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:
What
motivates us to accuse falsely or to destroy the good reputation of our
fellowmen? Its greed, anger, envy and other negative emotions. These emotions
are so dangerous that it could even lead us to kill. All of these are devious
instruments of Satan. All of these are used by Satan to capture us.
How could we
refuse these enticements of Satan? We must be prayerful, we must always do good.
We must at all times be focused on our mission to spread the teachings of Jesus
through our words and actions.
By doing good,
Jesus was accused as being with the Demon, what a reckless accusation emanating
from the crowd! Is it Jesus siding with the demon or the crowd siding with the
demon? The demon will never do good it will always seek to create chaos and
manufacture baseless accusations.
Come to think
of it, by accusing Jesus the crowd allowed themselves to be used by the demon
himself. In like manner we also allow ourselves to be an instrument of the
demon when we purposely accuse people even without a grain of truth.
The demon or
devil is a clear and present danger to all of us. It’s always there looking for
the right timing to lure us. However, if we are close to Jesus and we practice
and live the teachings of Jesus. We have nothing to worry because the devil can
do nothing to us.
Do you always
create time for Jesus? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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