Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States - Lutheran Seminary God Pause "Moved by the Promise" for Thursday, 17 July 2014 - Read Matthew 12:24-30

Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States - Lutheran Seminary God Pause "Moved by the Promise" for Thursday, 17 July 2014 - Read Matthew 12:24 But the Pharisees, when they heard the report, were cynical. “Black magic,” they said. “Some devil trick he’s pulled from his sleeve.”
25-27 Jesus confronted their slander. “A judge who gives opposite verdicts on the same person cancels himself out; a family that’s in a constant squabble disintegrates; if Satan banishes Satan, is there any Satan left? If you’re slinging devil mud at me, calling me a devil kicking out devils, doesn’t the same mud stick to your own exorcists?
28-29 “But if it’s by God’s power that I am sending the evil spirits packing, then God’s kingdom is here for sure. How in the world do you think it’s possible in broad daylight to enter the house of an awake, able-bodied man and walk off with his possessions unless you tie him up first? Tie him up, though, and you can clean him out.
30 “This is war, and there is no neutral ground. If you’re not on my side, you’re the enemy; if you’re not helping, you’re making things worse.(The Message)
Our image of Christ is commonly of him being one of peace and restraint. But when it comes to confronting evil, Jesus engages conflict with audacity. Gone is any image of a "Gentle Jesus Meek and Mild." Instead, Christ challenges and zealously seeks to remove those forces that create hardship and chaos in the lives of his people. 
In explaining his treatment of evil in God's kingdom, Jesus uses an illustrative parable about a strong man's house and property. In order for a person to enter a strong man's house and confiscate his possessions, the strong man must first be tied up. Then his property is able to be plundered (Matthew 12:29). 
If we have been bound and held as Satan's hostages, Jesus comes as one who is stronger than the strong man, frustrating the devil's schemes and harnessing and overcoming his power. When Christ encounters Satan, there is a powerful plundering of Satan's house going on. But for you and me, Christ's plundering is amounts to a glorious rescue mission.
Shower us with your grace, loving Jesus. We invite you to plunder our lives, removing all sin and evil, returning us to your embrace. Amen.
Jason W. Talsness
Pastor, Amazing Grace Lutheran Church, Lawrenceville, Ga. 
Master of Divinity , 1997
Matthew 12:24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, "It is only by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons, that this fellow casts out the demons."
25 He knew what they were thinking and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand.
26 If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand?
27 If I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own exorcists cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.
28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you.
29 Or how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his property, without first tying up the strong man? Then indeed the house can be plundered.
30 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.(New Revised Standard Version)
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