Take the Fight to the Enemy

A sermon on Ephesians 6.10-17 and Luke 17.12-19. Delivered at Christ the Savior Church, Southbury CT, on December 10, 2017.

Today Jesus enters a village and we see a group of men standing off at a distance.

But something isn’t right.

Many of them have their heads and faces covered, none of them are dressed well.

Some can barely stand, and some have stained rags wrapped tightly around their arms or legs.

These men are not well, and they keep their distance for a good reason.

They suffer from leprosy, a horrible deadly disease.

Leprosy is contagious, and in Jesus’ day there was no cure.

So if you caught leprosy, you were pretty much as good as dead.

Your family, your village, your friends and neighbors, would cast you out and cut you off.

And you would be forced to live out the rest of your days as an outsider, a loner, living on the fringes of society.

Lepers could see their homes, their family, their friends, their village, or their city,

But they were forbidden to have any direct contact.

Maybe you could speak with someone, by yelling from a distance. But you could never speak face to face.

People could leave food and supplies for you, but could never shake their hands, or give them a hug.

Major events might happen in the village, weddings, festivals, celebrations, and you might see all of this happening from afar,

But you would never be invited to the party.

It is horrible to see people nearby but to feel totally alone.

Do you ever feel alone?

Does it ever feel like you have been cast out by the people you love?

Do you ever feel ignored, or abandoned?

It is surprising how easy it is to feel like this, even when there are people all around us.

Now imagine for a moment, that a soldier says that he feels desperately lonely.

A soldier, in the middle of a war, with bombs falling, and bullets flying,

This person is surrounded by other soldiers: some friendly some hostile.

If a soldier in the middle of war said, “I feel so alone, so far from the people I love, like I’ve been totally abandoned.”

Would you be surprised?

I wouldn’t be surprised at all.

I’ve never been asked to bear the cross of going to war, and God bless those who have to bear that cross,

But if I was in the middle of a war, I’m sure I’d feel exactly like that: alone, unloved and totally abandoned.

Well, today St. Paul reminds us that we ARE in a war.

He reminds us that we are smack dab in the middle of a fierce battle, a violent deadly war.

It is not a war against flesh and blood human beings. It is not a war against people.

It is not a war that is fought with metal swords and spears or bullets and bombs.

No, the war that we are fighting right now is a spiritual warfare,

against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,

against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Demonic forces doing everything in their power to divide and conquer.

Wielding every tool of Satan to lead men and women to fight against one another.

And how do those hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places attack us?

They attack us in our hearts and minds.

If a stranger asks me for money, what is the first thing that goes through my mind? “Ugh…please don’t bother me. I’d really prefer that you got a job and just leave me alone.”

Where does that come from? Is sure doesn’t come from God.

If someone does something unkind to me, or if they do something that really wastes my time, or hurts my feelings, what is my first instinct? “You no good fool! I’m going to give you a taste of my wrath and you will do exactly what I want, NOW!”

Where does that come from? It certainly is not from our Lord Jesus Christ.

If something doesn’t work, and I realize that it’s because I made a mistake, or missed a deadline, or forgot something important, what do I say to myself, “You stupid idiot. You messed up again. See, you’re such a loser.”

Where does that come from? Definitely not from the Holy Spirit.

No, these thoughts and ideas are the fiery darts of the evil one, craftily directed against us: this is the spiritual warfare.

And it rages around us, and within us, ALL…THE…TIME.

Today St. Paul says to us, “be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”

Because every one of us has been drafted to fight this war.

From the moment the exorcism prayers were prayed for us at our baptism, we have been newly enlisted warriors of Christ.

St. Paul says, “Stand up, it is time to move out.”

But unlike earthly armies, where the generals and kings and politicians stay in nice safe places, and send their sons and daughters to suffer and die,

Our King leads the charge; he marches at the very front of his army, Christ is the first to face the attacks of the enemy.

This is the great mystery of the Incarnation, and the miracle of Christmas, that God no longer stands apart from us.

God is no longer a stranger to us to and to creation.

God takes flesh, and becomes a human being, the Son of God becomes the son of the Virgin Mary, the Theotokos.

And as perfect God and perfect man Jesus shows how to fight, and be victorious, in the spiritual warfare.

When Judas offers betrayal, Jesus responds with gentleness.

When Peter offers denial, Jesus responds with faithfulness.

When the people he came to save offer mockery, Jesus responds with humility.

When Pilate offers an unjust condemnation, Jesus responds with truth.

When humanity offers suffering, torture and death, Jesus responds with forgiveness.

Because Jesus did not come into the world to fight against Judas, or Peter, or Pharisees, or Pilate, or the soldiers or you or me.

Jesus Christ comes into the world to fight the spiritual warfare against the spiritual powers of wickedness.

So, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ responds to all those hateful, unjust, selfish hurting, furious, bitter, angry, vengeful flesh and blood PEOPLE,

with love…and mercy…and forgiveness.

By offering his life as in the perfect act of love, Christ CRUSHES the powers of evil.

This is why St. Paul says to us, “take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand evil and be victorious.

Stand up soldier, put on your body armor of truth and righteousness,

To protect your feet on the long journey, wear the shoes of the gospel of peace;

above all, carry the shield of faith which is invincible against the fiery darts of the evil one.

Put on the helmet of salvation, and always, always carry the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

We fight the spiritual warfare as Christ does, by showing God’s love to others.

By showing mercy to real-life flesh and blood people, we are victorious in the spiritual warfare,

Or rather Christ is victorious in us.

The victory of Christ is the victory of love over loneliness and division, and death.

These days I often think of our old friend Ebeneezer Scrooge.

At the beginning of the story, he is so bitter, so angry, so hard and cruel.

When men ask him to give money to help the poor, Scrooge responds,

“Are there no prisons? Are there no work programs? No shelters? Leave me alone. I don’t celebrate Christmas and I can’t afford to help lazy people celebrate. I pay enough in taxes to support the government programs. If people are in need, let them go there”

And the men say, “But many can’t go there, and many would rather die than be in those awful places.”

And Scrooge says, “If they would rather die, they had better do it and decrease the surplus population.”

Harsh words from a harsh and bitter man.

But Scrooge, like so many of us, is also very much alone.

As the story unfolds we see that as a young boy Scrooge suffered deep personal tragedies and sorrows.

We see a man who is deeply wounded, suffering from so much pain in the depth of his heart.

And then, by God’s grace, he is healed of that spiritual leprosy, that slow rot of the human soul.

And on Christmas day he awakes to the world a new man, a changed man, a humble and joyful man.

And as he goes from place to place, asking for forgiveness, sharing his wealth.

And what do we see?

We see a person who is no longer slowly dying alone, but a man who is alive with the love of God, and who is living with others.

Today, we stand with those ten men, suffering from leprosy, cast out and alone, as they see Jesus entering the village,

And we cry out “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

Jesus heals us, and gives us new life. He brings us back into communion with God and with our neighbors.

And our Lord strengthens us be victorious in the spiritual warfare.

Giving to those in need who can never repay us, we banish the hosts of wickedness.

Showing kindness to those who are unkind, we quench the fiery darts of the evil one.

Loving those who are unlovable, we vanquish the armies of darkness.

For our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ grants us victory in the spiritual warfare.

Glory to Jesus Christ!

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Amen.