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 take root in our hearts.
Because these are temptations that originate from the devil. We should instead
fill our hearts and minds with thoughts that are Godly. And 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 sooner or later it will only
bring us unfathomable trouble. – Marino J. Dasmarinas