Daily Mass Gospel Reflection- Dividing and Dismissing

Word on Fire Ministry ^ | 03.16.23 | Bishop Robert Barron

[MurphsLaw]

Luke 11:14-23

Friends, in today’s Gospel
we learn of a person possessed by a demon.
Jesus meets the man and drives out the demon,
but then is immediately accused of being in league with Satan.
Some of the witnesses said, “By the power of Beelzebul,
the prince of demons, he drives out demons.”

Jesus’ response is wonderful in its logic and laconicism:
“Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste
and house will fall against house.
And if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?”

The demonic power is always one of scattering, It breaks up communion.
But Jesus, as always, is the voice of communio,
of one bringing things back together.

Think back to Jesus’ feeding of the five thousand.
Facing a large, hungry crowd, his disciples beg him to “dismiss the crowds
so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.”
But Jesus answers, “There is no need for them to go away;
give them some food yourselves.”

Whatever drives the Church apart is an echo of this
“dismiss the crowds” impulse and a reminder of the demonic tendency to divide.
In times of trial and threat, this is a very common instinct.
We blame, attack, break up, and disperse.
But Jesus is right:
“There is no need for them to go away.”

[MurphsLaw]

+++Jesus was driving out a
demon that was mute,
and when the demon had gone out,
the mute man spoke and the
crowds were amazed.
Some of them said,
"By the power
of Beelzebul, the prince of demons,
he drives out demons."
Others, to test him, asked him
for a sign from heaven.
But he knew their thoughts and
said to them,
"Every kingdom divided against
itself will be laid waste
and house will fall against house.
And if Satan is divided against himself,
how will his kingdom stand?
For you say that it is by
Beelzebul that I drive out demons.
If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul,
by whom do your own people
drive them out?
Therefore they will be your judges.
But if it is by the finger of
God that I drive out demons,
then the Kingdom of God has come
upon you.
When a strong man fully armed
guards his palace,
his possessions are safe.
But when one stronger than
he
attacks and overcomes him,
he takes away the armor on which he relied
and distributes the spoils.
Whoever is not with me is
against me,
and whoever does not gather with me scatters."+++