3-18-2026 Midweek Lent 4

“HEALING FROM DEMONS”

Text: Mark 5:1=13

Wednesday March 18, 2026 – Lent Midweek 4

Trinity – Creston

       Grace, mercy, and peace is yours from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

       Our text for this Fourth Midweek of Lent is from Mark 5 that was just proclaimed.

Let Us Pray: Dearest Jesus, send your Holy Spirit to remind us that we should rebuke demons both literal and figurative and that you have defeated them forever.  Amen.

Dear Fellow Redeemed in Christ:

    Tonight, we will continue looking at the ancient hymn “O Love, How Deep” and how our enemies, the demons, rage against us.

    We talked about angels during Midweek of Lent 1 and demonstrated how Jesus, in becoming man, is both a little lower than the angels and yet is the ultimate servant of all as the Son of Man.

     But there is no real discussion about angels without including demons. Demons, after all, are fallen angels. They followed Satan when he was cast from heaven. They aren’t TV characters; they aren’t cartoons with red pointy tails and horns. They are very real and nothing to scoff at.

    This episode before us in the Gospel Reading from Mark 5 demonstrates this all too well. As an agent of death, this unclean spirit had possessed this man. He was most at home among death and the grave, and no one could do a thing about it.

   No number of shackles or chains could restrain this man with a demon. The poor man was completely helpless, trapped in this awful plight. All the demon wanted to do was torture and hurt the man.

   Why do demons hate us? They hate us because God became one of us. They hate us because Christ, the Son of God and Son of Mary, became human flesh and blood. He came to defeat sin and death and hell, and Jesus did so by becoming one of us and one with us.

    So, when this demon sees Jesus from afar, he knows that the gig is up. He knows that his time may be cut short. Miraculously, he goes to plead with Jesus: “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure You by God, do not torment me” (Mark 5:7). The demon knows who Jesus is, so he implores Jesus to swear that he would not be tormented.

     At first glance, perhaps we might have sympathy for this demon. After all, what did he do besides simply dwell in this man? But make no mistake. This demon wanted nothing more than to hurt and harm not only the man but also everything and everyone around him. It was no game at all.

    In a way, we often treat our pet sins, our temptations, and even our worst sins much like this demon. After all, they aren’t that bad, are they? Go on to other things, that sinful voice may say. Go on and deal with other problems. The demon will be there when the time comes.

     This, however, is not how our Lord addresses the demon. Jesus quite simply says, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” (Mark 5:8). The twentieth century pastor and theologian Hermann Sasse put it this way:

      Every pastor knows, or should know, that there are cases when a discussion is impossible and the only answer to a question can be that “Be gone, Satan!” which Jesus spoke not only to the devil (Matt 4:10) but also to his faithful confessor, Simon Peter (Matt 16:23).

      Not every question can be settled by means of a friendly discussion. It is necessary to remember that in an age which has a superstitious belief in dialogue as the infallible means of settling everything. There are questions raised by the devil to destroy the church of Christ.[1]

      What this means in plain English is that you don’t argue with a demon. You simply tell it to be silent and go away.

       This does not only apply to literal demons, of course. It also applies to the temptations, the niggling problems and weaknesses that we each have. We want to rationalize.

       We want to talk about it, be reasonable, and try to come up with some compromise that will allow us to keep on sinning, to keep on living in the domain of Satan and the world. After all, it’s only a little thing. How bad can it be? How many problems can it really cause?

    This is why Jesus says to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan!” (Mark 8:33). At some point, you have to simply own that the problem is nothing short of satanic and that it must be cast out.

     So, I ask you to cast out the temptation and the little demons that seem to have you caught up in yourself. Repent, turn around, and leave them behind you. You don’t need them. Christ has already died for them, so they are no longer yours but His. 

     Recognize that those things that you cling to, the things that bring you down and cause you no end of trouble, they can be gone. As surely as the sun rises in the east, Christ has taken your sin into Himself. And Jesus Christ says to them all, “Come out of him,” “Come out of her, for she is mine.”

     When you come to recognize the work Jesus does, your view of the world, your life, indeed everything begins to change. You begin to see how God orders all things so that you might be saved by faith and trust in Him.

      Come and receive the forgiveness of sins given to you from this altar. From these words, God gives you peace that passes all understanding, a conscience at rest, and a life restored.

Believe it for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Now the peace of God which passes all human understanding, keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

[1] Hermann Sasse, “Ordination of Women?” in The Lonely Way: Selected Essays and Letters (Concordia Publishing House, 2002), 2:402.