Quasimodogeniti Tuesday - Devotions in Exile
Quasimodogeniti Tuesday - Devotions in Exile
The daily lection for Quasimodogeniti Tuesday:
Our text contains the first instance of “someone” recognizing who Jesus
is as true God. Did you note that the “someone” is a demon? Demons are fallen
angels, those angels who rebelled against God. We think of them as powerful,
and indeed they are, they are not as powerful as people like to think. They
KNOW who created them and has authority over them. All angels (good and fallen)
know who created them and has authority over them. They recognize that
authority, the authority of God, in the person of Jesus.
What is important to note is that this fallen angel, while powerful
enough to possess this man, when confronted with Jesus, very Incarnate God, is
afraid. “Let us alone! What business do we have with each other, Jesus of
Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”
Jesus rebukes this fallen angel, commanded it to “Be quiet and come out
of him!” At which command the demon threw the man down and came out of him.
How do other creatures of God respond to the commands of Christ? Do
they comply with the same obedience? Or, do most disobey? Is it because they do
not recognize the One who created them, gave them life and breath? Or is it
because, they choose to have another god – their own fleshly desires – and
those desires in conformity with the appealing things of the world and the
whisperings of demons?
How many are those creatures, created in the image of God no less, who
do as they desire? Who twist the Word and command of the only True God to fit
their own will, to play god themselves?
Of course, ***WE*** would never admit that is what we are doing, but
that is exactly what we do every time we conform our actions to the will of our
flesh. Every single sin is willful disobedience to the will of God, instead
conforming to the sinful flesh we inhabit. We are more disobedient than the
demon in our text who was so constrained by the will of God that it could do
nothing other than comply to the command of the Holy One of God.
This takes place in the synagogue, in front of many people, amazement
came upon them all, and they began talking with one another saying, “What is
this message? For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits and
they come out.” Something strange is taking place, this is some sort of
authority they had never seen before, authority over the demonic! This is
incredible!
This is Him who has authority over Satan – sin – death. This is God’s
Christ! This is the One who wins the victory over these things by taking our
disobedience (our sinful idolatry) into His own flesh, is obedient to the
Father unto death, even death on a cross. Forgiveness He purchases that He
might deliver it to you when your pastor speaks the absolution to you, when He
feeds you Christ’s Body and Blood.
Forgiven and redeemed, restored in a right relationship with God
through Christ Jesus, you are given a new lease on life. Can we be any less
obedient to the will of God than this evil spirit was when commanded by Christ
to do something? You have the command of Word of God, you know the will of God,
you even memorized them in your years of Catechesis. Have you forgotten them?
Or have you been so desensitized by the world and your own heart’s desires that
you have simply been able to bypass them? To put it in contemporary language,
you rebooted with a new operating system, one you rewrote?
Thanks to God that it was demons who recognized Jesus, who listened to
His command to be silent. They were silent! Therefore, the people did not fully
recognize Jesus as God, and so they fulfilled the will of God – they crucified
Him. His Father accepted the sacrifice and raised Him from the dead on the
third day. We are now freed from sin and death. Freed to live! And free to live
in obedience to God!
Thanks be to God in Christ Jesus our Lord, THE Holy One of God. Amen.
Let us pray: Almighty God, You brought us up out of
the Egypt of hell and into the Zion of Christ’s Church through the Red Sea of
the baptismal font. Fill us with Your Holy Spirit, that as we continue to wend
our way through the wilderness of this sinful world, we would long for the pure
spiritual milk of Your Word and receive the sustenance we need, until we are
brought to the Promised Land of the life of the world to come. Amen
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