“Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls.”
The words are clear. The message is understandable. The principle is simple. It is true. When a kingdom is divided--when the people of that kingdom are not united with one another in all things--that kingdom is not able to put up a unified front when it is attacked by a strong enemy. And that kingdom will fall.
Yes, the words are very clear. The message is very understandable. The principle is very simple. And it is very true. “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” So then why do we live as though this rule does not apply to us? And we do live as though this rule does not apply to us! Why do we persist in dividing our own households through harsh words toward our family members--unkind words spoken with hatred, unloving words spoken in anger, mean words spoken in meanness, lying words spoken to deceive--spoken to our parents, our spouses, our children, our brothers and sisters? Why do we continue to break the bonds of love that bind the members of our families together through unloving acts of selfishness? Why do we keep all of this up, even after we see the devastation that divorce and other divisions within the family have brought down upon our households?
Every day each one of us does things and says things that attack the very members of our own houses: our families, our circle of friends, our community, our community of faith. They are hurtful words and deeds; they are damaging words and deeds. They are most certainly hurtful and damaging for the person who is the target of these loveless words and unkind deeds. Yet, these words and deeds are more certainly hurtful and damaging to the one who speaks and does them, for these sinful acts and deeds place the sinner under the angry wrath of God. And these words and deeds are hurtful and damaging to our own houses--especially when each of us individually adds our own sins to those of every other member of the house, for then the house is divided into as many pieces as there are selfish individuals. So repent of these, repent and divide no more.
Yes, the words of warning are very clear. The message of warning is very understandable. The principle behind this warning is very simple. It is very true. “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” For God Himself will not allow it to stand. He will tear down in judgment every house that is not filled with love.
The words of warning ought to be clear. But Jesus is doing more than simply warning us here. Indeed, He must do something more than simply warn us. For we hear the warning against dividing our houses, and yet we continue to divide our houses through our divisive words and deeds. This shows the great power that sin has over each one of us. As the Gospel lesson for today states: “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than he comes upon him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his goods.”
We like to think we are strong enough to handle everything that life brings our way, but we are not. Satan comes and overcomes us easily whenever we attempt to stand on our own, in our sin-weakened flesh, foolishly trusting that the things of this world provide us with everything we need. Yes, we think we can overcome even the whole world on our own strength, but then we find out just how weak we truly are when illness or injury comes our way, or when things do not happen our way no matter how hard we try. We think we can reason out everything there is--even to know everything about the spiritual reality that our eyes are unable to see--through our great intelligence, and then we find how our feeble minds are unable to understand fully such divine mysteries as why things do not always happen according to our plans, or why the devil is allowed to bring the tragedy of division into our families, into our circle of friends, into our communities, even into our Church and our Synod of churches. No, we and our own armor simply are not strong enough to defeat the stronger one when the devil is knocking at very door. Jesus simply must do more than simply warn us.
And He has! The words of Jesus are not simply words of warning to us, but are also words of proclamation concerning God's ultimate victory over the devil. “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls.” Yes, the kingdom of the devil has been divided, for we who are by nature subjects of Satan have been divided out of his kingdom and delivered into the Kingdom of God!
Yes, the very house of Satan has been divided, for we who by nature are children of the devil have been divided out and are made children of the household of God! For the Lord of Life and Love delivered us from the kingdom of death to the Kingdom of Life --from the house of hatred to His House of Love--by His death for our sins of hatred. For a time, while the Son of God suffered in weakness upon His cross, it looked like the devil was the stronger one. But he who is stronger than us men is not stronger than God! The hand of the devil is no match for the Finger of God! The Finger of Jesus, dripping with His own Blood from the wound in His hand, is all that was needed to overthrow the power of the devil and all of his demons. By the Hands of the One Who created all things, the kingdom of the devil was torn to pieces--and that divided house will, one day, finally collapse, once and for all.
And every day between now and then , Jesus comes to hand to us life! Yes, though the hands of Jesus were hanging lifeless at the end of the battle on that Good Friday, they were filled with life again on that first Easter morning! And they come to us as Jesus comes in His very Body--His Church--through His Word and His Sacraments to bring new life to our dying bodies. Here, in His Church, Jesus casts out the unclean spirits, not in the name of Beelzebub or by the hand of Satan, but by the Finger of God, in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Here, in His Church, Jesus pours upon us from His own Hand the Living Water of Holy Baptism even while He pours into us His Holy Spirit. Here, in His Church, Jesus raises His Hand of Mercy over us even while He pronounces the Word of Absolution to us: “I forgive you of all of your sins.” Here, in His Church, Jesus is present to give to us with His own Hand His very Body and Blood, given and shed for the forgiveness of our sins, given and shed to unite us to Him in faith, given to unite us with one another in love. And every day, no matter where we are, Jesus comes to us through His Word as we meditate upon His Word to point us away from the way of death--to point each one of us away from the way of selfishness that causes divisions among us--and to point toward the way of life--a life of love for God and for neighbor; He points us to the Word that teaches us how to love one another and live charitably with one another, with each of us always willing to be corrected by the Finger of God--the Holy Spirit--when our words and deeds are not in accord with the Word of God so that we can live the life that Christ would have us live! Real life! Real life--forevermore!
The words are very clear. The message is very understandable. The principle is very simple. And it is most certainly true. “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls.” But when a kingdom is undivided--when the people of that kingdom are united with one another in all things--it cannot fall.
May it be so for us. Let us always stand together, as the Gracious Hand of the Lord Jesus Christ enables us. United in one faith, the one true faith in the One True God. United by one Spirit, the Holy Spirit. United in one Body, the Body of Christ Jesus. United as children of one father, Our Heavenly Father. United now, and united forever.
