Thursday in the Third Week of Lent, March 24, 2022

Luke 11:14-23

Thank you for your prayers! I’m not as well today as yesterday but definitely better than I was on Monday. 

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.”

“The crowds were amazed.”  The Greek word translated as “amazed” also shows up in verses such as Matthew 27, 14, which describes Pilate’s reaction to the Lord’s silence at the charges leveled against him.  In that case the word is more often translated as “wondered exceedingly”.  Nowadays we use words like “amazed” so often that they lose something of their force.  The crowd in this passage from St. Luke’s Gospel gasps and shouts as they see the Lord casting out the demon afflicting this man.  Undoubtedly, the man had lived among these people for a long time and they had known him as the mute, taking it for granted that he would never speak again.  It is not clear where this exorcism occurred or how the Lord met this man, whether he was brought by others or if the man accosted the Lord and his Apostles as they approached a city.  Of the two possibilities, the first is more likely since there is a crowd present.  The Lord would have cast out the demon quickly, based on the other accounts of his exorcisms which the Evangelists tell us, and then the man seems to have gone his way, for we hear no more about him.

“By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he drives out demons.”  Luke tells us that “some said” this. It is not certain whether “some said” this in response to this particular exorcism or if this very silly accusation came at another time but Luke fits in in here as a convenient spot for it.  The Lord shows its illogic by pointing out that if the devil is at work in his exorcisms, he is fighting against himself and he will fall; or, if the Lord does this by his own power, “the Kingdom of God has come upon you.”  Either way, it is good news, though those who made the accusation meant to attack him.  It is so ridiculous even on its face, and so perverse, that we ought to wonder if the people making it were themselves possessed.  Coming after an exorcism, this would be ironic.

“When a strong man fully armed guards his palace, his possessions are safe.”  These next few verses seem unrelated to what the Lord has just said.  St. John Chrysostom, however, wrote that the “strong man” was the devil and the “stronger man” was Christ.  The strong man’s “palace” or “dominion”, as the word has also been translated, is his reign over sinners.  Thus, when the stronger man “attacks and overcomes him”, he breaks his dominion and carries off his goods, sinners.  The stronger man “takes away the armor on which he relied”, that is, again, sinners, through whom the devil works in this world to bolster his kingdom. The stronger man then “distributes the spoils.”  Sinners freed from the devil’s grasp are “distributed” to the care of saints and angels for their guidance and assistance in attaining heaven.

“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” The Lord speaks of “attacking” the strong man, the devil.  Those who are with the Lord join in the attack, fulfilling the Lord’s saying that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against [the Church]” (Matthew 16, 18).  But those who do not join in the attack are opposed to Christ and his Church.  The Lord does not propose any middle ground.  This brings to mind his speaking to the Christians in Laodicea: “You are neither cold nor hot. I would you were either cold or hot. But because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will begin to vomit you out of my mouth” (Revelation 3, 15–16).  The “hot” are fervent believers and the “cold” are those who are cold in their charity.  The “lukewarm” are indifferent to God’s will and so shall be expelled from God’s sight.