The strong man

He is ruthless, merciless, sadistic, cunning, and powerful.

He could kill you in a second, but he prefers that his victims linger in endless torture.

He goes by many names.

In today’s Gospel (Mark 3:22-30), he is called Beelzebul, Satan, and the strong man.

He is called the strong man by the Lord Jesus himself in one of the quick parables in today’s Gospel.

But no one can enter a strong man’s house
to plunder his property
unless he first ties up the strong man.
Then he can plunder his house.

Usually we tend to think of those who guard houses as being one of the good guys – and indeed they almost always are – but in this case the strong man is Satan, guarding over his dominion of the world.

Usually we tend to think of tying up guards and taking stuff out of houses as being immoral things to do – and as a rule they are – but in this case the one who binds Satan is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and we are the stuff the Lord is bringing out of the domicile of Satan.

How did we get into that house controlled by Satan? We put ourselves there by sin, but we by ourselves do not have the power to get ourselves out : the power of sin – the power of evil, the power of Satan – is too strong.

But no matter what trouble we may have gotten ourselves into, no matter how persistent and grievous the sin, no matter how dark a hole we may have dug for ourselves, no matter how much the world seems to be against us… the power of our Lord Jesus Christ is infinitely greater and he can bring us out.

Come, Lord Jesus, and set us free
so that we may move forward in you.