Thursday of the Third week in Lent
Luke 11:14-23
”If it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then certainly the kingdom of God has overtaken you.”
ex Wikimedia Commons
And he was casting out a demon, and the man was mute. But when he had cast out the demon, the mute man spoke, and so the crowds were amazed.
But some of them said, “It is by Beelzebub, the leader of demons, that he casts out demons.” And others, testing him, required a sign from heaven of him.
But when he perceived their thoughts, he said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself will become desolate, and house will fall upon house. So then, if Satan is also divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?
For you say that it is by Beelzebub that I cast out demons. But if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your own sons cast them out? Therefore, they shall be your judges.
Moreover, if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then certainly the kingdom of God has overtaken you.
When a strong armed man guards his entrance, the things that he possesses are at peace. But if a stronger one, overwhelming him, has defeated him, he will take away all his weapons, in which he trusted, and he will distribute his spoils. Whoever is not with me, is against me. And whoever does not gather with me, scatters.
What do the Fathers say?
The Venerable BEDE. Since the multitudes who were thought ignorant always marvelled at our Lord’s actions, the Scribes and Pharisees took pains to deny them, or to pervert them by an artful interpretation, as though they were not the work of a Divine power, but of an unclean spirit.
He answered not their words but their thoughts, that so at least they might be compelled to believe in His power, who saw into the secrets of the heart.
St John CHRYSOSTOM.. He did not answer them from the Scriptures, since they gave no heed to them, explaining them away falsely; but he answers them from things of every day occurrence. For a house and a city if it be divided is quickly scattered to nothing. If then, says He, I cast out devils by means of a devil, there is dissension among them, and their power perishes. Hence He adds, But if Satan be divided against himself, how shall he stand? For Satan resists not himself, nor hurts his soldiers, but rather strengthens his kingdom. It is then by Divine power alone that I crush Satan under my feet.
St AMBROSE. Herein also He shows His own kingdom to be undivided and everlasting. Those then who possess no hope in Christ, but think that He casts out devils through the chief of the devils, their kingdom, He says, is not everlasting. This also has reference to the Jewish people. For how can the kingdom of the Jews be everlasting, when by the people of the law Jesus is denied, who is promised by the law? Thus in part does the faith of the Jewish people impugn itself; the glory of the wicked is divided, by division is destroyed. And therefore the kingdom of the Church shall remain for ever, because its faith is undivided in one body.
The Venerable BEDE. By the sons of the Jews He means the exorcists of that nation, who cast out devils by the invocation of God. As if He says, If the casting out of devils by your sons is ascribed to God, not to devils, why in My case has not the same work the same cause? Therefore they shall be your judges, since they assign to God the casting out of devils, you to Beelzebub, the chief of the devils.
St AUGUSTINE. Now the Holy Spirit is called the finger of God, because of the distribution of gifts which are given through Him, to every one his own gift, whether he be of men or angels. For in none of our members is division more apparent than in our fingers.
CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. Or the Holy Spirit is called the finger of God for this reason. The Son was said to be the hand and arm of the Father, (Ps. 98:1.) for the Father worked all things through Him. As then the finger is not separate from the hand, but by nature a part of it; so the Holy Spirit is consubstantially united to the Son, and through Him the Son does all things.