February 21, 2021 – Mark 1: 9-15
Mark 1:9-15
Binding the Strong Man: Struggle in the Wilderness
First Sunday in Lent – February 21, 2021
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
Satan, literally, means “adversary.”
In the biblical imagination, Satan – who tempts or, better, tests Jesus today –
is that force which opposes God’s kingdom –
which Jesus announces in his first sermon this morning.
You can see what’s going on, right?
In the wilderness is where Jesus is tested by Satan,
to see if he is strong enough to prevail against that which he is called to do:
bring in God’s kingdom.
In Mark’s breathless account we don’t get to see the big showdown like we do in
Matthew and Luke with their three temptations.
But apparently Jesus prevails in Mark’s account too, because when Jesus begins his
Public ministry right after this, he casts out the unclean spirit from a man and
And heals Peter’s mother-in-law from illness.
Satan is lord of unclean spirits and illness, but they are no match for Jesus.
Unclean spirits and illness have no place in God’s kingdom,
and since Jesus is the one who ushers it in, where he goes, he defeats them.
Mark’s Gospel shows the confrontation between the reign of God and the reign of Satan.
And it shows the reign of God prevailing.
In a few chapters, Mark will have Jesus tell us something very telling.
He says it in response to people saying that Jesus is casting out Beelzebul’s (Satan’s) demons
by invoking the name of Beelzebul.
Jesus says that is stupid: no ruler would cast out his own servants.
It is akin to Satan rising up against himself.
However, Jesus goes on to say,
No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered. (Mark 3:27)
In some way, Jesus had “tied up” Satan and is “plundering his house,”
In other words, casting out demons and evil spirits –
that is, everything that is opposed to God’s reign.
Perhaps, in some way, it was in the wilderness that Jesus “tied up” Satan.
In any case, after the wilderness, Jesus does indeed plunder Satan’s house,
Making the world fit to be lived in fully again, as we were intended to by God.
God’s reign is “at hand,” or “near” or “upon you.”
I have tried many times to suggest to you what the Gospel writers mean by
God’s “kingdom” or, a much better translation, “reign.”
Here is one commentator I read this week about this:
To speak of a “reign” means to characterize Jesus’ ministry as announcing the realization of God’s intentions for humanity and all creation. Jesus’ focus is temporal, not spatial. That is, he announces the dawn of a new era and a new state of affairs, one in which God rules; with the expression “kingdom of God” he does not speak of taking people away to a new place in a far-off land. He tells those who listen that God is bringing new realities into existence; Jesus himself demonstrates what these realities look like through his actions and words.
That’s pretty good.
In the words of another commentator,
God’s reign is a power, a dynamic potency to put right all that is wrong in this world.
I really like that.
In the wilderness Jesus is not alone in “binding the strong man.”
He is surrounded by angels.
Probably not the fluffy cute type that have invaded our modern imaginations,
But the strong, purposeful biblical type – that might look like just anyone.
Jesus is “waited on” by them, or “served” by them,
Indicating support and the provision of food.
The mention of the wild animals being present with him perhaps alludes to Isaiah’s vision of
God’s peaceable kingdom, and of God’s reign being characterized by a return to
God original intention in creation, when all animals are neither feared by –
nor fear, human beings.
The peaceable reign of God begins already in the wilderness.
When Jesus binds the strong man and begins setting this world right in his public ministry,
He preaches a short sermon, to us and to all, a sermon that has no expiration date:
The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the good news.
The good news is that the kingdom of God has come near: the world’s transformation is at hand.
So, Jesus says, repent.
And when he says that, he doesn’t mean beating yourself up over something you’ve done.
He means make a 180 degree turn, turn your minds God-ward.
Change what you care about.
Make your priorities the priorities of God’s reign: care for the vulnerable,
Feed the hungry, resist injustice, make peace, forgive the sinful.
And when Jesus invites you to “believe” the good news,
he does not mean something you do with your mind;
he means something you do with your heart, your gut, your soul.
Stake your life on the good news that God’s reign is breaking into the world.
Give yourself over to it.
Give it all you’ve got.
At a time of the year when we are told to give up chocolate for Lent,
it does seem as if we are being invited to trivialize what Jesus was about and
what Jesus went through for 40 days.
Instead: Give up injustice. Give up apathy for the poor.
Give up not caring about systemic racism and its victims.
Those are the places – and there are many more –
where the Strong Man’s spirits are still prevailing.
Do a 180, Jesus is saying this day.
Set your heart on God’s reign.
Become worthy of the baptism you were baptized into,
in which you became a citizen of the commonwealth of heaven, of God’s reign.
And when you are discouraged, remember you are not alone: angels surround you,
and many of them wear the faces of people familiar to you at First Lutheran Church.
The world is being transformed.
God’s reign is at hand.
Let’s continue to be part of that at Sargent and Victor.
Amen.
Pastor Michael Kurtz
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