Gospel: Luke 11:14-23

 

Today’s Gospel is that of Luke. We already meditated on the parallel text in Mark during January.

Jesus had expelled a devil which was mute. The expulsion produced two different reactions. On the one side, the crowd of people who remain astonished and surprised. The people accept Jesus and believe in Him. On the other side, those who do not accept Jesus and do not believe in Him. Among the latter, some said that Jesus cast out devils in the name of Beelzebul, the prince of devils, and others wanted a sign from heaven. 

Jesus denounces the absurdity of the calumny of the Scribes. To say that he casts out devils with the help of the prince of devils means to deny the evidence. The doctors of Jerusalem were afraid to lose their position of leadership. They felt threatened in their authority before the people.

 

Jesus provokes the accusers. Jesus compares the devil to a strong man. Nobody, except a stronger person, can rob the house of a strong man: Jesus is the strongest. The Prophet Isaiah had used the same comparison to describe the coming of the Messiah. This is why Luke says that the expulsion of the devil is an obvious sign that the Kingdom of God has arrived.

Prejudice and lack of acceptance make dialogue impossible and break the union. Many people who are not Christian practice love, goodness, justice. We must not exclude them. They are brothers and workers in the construction of the Kingdom. We Christians are not Jesus’ owners. On the contrary, Jesus is our Lord!