Luke 11:14-26

 Discerning the Kingdom

Luke 11:14-23  -  Jesus Rejected as Beelzebul

Mark had used the following teaching of Jesus for a purpose quite different from Luke’s and had situated the incident in a different context. Luke’s interest was not historical. He was not particularly interested in people’s reactions at the time of Jesus. His interest was his own community and their on-going growth into discipleship.

14 He was casting out a demon of dumbness,
and as the demon was departing,
the dumb man spoke.
The crowds were amazed.
15 But some in the crowd were saying,
“He is casting out demons through Beelzebul
the ruler of demons.”
16 Others were testing him out,
asking for a sign from heaven.

Luke noted four reactions to Jesus:

  • the exorcised dumb man spoke
  • the crowds were amazed
  • some radically accused him
  • others were unconvinced and wanted further proof.

What was Luke’s own community facing?

Jesus dealt firstly with the accusation that he was himself in league with Beelzebul.

17 He was aware of how they were thinking, and said to them,
“Every kingdom that is divided against itself
is wiped out,
and every household divided against itself crumbles.
18 Likewise, if Satan is divided against himself,
how will his kingdom stand?
[since you are saying
that I am expelling demons through Beelzebul.]

His first argument appealed to reason, and was clear enough.

19 If I am casting out demons through Beelzebul,
through whom do your own followers cast them out?
They will be the ones to pass judgment.

His second argument was more personally directed. Obviously it reflected the common belief at the time that some people could exorcise demons. Their success said nothing about their source of power.

20 But if I cast out demons through the finger of God,
then the kingdom of God has arrived among you.

Jesus challenged them to reflect. The term finger of God had been used to describe how God had written the commandments of the Decalogue, the basis of the whole Jewish way of life, the Torah, and the expression of the mind and heart of God. Perhaps Jesus used it to refer to his own access to the heart and mind of God. Christian tradition has explicitly used the title to refer to the Spirit of God. The Christian community obviously believed that it was through the power of God, indeed through the truth that Jesus lived and communicated, that Jesus exorcised demons. 

Luke wanted them to draw the conclusion indicated by Jesus: the kingdom of God has arrived among you  He wanted disciples to be alert to the presence of the Kingdom in their midst, to not take it simply for granted or to grow cold to the wonder of it. Jesus had just instructed them to pray that God’s Kingdom come. He wanted them to be always sensitive to its presence.

 21 When a well-armed strong man guards his palace,
his property remains in peace.
 22 But if one stronger than he
comes along and defeats him,
he takes from him the armour on which he relied
and divides out what he has captured. 

John the Baptist had identified Jesus as the stronger one. Jesus was not only stronger than John but stronger than Satan, as the incidents described in Jesus’ temptations were meant to illustrate. However, the final decisive encounter was yet to occur. That would happen when Jesus reached Jerusalem.  

23 Whoever is not with me is against me,
and whoever does not work with me scatters.

By placing the comment where he did, Luke was challenging his community to make up their minds where they truly stood: amazed, critical, undecided. Were they with him or against him?

Some people in the crowd had kept demanding from Jesus that he give a sign from heaven. Luke deferred Jesus’ comment on this request until later (11:29), though Jesus had hinted at the connection between the demonic rejection of himself and the need for signs.

 

Problem 1 – Sensitivity to Truth

Return of the Unclean Spirit

24An unclean spirit goes out of a person and wanders through waterless regions in search of somewhere to rest. Finding none, it says to itself, “I shall go back the house I came from.”
25 And when it goes, it finds it swept and tidy.
26 It then goes and finds seven other spirits worse than it. They enter and set up house there, and the final state of that person becomes worse than the original.

Earlier in his Gospel (8:11-15), with the parable of the sower and his account of its allegorical explanation, Luke had commented on the variety of reactions to the word of God:

  • those who heard it with joy but were without root and in time of testing fell away;
  • the ones whose fruit failed to mature because they allowed themselves to be choked by the cares, riches and pleasures of life.

He addressed the situation once again. Initial openness to the word needed constant tending. His own community may perhaps already have experienced how, once lapsed, people were most unlikely to respond again to the promise of the Kingdom: the last state of that person is worse than the first.

Next >> Luke 11:27-36