How Can a Demon, Driven Out, Return With Seven More? A Meditation on a Puzzling Parable
The Gospel for the Third Sunday of Lent in the Extraordinary Form features the puzzling parable about the cast-out demon who returns with seven other demons. What is most puzzling is that finding the house (soul) “swept and clean” brings further trouble. One would think a house that is swept and clean is a good thing.
How can we understand this parable? As is often the case, recourse to both the subtleties of the Greek text and the context can help us.
For reference, here is the parable:
When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he roams through waterless places in search of rest; and finding none, he says, “I will return to my house which I left.” And when he has come to it, he finds the place swept and clean. Then he goes and takes seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter in and dwell there; and the last state of that man becomes worse that the first (Lk 11:24-25).
Again, a house swept and clean seems like a good thing, one that would discourage a demon from coming back rather than to return with a coven of fellow demons!
1. Let’s consider first of all the Greek text.
A puzzling aspect of looking to the Greek text is that what some Greek texts describe with three adjectives, almost every English translation renders with only two. Why is this? Because some of the Greek manuscripts lack the third word, which translates as “empty.”
I am a pastor, and while I can read the Greek text of the New Testament with relative ease, I am not an expert in the ancient Greek or in the relative value of differing Greek manuscripts. The translation “swept and clean” or “swept and ordered” is almost universal among English renderings of this text. See HERE for an example.
However, to my mind, the inclusion of “empty” is essential, otherwise something very important is left out. Let’s look at the Greek description of the “house” (i.e., soul) to which the demon returns:
καὶ ἐλθὸν εὑρίσκει σχολάζοντα, σεσαρωμένον καὶ κεκοσμημένον
Kai elthon heuriskei scholazonta, sesarōmenon kai kekosmēmenon
And having come it finds (it) empty, swept, and put in order (ornate)
The word that some Greek manuscripts lack is σχολάζοντα (scholazonta), meaning “empty.” But to my mind, “empty” is the key word. That the house (soul) is empty is its chief problem. Empty things need filling. Sadly, if good things do not fill empty spaces, evil things do. And this seems to be at the heart of the Lord’s warning.
A second issue is the translation of the word “kekosmēmenon.” Does “ordered,” or “put in order” really capture what the word is trying to convey? Most of us hear the word “order” and think of either systematic or moral order.
However, the Greek lexicon defines the root of kekosmēmenon, kosméō, as “to beautify, having the right arrangement (sequence) by ordering; to adorn, make compellingly attractive, very appealing(inviting, awesomely gorgeous).” It is the root of the English word “cosmetics,” things that adorn or “order” the face.
Thus, the “order” described here is more an order related to beauty. Hence the translation “ornate” may better capture what is meant by this word than either “clean” or “orderly.” So as we read this parable, we should consider that the description of the house as “swept and clean” may lack the subtlety of the Greek words.
With these in mind, let’s consider the more rich possibility that the Lord describes the “house” (an image for the soul) in three ways:
1. Empty - This is the key description that some ancient manuscripts omit. And yet it is the main problem. An empty house is a vulnerable house. An empty house, devoid of human presence, can no longer repel threats or repair damage that make it vulnerable. But more significantly from the standpoint of grace, an empty house, devoid of the presence of God, is a vacuum ready to be filled with demons and every form of human sin, pride, and confusion.
Empty buildings are vulnerable, open to attack by termites, extreme weather, mold, rodents, and every other kind of threat. As an uncultivated field goes to weed, so an unattended house slides into decline and decay. So, too, goes the empty human soul, a soul devoid of the presence of God or of gratitude to Him and openness to His satisfying presence.
Yes, here is the spiritual lesson: let the Lord and the good things of the Kingdom of God fill every void, every empty space! Emptiness is too easily filled with many evil things!
Consider a man who gives up alcohol for Lent. He does well, ending a lawful pleasure and making greater room for God. But what if God, or something of God, does not fill the space? Usually something of the devil, or something of the flesh, will fill it. Perhaps he will think, “I am approved because I, by my own power, have given this up.” But sadly, pride fills the empty space, not God. This gets ugly and the man’s second state is worse than before he gave up the lawful pleasure!
2. Swept - It is good if a person has, by God’s grace, been able to sweep sin from his life. But praise be to the Lord, not to the man or woman! This is an open door for pride. Perhaps the sinner who succeeds in a Lentan observance will say, “Look what I have done! I am approved and better than others who are less committed!” And thus grace is snatched by Satan. What is received by grace becomes an occasion for the sins of pride and superiority. So, though being “swept clean” is a cause for joy, if we do not remember that it is a gift and that we are not the ones who accomplish it, we can become smug, prideful, and almost intolerably self-congratulatory. The house (soul) swept and in good order must also be filled with humble gratitude to God. Thus the Lord warns of a house that is “swept,” but empty of humility and gratitude. For then ugly pride fills the gap and the second state of the man will be worse than the the first.
3. Ornate - While some translate this as “ordered,” it would seem that, given the context, ornate would be a better rendering. Remember that from the root “kosmeo” we get the word cosmetics. Hence we are warned to beware vanity and also of esteeming beauty more than charity. And while it is also true we should be wary of etymological fallacy, the original root meaning (kosemo = cosmetics = ornate, rather than merely “ordered”) ought not be wholly forsaken! The warning is for those who, though they appreciate beauty, become smug and disdainful of all others who do not share their aesthetic preferences.
Thus a connoisseur of fine wine may scoff at people who enjoy wine sold in a box (“cow”) or who like White Zinfandel. And God forbid that they might like beer instead! In this way, an appreciation for the finer things like wine becomes pride and leads to the last state of the man being worse than the first.
Beauty and the appreciation of it has its place, but if it cancels charity, the last state of the man is worse than the first.
One may appreciate the beauty of the Latin Mass, but if love for the aesthetic causes one to scorn a priest who forgets to bow at the Gloria Patri or who wears gothic vestments instead of the preferered roman fiddlebacks, then too easily the love of beauty (a good thing) destroys charity (a better thing). Thus the Lord warns of a house that is “ornate” but empty of charity.
In summary, beware the EMPTY house. Something ugly will fill it!
2. Let us also consider the context. This interpretation considers the contextual setting in which the Lord places this parable: as an answer to those who pridefully rebuke His casting out of a demon, attributing it to Beelzebub. Just prior to the parable of the empty house and the seven demons is the following event and rebuke:
Jesus was casting out a devil, and the same was dumb; and when He had cast out the devil, the dumb man spoke. And the crowds marveled. But some of them said, By Beelzebub, the prince of devils, He casts out devils. And others, to test Him, demanded from Him a sign from heaven. But He, seeing their thoughts, said to them: Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and house will fall upon house. If, then, Satan also is divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because you say that I cast out devils by Beelzebub! (Lk 11:14-16)
In other words, these religiously observant people (a good thing) had allowed their lives, all swept and clean, but EMPTY, to be filled with doubt, scorn, and pride.
That they followed the Law was a beautiful thing. Their lives were swept clean and ornate, but empty. And the emptiness was filled with pride and cynicism.
Pay attention, fellow religiously observant! We are in the middle of Lent and have, I pray, undertaken certain practices and purifications. But beware, so that these mortifications do not create a space that, though clean, is empty and vulnerable to being filled with pride, greed, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth … the seven ugly cousins of the sin we were trying to drive out in the first place. If so, our second condition will be worse than our first. Failure to fill the first gap with God opens us to all seven deadly sins.
Look out! The devil can use even our piety to ensnare us in his seven-fold bondage! Have you engaged in some active purifications? If so, you do well. But be sure that the space opened, all swept and and ordered, is filled with God, with humility, and with gratitude. Otherwise it will too easily be filled with seven very ugly demons and sins: pride, greed, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth.
A parable decoded or muddled? You decide. Comments are open, swept and clean. Please do not fill them with wrath and mere contentiousness. Charity is requested to fill the open and now empty space!