Thursday in the Third Week of Lent, March 16, 2023

Luke 11, 14-23

Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute, and when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke and the crowds were amazed. Some of them said, “By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he drives out demons.” Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven. But he knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house. And if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that it is by Beelzebul that I drive out demons. If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own people drive them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man fully armed guards his palace, his possessions are safe. But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him, he takes away the armor on which he relied and distributes the spoils. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”

Here is something to think about: there is no record in the Old Testament of demonic possession.  This is interesting because so much of the Lord’s ministry was devoted to exorcising demons.  This means either that demons did not possess humans before New Testament times or that demonic possession was not recognized for what it was.  The one semi-exception to this might be the case of Satan physically assaulting Job in the Book of Job.  In fact, Jewish understanding of the existence and role of demons in human life came late, for we do not see it explicitly mentioned in the Prophets, even those who arose after the return of the people from the Babylonian exile.  The Pharisees certainly taught about demons and even learned some of their names.  They looked back at certain verses in the Prophet Isaiah about an eastern king who threatened Israel and interpreted them as describing the fall of Lucifer from heaven.  Thus, by the time of our Lord’s Birth, the Jewish people had acute awareness of the demonic in human life.

“By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he drives out demons.”  This accusation is extremely naive if not malicious.  The Lord chooses to take it as naïveté and attempts to reason with the person or persons who made it, showing his patience even here.  “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house.”  A kingdom divided against itself through a would-be usurper will be weakened and easily destroyed by a rival kingdom, or civil war with destroy the kingdom from within.  Believers is Christ ought to be comforted by this saying for indeed hell is divided amongst itself, and political and social movements alive and afoot at the present time which are based on evil premises and seek power by evil means contain within themselves the seed of their own destruction.  Evil, by its nature, is self-destructive, and those committed to evil are capable only of self-destructive actions, which, unfortunately, may result in the temporary harm of those who are committed to holiness and justice.

“If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own people drive them out?”  The Lord alludes here to a well-established system of exorcists and rituals created to drive out demons.  The Jewish exorcists in reality could not drive out demons.  The demons, manifesting their presence in an individual, would note the presence of the Jewish exorcist and simply withdraw deep into the person’s unconsciousness, thus simulating that it had been cast out.  For, demons are cast out only through the Name and the power of Jesus Christ by his duly ordained ministers. 

“But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.”  This statement would have greatly startled the people reviling him, for its logic is inescapable.  For if the Kingdom of God has come upon them and it is by the finger of God that Jesus expels demons, then those accusing him of working at the behest of Beelzebul can expect no mercy and no deliverance from eternal punishment.

“When a strong man fully armed guards his palace, his possessions are safe.”  By this very brief parable, the Lord teaches that the devil is like a strong defending his palace — the earth, or those who live worldly lives — and he seems invincible.  But then comes along one who is even stronger — the Son of God — and he defeats the first man and kills him, and frees the palace.  Not all in the palace will prize their safety and will continue to serve the defeated prince, but this only makes them enemies of him who had come to set them free,  “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”  The Lord comes to gather together, to clarify, to make clear.  Those who are not with him seek to scatter, to divide, to confuse, to obfuscate.

The Lord has come to free us from a slavery we have grown accustomed to and so hardly recognize.  Let us rejoice in his coming and avail ourselves of the freedom he brings by pursuing virtue and performing good works.