Posted on 10/07/2016 7:39:29 AM PDT by Salvation
The Gospel for Friday of this week (27th Week of the Year) features the puzzling parable about the cast-out demon who returns with seven others. What is most puzzling, is that finding the house (soul) “swept and clean” brings further trouble. One would think that a house that is swept and clean would be a good thing!
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).
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.
1. The Greek Text
A puzzling aspect of examining 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.”
While I can read the Greek text of the New Testament with relative ease, I am not an expert in ancient Greek or in the relative value of differing Greek manuscripts. The translation as either “swept and clean” or “swept and ordered” is almost universal among English renderings of this text. (See HERE for an example.)
I happen to believe that the inclusion of the word “empty” is essential, because otherwise something very important is left out. Let’s look at the description of the “house” (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 fact that the house (soul) is empty is the chief problem. Empty things need filling. Sadly, if good things do not fill empty spaces, then evil things do. 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).” Kosméō is also the root of the English word “cosmetics,” which are things that adorn or “order” the face.
Thus, the “order” described in this passage 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. And while we should be wary of etymological fallacy, the original root meaning (kosméō = cosmetic = ornate, rather than merely “ordered”) ought not be wholly forgotten!
With these in mind, let’s consider the richer possibility that the Lord describes the “house” (an image for the soul) in three ways:
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 with every form of human sin, pride, and confusion.
Empty buildings are vulnerable, open to attack by termites, extreme weather, mold, and rodents. Just 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, of gratitude to Him, and of 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 evil things.
Consider a man who gives up alcohol for Lent. He does well by 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 rather than God. The man’s new state is worse than before he gave up the lawful pleasure!
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! Otherwise this is an open door for pride. Perhaps the sinner who succeeds in a Lenten observance will say, “Look what I have done! I am approved and am better than others who are less committed!” In this way grace is snatched by Satan. 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.
While some translate this as “ordered,” it would seem that, given the context, ornate would be a better rendering. Hence we are warned to beware of vanity and also of esteeming beauty more than charity. 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 prefer beer! 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 preferred Roman fiddlebacks, then the love of beauty (a good thing) destroys charity (a better thing).
2. The Context
It is edifying to consider the contextual setting in which the Lord places this parable: an answer to those who pridefully rebuked His casting out of a demon (attributing it to Beelzebub). Just prior to the parable of the empty house and the seven demons is this event and subsequent 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).
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.
All of us who are religiously observant should pay particular attention to this. During Lent, many undertake certain practices and purifications. Beware 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! Failure to fill the gap with God opens us up to all seven deadly sins.
Watch out! The devil can use even our piety to ensnare us in his seven-fold bondage. Do you engage in some active purifications? If so, you do well. But be sure that the space opened, all swept and ordered, is filled with God, with humility, and with gratitude. Otherwise it will too easily be filled with seven ugly demons and sins: pride, greed, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth.
Is this a parable decoded or muddled? You decide. The comment section is open, swept and clean!
Monsignor Pope Ping!
THANK YOU!! THIS has always bothered me, and no Priest has ever explained it like that!!
Is this about Jimmy Carter?
The author probably never saw the child of an Irish family go get his brothers after a butt kicking.
LOL!
Aren’t most Catholic priests essentially psychologists who deny the possibility of demon possession?
"...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!"
Of course it would be another instance of "seven" and, being right there in front of me the entire time, making perfect sense, I missed it completely. D'oh! lol...
I never connected the seven demon buddies to the seven deadly sins, but there it is, as obvious as it can be.
Thank YOU, Salvation, for posting this great find! It is very helpful.
No.
Any other questions?
It’s much simpler than explained.
The reason that Jesus asked people if they wanted to be healed prior to helping them is that He was offering them a chance to change from sinful behavior.
Swept clean is the absence of Love, the most important component of our soul. Love is the glue that hold the soul together. Sin creates a space or obstacle to Love in the soul. This is also the reason for the “house built on the rock” parable as when Love is present the foundation is solid.
There are several components relating to casting out a demon. First, the demon could not enter the person unless there was a wound in their soul. Many things can create these wounds. I am sad to say the a child being a victim can also create these wounds.
So the steps relating to removing a demon are:
1. Remove the demon from the person.
2. Process the demon so it cannot return to harm anyone else or this person. If you just cast it out, it is like taking a nail from a tire and throwing it back in the middle of the street. You must dispose of the nail properly.
3. Assist the victim in finding and healing the wound in their soul that created the opening for the demon. This is the hardest part. Many times I have done this and the person returned later with another demon asking for help again. I explain that the first time the work was done through me, but they did not change their ways... (A common event that creates wounds as this is an affair that is not needed. Every soul knows the difference between right and wrong. When the person returns to the affair it recreates the wound) (The same is true of abortion) This time it is up to them to change. Suffering serves a purpose as sin creates suffering. When the suffering is great, people tend to turn from sinning in the future.
So, the second time they return. It is up to them to really want to change or be healed.
4. Finally, in order for the soul to continue to be healed, the person must build and accept their own relationship directly with Jesus and not though me. It is very important that they realize that Jesus did the work with the Holy Spirit and not me. I was just a tool. All gratitude must go to Jesus...
A soul that is swept clean is an empty soul. In order to be protected you must be filled with the Spirit. You must be like a child... Not just clean or pure, but be filled with Holy Spirit. This is what puts the sparkle in a child’s eyes that they lose when they sin. A pure child cannot lie to you without you seeing it in their eyes immediately.
I hope this helps...
One other aspect of this... often a person has several demons of various levels in them. When a novice casts out the demon, usually the lowest level demon is sacrificed and put forth by the other boss demons.
Demon spirits can have other demon spirits embedded in them without knowing it. I have found them many levels deep, each embedded in another. There are many variations of this.
The reason that denying the Holy Spirit is the greatest sin is that you can never be filled and protected if you deny the Holy Spirit. You will be empty...
it does not require resorting to the greek.
Like most important teachings, it only requires the knowledge of a child.
The reason “adults” require a lot of hand holding is we “want” things that we are trying to fulfill while we are reading the scriptures, instead of taking the lesson as it were.
It’s not so much that the truths of scripture are hard to find. it’s that we don’t want to accept them.
Each person has free will. Casting out an evil spirit from a person is useless unless that person repents and starts fighting the spiritual battle.
This however, does not sit well with the people who believe in “authority” and “commanding” evil spirits.
At the end of the day, the problem is not with the evil spirit, but with those people who gave it a home, by dwelling on it and making a choice to allow it in their spiritual house.
In other words, there is no demonic possession of a true believer. There is no place for the evil spirit to gain a foothold. Yes, believers can be oppressed, but no possessed. Let’s not get our theology from the movie “the exorcist”
One other important comment...
Often when the demon enters, it enters through the bottom of the feet in the arches. They feel like a cramp or Charlie horse, except that they move around. When Jesus washed the disciples feet, He mentioned.. You know not why I do this..
They can move up into your lower body and lock it up with fear. I’ve had people who could not walk, and merely by pulling the demon out of the bottom of their feet, without ever touching them, they could get up and dance...
There is much more to this than I have time to share...
Here is an important scripture passage many miss (from above in the post)
“But He, seeing their thoughts,”
Many people do not recognize that from a higher level of consciousness a person’s thoughts are physical objects. This is how I do the work. People’s thoughts and stored memories since conception are physical objects to me when the Holy spirit is in me. It’s pretty easy to tell what a mother thought of the child’s father while the child was in the womb, just by reading the child’s stored memories even if the child is now 70 years old.
There is an anatomy and physiology for the human soul just as their is an anatomy and physiology of the physical body.
Please allow me to say that I am Christian and I accept Jesus as my Savior.... before I cast doubt by saying...
Religion(s) are merely theories and philosophies of the anatomy and physiology of the human soul and how it interacts with its environment. Christianity, I have found is the most accurate of all the religions..
Sorry for the typo.. “ affair that is not needed.” should read.. affair that is not ended.””
We just studied this in the sermon on Sunday in our congregation on Sunday, and indeed the word “empty” was the key point.
The only thing I would add is that the context of Jesus’ message has to do with spirits, not just attitudes. The house swept clean and adorned cannot remain empty, but has to be filled with God’s Spirit, rather than those of the Enemy.
Luke reports this episode right after Jesus saying, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” (Luke 11:13)
“people who believe in “authority” and “commanding” evil spirits.”
A person has no “authority.” Authority can only come from the Holy Spirit working through a person.
I’ve observed people casting out demons in front of a group. Usually it is merely stage hypnosis techniques being used to imitate the process. The person doing the work does not know this and thinks they are real.
The big difference is that in hypnosis the person surrenders their authority to the minister or exorcists. In the real thing, the person surrenders their authority or free will to Jesus through the Holy Spirit.
One of the ranks a Catholic seminarian attains on his path to ordination is that of Exorcist.
That makes the only kind of sense, when i started to Church i kind of missed the point of what Jesus actually died for, so because i wanted the scriptures to say what was ideal to me, i became worse than what i had been.
bump
Would you please put me on your Monsignior Pope ping list? Thank you.
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