“Lightning” the Way – The Third Sunday of Lent

Rock of ages, cleft for me,
let me hide myself in thee;
let the water and the blood
from thy wounded side which flowed,
be of sin the double cure,
cleanse me from its guilt and power.

A strange thing happened Saturday evening. My gaze was fixed upon the stars and my back was warmed by a small but delightfully warm fire. Above me were not only the twinkling lights of the starry spheres and the occasional cruising jet but also darting yellow streaks here and there in the corner of my eye. I paused and looked with eyes wide open, and found the source: fireflies.

Fireflies are not common this time of the year in Alabama. Typically, you get an occasional friendly visitor in May and then in June the woods and fields light up with the help of God’s own remarkable insect, the lightning bug. These small creatures can set the woods on fire even in the darkest summer night. Darkness has long been man’s enemy, even though we are born into this world as fallen allies of the dark powers. Yet despite our unholy alliance with the evil one, we are still unnaturally attached to what is devilish. It simply is not how it is supposed to be. Our Lord God knows this, and in the darkness, He provides light. He created light as His first act of creation. He gives us light in the evening with our moon, Luna. And in the midst of the darkness of the Gentiles, His dawning light of salvation reigns.

Even in God’s own mercy, His grace is demonstrated by the friendly lightning bugs that danced around our backyard last night. They are messengers of light that remind us in the midst of Lent, there is hope.

If you are like me, you need hope. I must confess, this is one of my worst Lents. I have failed and failed miserably. I have not loved my neighbor as myself. I have given myself over to the anger of my heart, and the gluttony of my belly, and forgotten the focus of Lent is not about me, but about the Lord God whose light shines new mercies every morning. Therefore, the lessons of the ancient Western lectionary are particularly on point for this sinner, and they expose the raw reality that it is difficult to kill off the old Adam and let the new Adam: Christ Jesus, reign in our hearts rather than merely upon our lips.

Should my tears for ever flow,
should my zeal no languor know,
all for sin could not atone:
thou must save, and thou alone;
in my hand no price I bring,
simply to thy cross I cling.

Despite the bleak mid-lenten season we find ourselves in, Christ provides the glow and flash of distant lightning at each miracle He performs. He shows His strength and His care for us despite our weakness and fragility. He comes to us and finds us bedeviled, chained, and enslaved – and He casts out, releases, and frees sinners where He finds them. Therefore, our prayer this Sunday and all week is “We beseech thee, almighty God, look upon the hearty desires of thy humble servants, and stretch forth the right hand of thy Majesty, to be our defence against all our enemies, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” (Collect of the Day).

We need divine intervention, and in today’s Gospel, we get it. Our Lord encounters a person who cannot speak, they are “dumb” as the Authorized Version terms it. Yet this is not due to an impediment nor any natural failure for the throat muscles to develop. No, this is demonic oppression, and the Lord Jesus Christ will not stand for it. He encounters another one of the enemies of the Son of God, and our Lord takes action by casting out the demon. “And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake; and the people wondered.” (Gospel lesson, Luke 11:14, KJV).

However, this isn’t enough for everyone in the crowd. Several deny the power of the Holy Ghost at work in the Son of God and falsely declare that Christ is casting out demons through the power of the prince of demons, Beelzebub, or Satan. (Luke 11:15-16). Jesus puts this false accusation to quick work, noting that a divided kingdom and divided household shall fall, including Satan’s. (Luke 11:17-18). There are too many sermons preached and Bible studies being taught today throughout this nation and in the Western world that wish to explain away Jesus’ casting out of demons. Today, there are pastors leading parishioners astray by claiming that Jesus’ miracle was not casting out a demon, but simply healing a physical ailment. Modern preaches, along with modern congregations, cannot keep down the pill that there is a dark kingdom that needs destruction. There is simply nothing to explain away. Jesus’s miracle was destroying a stronghold of Satan upon a person’s life and this is glorious good news. While Jesus also miraculously healed physical disease as part of His ministry to institute new creation, He also visited His people to cast out the creeping darkness of Satan upon the Promised Land and the hearts of the Promised People. And Jesus is still active in casting out the demons in our hearts, within our churches, and yet even those residing in the pulpit.

“But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.” (Luke 11:20, KJV). This is good news. It is Gospel, pure and simple. The fact is that Jesus taking on our greatest enemies, including the demonic, is good news for us and for this broken world. Christ comes as a warrior, even in His first coming. For He reminds us that He is engaged in a cosmic warfare that includes us and is for us. The demons that Christ casts out in His earthly ministry are simply a foretaste of the sweeter victory and Waterloo that is heading for Satan’s door on Holy Saturday. Jesus explains that He is taking the battle not only to earth by His incarnation, but that He is also taking His holy war right into the bowels of the earth at Satan’s doorstep when He tells the crowd, “When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: but when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.” (Luke 11:21-22, KJV).

Christ is coming to conquer Satan and he shall be bound, defanged, and plundered. The captor of our souls shall become captive. The conqueror of our lusts shall be conquered. The cocky tyrant shall be cast away.

Our Lord warns us: be prepared. Though Satan and his demons are defeated, if we are not on our guard and clinging to Christ’s redemption at the foot of the Cross, then we shall become twice the sons of Satan than before. He warns us that after the demon is cast out, then he shall return with seven more evil spirits and the state of the person shall be worse than the first. (Luke 11:24-26). What is our Lord getting at? He is telling us not to deny the power of God in our midst. Do not explain away Christ’s miracles or the casting out of the demoniac, but instead acknowledge the finger of God has visited and healed His people. Our Lord beckons us to have faith in His works and His Gospel, because “He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth.” (Luke 11:23, KJV).

Are you with the Lord? Are you gathering with Him? Test yourself, examine yourself, and pick up where you have fallen off this Lent, for “blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.” (Luke 11:28, KJV).

While I draw this fleeting breath,
when mine eyelids close in death,
when I rise to worlds unknown
and behold thee on thy throne,
Rock of ages, cleft for me,
let me hide myself in thee.

Reach out to the rock at the foot of the Cross and cling to it. Let the Blood that flows from Calvary’s cross drip down upon the rock you cling to and be the double cure for sin and death. The ancient lectionary connects the last words of Christ in the Gospel reading to the first words of St. Paul in the epistle lesson: “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.” (Epistle lesson, Ephesians 5:1-2) The yoke of our Lord Jesus is light: it is walking in love as He loved us. St. Paul’s words echo St. John’s in his own epistles and Gospel.

Less we are confused, Paul writes what is contrary to walking in love. Namely, “fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” (Ephesians 5:3-5, KJV). Engaging the passions of our flesh is our weakness and the death of us. We must kill them before they kill us. Better yet, we must die before we die and be raised in new life through the power of the Holy Ghost. Christ is still performing the miracle of changing hearts and He is still molding, shaping, and changing us into the new Adam to reflect His glory, which in turn reflects the glory of the Father.

However, there are many surrounding us who would wish to take our eyes off our love of Christ. St. Paul has strong words about them, “Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them.” (Ephesians 5:6-7, KJV). Beware of those within the church who call evil, “good,” and who preach acceptance of sin instead of the Gospel for sinners. Christ Jesus, the Lord God, did not bleed in agony on the Cross to leave you as you are. He redeemed you, cleansed you, sanctified you for His purpose and to the glory of God the Father. Therefore, “now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.” (Ephesians 5:8-10, KJV).

In the dark midnight hour of the soul, do not follow the blind who stumble into further darkness. Instead, look towards the saints who guide you by their light. Sometimes they first appear barely, briefly, like a lightening bug on a spring evening. Patiently turn towards them and see the light of Christ within them, and then shine your Savior’s love for others to see. As for the darkness that surrounds you? We must “have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them,” especially within the Church. (Ephesians 5:11, KJV). Why reprove? Why not merely ignore and carry on? Because “all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.” (Ephesians 5:12, KJV). We cast out the darkness by casting upon it more light.

This mid-Lenten journey, I fall down at the Rock of Ages. I am reminded that I cannot secure “more holiness” because the source of holiness is Light Himself. As the source of Light, one cannot obtain more Light, one must simply abide in His light and mirror His light from our hearts and our actions into the dark souls who are mute and need the Light to manifest that the Gospel is for them, just as it is for us. Throughout our land and within our neighborhoods some souls are sleeping in the darkness and do not know the Light has arrived. Therefore, may we shine the Light of resurrection into their hearts and joyfully sing together on the approaching Easter morning:

“Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.”

(Ephesians 5:14, KJV).