus calls himself the friend of sinners. That is our center. That is what will unite us. We lift up Jesus who loves the world. The good news of our text is that Jesus is fully aligned with the Father and his Kingdom. The Holy Spirit is one with the Father and the Son. They are united together as one God. They have united themselves against evil and the captivity of evil in this world. All this because they are for us.
Jesus was not disrespecting his family when they came to him thinking he had gone out of his mind. Rather, he pointed to those around him whose bond is thicker than blood relation. You are my mother, my sisters, and my brothers! What unites us as followers of Jesus far surpasses anything that threatens to divide us. As Scripture says, “my father and my mother may have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in” (Ps 27:10). And the proverb says, “A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Pr 18:24). The early church in Acts chapter four (v. 32) is described as having “one heart and soul.”
We are the baptized people of God. We are now royal daughters and sons of God. We are the family of God—the new household—the new Kingdom that he is building and unifying from all nations, tribes, tongues, and peoples. There is so much more that unites us than could ever divide us. God has accepted us—sinful as we are. As Romans 6:5 says, “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” Jesus unites us to himself and to one another. He unites us in his death and resurrection—and not just us—but even those who have yet to hear and to trust in him. Centering on the good news of Jesus alone will unite us.
Rise, shine, you people! Christ the Lord has entered
Our human story; God in Him is centered.
He comes to us, by death and sin surrounded,
With Grace unbounded.
See how He sends the pow’rs of evil reeling;
He brings us freedom, light and life and healing.
All men and women, who by guilt are driven,
Now are forgiven.
(“Rise, Shine, You People” LSB 825, vv. 1 & 2)
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