May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, "What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are the Holy One of God!" "Be quiet!" said Jesus sternly. "Come out of him!" The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek. The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, "What is this? A new teaching and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him." News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee. (Mark 1:21-28)

In Christ's name and to his glory, dear friends: Today we have one word as our central thought - FREEDOM! We Americans hold that word sacred and dear. Our history is full of struggles for freedom. Our country began over a struggle for freedom. Most of the wars we have fought since then have been over freedom - defending it or giving it to others. We Americans hold freedom precious and, in a good way, have a certain pride about the freedom we enjoy.

And yet, no one of us is absolutely free, in a certain sense. If I asked you each to tell me what controls you and from what do you wish to be liberated, I am sure every one of us could mention something. We want to be free from our pain, free from our bad habits, free from our worries, free from our busyness, free from our boredom, free from the job we have, free from our homework, free from our financial struggles. Right? There are plenty of things that hem us in, even while we live in a free country.

With the wisdom that God alone gives, we Christians can follow the rivers of our oppression back to its headwaters. It was in the garden that God first spoke of the "bondage to decay" that we know all to well. Dust you are and to dust you will return...by the sweat of your brow will you eat your food...cursed is this world because of you (your sin)...I will greatly increase your pain (Genesis 3). Satan, sin, disobedience and rebellion against God - this is the reason we are hemmed in on every side.

That brings us to our Gospel for today. What a poor, captive soul we hear about! Satan had him in a net. He lived in a beautiful, kind of resort town, with palm trees along a beautiful lake, but still Satan had him. He looked at God in human form who is love and goodness and says, "Are you here to destroy us?" In other words - God, you just want to make my life miserable. That is the same sin Satan has been instigating from the beginning when he tempted Adam and Eve to think and believe and act as if they had to get away from God to be happy. He was in the synagogue, in church, in the presence of God's truth and respectable folks, yet Satan had him. It does not matter where or with whom you live or where you spend your time - Satan has sinners in a net.

I have never run into anyone demon possessed like this. I have heard stories of our missionaries in distant lands dealing with such things. Our news reports sometimes speak of terrible, heinous criminals that do such awful things that I sometimes wonder if that is the demon possession that Jesus ran into while he was walking around on his earth. Modern psychology dismisses demon possession as old superstition and calls it something else like "extreme social dysfunction." I certainly don't understand everything about the subject; but this much is clear - the Bible talks about demon possession, and the Bible never lies.

But, in another way, I can understand demon possession, and so can you. We know what it is like to be caught in Satan's net. We know how sin and Satan's grip corrupts our thoughts and lives. We hear what God wants us to be and do, and we balk at it - "are you here to take away all my fun, God?" Sin has a hold of us and lies like glowing embers in our heart. A little stir, a little puff of oxygen, and it flares up - greed, selfishness, anger, impurity, shirking responsibility, envy. Everyone who sins, said Jesus, is a slave to sin. (John 8:34) You see, in a very real way we are no different than this man. We live in a beautiful place, hang around respectable church-going folks; and still Satan has us.

Be quiet, said Jesus sternly. Come out of him! The good news for that poor soul that day in the synagogue in Capernaum is that Jesus was there to give freedom from Satan and sin. The demons were right. Have you come to destroy us, Holy One of God? Yes! There were a last few shrieks of anger and disgust, but the demons had to let go. The One stronger than the combined forces of all evil, sin, and devils was here to save sinners from sin and reconcile sinners to himself. And that man was not the only one who was helped that day. The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, "What is this? A new teaching - and with authority! This was no run-of-the-mill religious teacher telling people to improve and get better. People try to do that all the time, but Satan is too strong and sin too much a part of man's nature. This authoritative voice rescued, saved, released, redeemed - and souls were truly free from Satan. Isaiah had predicted this day when he wrote that the Child to be born would shatter the yoke that burdens sinners. (Isaiah 9)

The good news for our poor souls sitting here today is that Jesus still gives freedom, true freedom from sin and Satan. Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They overcame him by (because of) the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. (Revelations 12:10,11) Our sin has been absorbed by Jesus at Calvary the way a swiffer pad grabs dust. Now when Satan tries to accuse us of sin, the Father says, "What sin? I see none." We are truly free!

It might not always feel that way because we still have those other things that burden us - the troubles of life. In addition, we still have sin in our lives even though we are free from its curse and condemnation. But souls enjoying the freedom of forgiveness taste a measure of freedom from these ills as well. We know our troubles are now loving chastisement under the control of our Savior so we are not overwhelmed by them. And even sin does not have the hold it would have on us for he has given his good Spirit to us so that our sinful nature does not run unchecked like a wildfire. Instead contrition and repentance are evidence of the freedom that is ours in Christ. God's Son has set us free!   Amen.