The gospel for Friday of the 27th week in ordinary time is taken from Luke 11:26. When Jesus had driven out a demon, some of the crowd 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 Beelzebub that I drive out demons.
If I then drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your 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.
Whoever does not gather with me scatters. When an unclean spirit goes out of someone, it roams through arid regions searching for rest, but finding none. It says, I shall return to my home, from which I came. But upon returning, he finds it swept clean and in perfect order. Then he goes and brings back seven other spirits, more wicked than itself, who move in and dwell there. And the last condition of that man is worse than the first to me.
Jesus seems irritated by this statement of the people questioning whether Jesus has power over evil. Nothing is more clearly evident in the imagination of Jesus. He knows he has this power. He knows he can control evil. And to be accused of not being able to do it is an attack on the very essence of his ministry. And he says something really terrifying about demons.
It is not simply a case of driving them out and leaving a vacuum, but it’s filling them then with the Holy Spirit, which is something they have to agree to accept and long for the thought that when one is freed of all their weaknesses, all their frailty, all their sins, they could be liable to the sin of pride that would rush in, destroy the work that Jesus so longs to create in our hearts. Take a few moments to reflect upon these thoughts, and then I will close with a prayer. Closing prayer Father, we know that there is something core in everything you teach us. And what strikes me at this moment is that it’s about union and communion between you and us, between your spirit and our spirit. Unity, oneness, intimacy, that’s what you want. When evil rages.
People feel its power by separating themselves from one another, hating one another. Help us to be free of that. And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.