Today's Devotion

Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Tuesday of Lent 1, February 24, 2026 - Mark 3:20-35

In the name of + Jesus. Amen.

Almost overnight, our Lord is mobbed by gathering crowds, so that even grabbing a meal was next to impossible. The cult of celebrity has always been part of our human experience. And in the days before our “devices,” people experienced their doomscrolling IRL: in real life. In all of the madness, it was easy to lose focus on what Jesus is actually here to do. Many in the crowds want a miracle. Others want to see a show. And, of course, Jesus made a lot of enemies along the way, envious of Him.

His own family struggled with this new paradigm and His celebrity. His disciples will come across as clueless much of the time. About the only ones who understood His mission at this point were the demons, of whom our Lord’s kinsman James writes that they “believe – and shudder!” (Jas 2:19). Jesus’ enemies include “the scribes who came down from Jerusalem.” They accuse Jesus of casting out demons by being “the prince of demons.” Our Lord replies to their charges by means of parables. And much like dialogue on the Internet today, most people will continue to believe what they want to believe. Some will interpret these parables humbly seeking the truth, but most will entrench into their echo-chambers and refuse to change their minds – no matter how compelling, logical, and true our Lord’s arguments are, no matter the miracles that they see with their eyes.

But disbelief in our Lord’s incarnation and mission to save us is not just a flame-war between anonymous accounts trashing one another. This is God’s mission to destroy death, to conquer the devil, to issue pardon for sin, to roll back the corrosive effects of sin, and to recreate heaven and earth anew, as the eternal King of this kingdom – which is so far populated by family, friends, and disciples who seem to be on the fence about the whole thing. But it is certainly telling that the demons know that they are under direct attack. And those who refuse to believe the Good News of the kingdom, those who resist all efforts to be saved, won’t be saved against their will. This persistent and willful unbelief is what Jesus calls blasphemy “against the Holy Spirit,” and this is “an eternal sin.” One cannot believe the Savior is a devil and at the same time hope that Savior will save you. It is to refuse to lay hold of the lifesaver in the middle of a shark-infested ocean.

We are Jesus’ disciples today. We are very much like His family. We have a closeness to Jesus that can sometimes lead to a familiarity that breeds contempt. We can hear preaching and allow our minds to wander, after all, we know this stuff already. We can return from the communion rail not feeling much like St. John Chrysostom’s description of Christians as “lions breathing fire, terrible to the devil,” but more like paper tigers thinking about lunch or the football game. Sometimes we are like the crowds who only come to Jesus when we want something.

But through it all, our Lord continues His mission. He casts out demons. He heals the sick. He defies the Pharisees and the priests and the scribes. He proclaims the kingdom. He goes to the cross. He sheds His blood. He dies. He rises the third day. He ordains men into the preaching office to continue to make war on the devils. He continues His mission of rescue through His church. And He calls us His family. We are His brothers and sisters. We are those crowds who have been restored – even when we seem to forget. So let us not forget, dear friends. At the beginning of Lent, we were bid to “Remember, O man.” For we are dust. And to dust we shall return. But we will rise again from the dust. We are sinners, but we are forgiven and redeemed. We are conceived and born under the influence of the demons, but we are exorcized of them when we are washed in holy baptism. And whether we feel it or not, we are fire-breathing lions that are a scourge to the real Beelzebul and his demons.

Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.