Reading
Luke 11:14-23
14 Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed. 15 But some of them said, “By Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he is driving out demons.” 16 Others tested him by asking for a sign from heaven.
17 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: “Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. 18 If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebul. 19 Now if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your followers drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 20 But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
21 “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. 22 But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up his plunder.
23 “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
Meditation
One finger is enough for God to defeat Satan. That same finger that wrote the commandments on the stone tablets of the law now intervenes to free man from the bondage to which man is subjected by the evil one.
Jesus does not minimize the action of the devil, defined as "strong and fully armed" (v.21). He is not an enemy that we can defeat by trusting in ourselves, but by having recourse to the grace of Christ: he is capable of overcoming him and of "distributing his spoils".
In this episode of the Gospel of Luke, the mute man becomes an image of the inability to relate to his neighbor and to God. When the heart is converted to the Gospel, man places at the service of God all that was an idol that made him a slave. The guarding of his "palace", the custody of his life and his talents, are no longer entrusted to the powers of this world. Everything is safe in God's hands, and the "spoils" taken from the evil one are now generously distributed (v. 22).
When we are freed from the snares of evil our tongue melts in the praise of the Lord. For this reason, the accusation made against Jesus of casting out demons by the chief of the demons is completely illogical: "no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor 12:3).
Let us beware, therefore, from the error of conscience, often dictated by envy, which sees evil where there is good. Jesus declares that whoever is not with him is against him, but shortly afterward he will make a completely specular affirmation, saying that whoever is not against him is with him (Lk 11:23). The words of Jesus are an invitation to unity in his name, also because "Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined" (v. 17). Let us, therefore, allow grace to open our eyes to see the Spirit of God in action in every glimpse of goodness and beauty.
Prayer
Stretch out your hand, o Lord, and deliver us from all evil; so that freed from grace we can magnify your glory. Amen.
- Rev. Dr. Luca Vona
