Luke 11:15-26
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 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.
“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, it finds it swept clean and put
in order. Then it 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.”
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Reflection:
Does Jesus deserve the accusation that He is a demon? Has he done any
demonic actions to earn the accusation? No Jesus doesn’t deserve the
accusation and He surely has not done any actions contrary to His mission.
None at all!
The crowd’s accusation originates from the deceit and envy in their
hearts. And who planted that deceit and envy? It’s Beelzebul the prince of
demons himself! So it was actually the accusers who were in fact possessed by
the demon.
We must be careful not to allow deceitful/envious and other negative
emotions to takes root in our hearts for these are temptations that originate
from the devil. We should instead fill our hearts and minds with thoughts that
are Godly. Of course we must choose to be with Jesus for this is always
the correct choice. If we are not for Jesus, then we are against Jesus
there’s no middle ground.
Why should we choose to be in the company of the devil when it will not
do any good to our lives? The devil will bring us nothing but problems and
perdition. Though he often times disguises his diabolical intentions and
himself through the many attractive things of this world.
We should therefore be discerning because the devil may already be
enticing us without us knowing it. How would we able to discern if the
devil is already laying his enticement upon us? We have to be close to Jesus
and should not walk away from Jesus. For this is the only way that we could
discern the presence of the devil. The same devil who always seeks to
destroy us by trying his very best to snatch us away from the love of Jesus.
Let us therefore always align ourselves with Jesus. And let us never
compromise with anything that is wrong and evil no matter how tempting it may
appear. Why? Because it will only bring us unfathomable trouble. – Marino J.
Dasmarinas
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