THANK YOU!! THIS has always bothered me, and no Priest has ever explained it like that!!
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)
Unless they are ordered to not return, they’d respond just as a kid would:. “You told me to leave. You didn’t tell me not to come back.”
Also, if nothing comes in to fill the void, like the presence of the Holy Spirit, then the *house* will be swept clean and be empty.