Ransomed from the Curse October 13

Christ ransomed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. Galatians 3:13

But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons,then the Kingdom of God has come upon you. Luke 11:20

Piety

Let us pray. God, you hold power and might over the world. Please give us the strength of a faith that matters. Help us to move beyond a legalistic view of life and remove all of the obstacles that get in the way of our friendship with you. Protect us by binding the strong man and protecting us from him through the saving work of Jesus your Son and our bodyguard whom you send down from heaven to redeem us. Free us from the curse of laws that do not give us life and justify us by faith that we exhibit by working for good in the world. Amen.

Study

The strong man used in Luke’s Good News is an image that has passed down through history. Even in today’s popular culture survives as a special icon. First society admires the winner, like the heavyweight champion of the world. Many of us can name some of the fighters who have held that title. Muhammad Ali. Mike Tyson. Joe Frazier. George Foreman. We await the winner of the World Series. Football is in mid-stride at the college and professional levels and hockey and basketball seasons are getting underway while the tennis, golf and NASCAR seasons wind down. Today, we have a whole sub-culture around the World Wrestling Federation that has added a circus-like atmosphere to supposed athletic contests.

We can relate on a human level to the concept of the strong man. Jesus once again takes the concept and turns it around. Jesus uses the image of the strong man to describe how he will defeat the forces of evil in the world with ONE FINGER! “But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you..”

In Galatians, Paul uses a different image. Rather than the strong man, he uses the image of Jesus becoming a curse for us to save us from the curse of law. As we approach “All Hallows Eve,” our televisions and movie houses will be overfilled with the secular Hollywood image of the curse – imagined and real. Friday the 13th.[1] The Exorcist. The Omen. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Scarface. The Departed. Deliver Us From Evil.

But the euphemism of the curse meant something totally different for the early Christians and Jews who listened to St. Paul. They knew the ancient reference from the Hebrew Bible.

If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death and his corpse hung on a tree,
it shall not remain on the tree overnight. You shall bury it the same day; otherwise, since God's curse rests on him who hangs on a tree, you will defile the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you as an inheritance. Deuteronomy 21:22-23

The NAB teaches that, “Salvation, then, depends on faith in Christ who died on the cross (Gal 3:13), taking upon himself a curse found in Deut 21:23 (about executed criminals hanged in public view), to free us from the curse of the law (Gal 3:13). That the Gentile Galatians have received the promised Spirit (Gal 3:14) by faith and in no other way returns the argument to the experience cited in Gal 3:1-5.[2]

Jesus wants us to believe in Him. Jesus wants us His, not because he is strong, but because we are weak. Jesus wants us, not because the law says so but because He wants us to have faith.

Action

When an unclean spirit goes out of someone, it roams through arid regions searching for rest but, finding none, it says, ‘I shall return to my home from which I came.’ But upon returning, it finds it swept clean and put in order. Luke 11:24-25

The Amish had an interesting way to sweep clean the evil. After forgiving the man who shot ten of their daughters, they removed the schoolhouse where his sins were committed. They ransomed from the curse this area and rather than turning it into a tourist trap for gawkers, they turned the area back into pasture land.

NICKEL MINES, Pa. -- Ten days after the Amish schoolhouse shootings, a demolition crew using heavy equipment tore down the bloodstained building Thursday and obliterated nearly all traces of the place where five girls were killed.
Only a bare patch of earth was left behind, and it was planted with grass seed, so that eventually even the footprint of the one-room schoolhouse will be gone, too.[3]

What do you need to “sweep clean and put in order?”


[1] Today. In case anyone has Triskaidekaphobia.
[2] http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/galatians/galatians3.htm#foot8
[3] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/12/AR2006101200123.html