The LCA provides this sermon edited for lay-reading, with thanks to the original author.
Easter Day, Year C
Acts 10:38
In the opening scene of the movie “The Passion of Christ” there is a particularly effective scene where Satan comes to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Satan is portrayed as a female, as well as a serpent. One pastor said he was pleased to see Satan represented by a female face – a seductive one! There wouldn’t be many women who would complain that Satan is nearly always portrayed as a male!
There is the suggestion right at the beginning of the movie that Satan is at work behind the suffering and death of Jesus. This is a very important point. According to the verse for today from The Acts of the Apostles, the Devil has been very busy in the world for a long time,
“Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the Devil.”
The Devil, like the Holy Spirit, is spirit (and is not a woman or a man). One can’t physically see the Devil, nor do we see the Spirit of God physically. But we see their work.
On the one hand, we see what the miraculous Word from God has created. The brilliant sunshine, and the pouring rain are but two miracles of our planet, and there are even more galaxies beyond this fantastic one we live in. Or when we look at ourselves in the mirror, we see the miracle of life! We can eat, see, think, decide, trust and love. How amazing!
Then we see the terrible damage from the work of Satan. We see it in the people who are sick, who might have no appetite to enjoy the food from God’s creation; or the blind people who can’t see and who live in darkness, and those who have lost their minds from different forms of dementia, or those who can’t walk, or work. We see those who are led by spirits other than the Spirit of God. They might be slaves to a selfish spirit, or slaves to drugs, or to the latest fashions. Evil might separate them from their loved ones. They don’t know what unselfish love is like, or don’t know what it is like to have a Father who loves them. The damage Satan has done is so vast one could go on and on, about damage to our relationships, and to the environment.
When Jesus is born in physical form in a manger, he comes into a world suffering from the evils of a type of terrorism that has infiltrated our world. Wherever Jesus goes on our planet he is invading the foreign territory where selfishness has been in control. The work of Satan is so insidious and cunning it even enters the little group of disciples who are with Jesus. There is Judas, the traitor, working his treachery, and Peter! But that is where Satan is keenest to be active – where the people of faith are.
Wherever the followers of Jesus gather today, we can expect the Devil to attack Jesus: evenin our congregation here today. It was the strict religious leaders of his day that organised the crucifixion of Jesus. Their minds were so twisted by evil, the leaders crucify Jesus as a service to God. They work up the crowd and manipulate Pilate to destroy Jesus, the one we can physically see who is God, and comes from God.
As the followers of Jesus we can expect Satan will cunningly attack us, more likely us than anyone else in our community. He will try to separate us from other healthy spiritual people in this congregation. It is a frightening thought. He will try to separate us from Jesus.
We, quite candidly, are no match at all for Satan’s evil and cunning work. When we confess our sinfulness to God we include those sins we are not even aware of! We each need Jesus to come and invade the evil in us, again and again.
The greatest damage we see on earth is death, especially the death of those nearest to us. Each day the media reports on road deaths, murders and other evils. When Jesus invades evils on our earth he invades the area of death too. Jesus enters into death and even into hell too – the private territory of Satan.
And his followers give up on Jesus, including Peter and Judas. It seems evil has won again. When Jesus returns with victory over Death and Satan, there is hardly a soul left on earth who believes in him. A handful of devoted women wait for the Sabbath to end and go to the tomb early to anoint his body. It is the least they can do. Others are too scared to even go with them.
The women become the first to go and spread the unlikely news, “He is Risen!” The power of death is broken. The last piece of damage engineered by Satan has been undone.The new invasion into Satan’s territory begins with a few women. Then a few men. Then the extraordinary news spreads through the whole world:“He is Risen!”
The news comes to us too. Today we need Jesus more than anyone else and more than ever before. We are in the battle against evil powers. Jesus knows that. Jesus knows we will be attacked by everything Satan can use against us, including sickness, broken relationships, our spirit of selfishness, our lack of trust, even trying to live without the love and grace of our loving heavenly Father. And Jesus comes to us again and again. Where Jesus is, there is victory. The risen Jesus even comes in the bread and wine to assure us that victory comes over any evil in us.
The Holy Spirit brings the victory of Jesus to us in the Word. There can be a lot of victories through the Word: a devotion here, a prayer there, a few sentences read by a lay person, and through the wonderful words of a spiritual song. Wherever Jesus is, there is victory over the evil one and death.
Today it is fitting that we come together to share in the victory over the worst enemy we will ever face. With Jesus, the battle against the Devil is always won. We love to be winners. To be on Jesus’ side is always to be a winner!
Amen.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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