Enemy Targets

Sometimes doing good leads people to think ill of you.

Then they brought to him a demoniac who was blind and mute; and he cured him, so that the one who had been mute could speak and see. All the crowds were amazed and said, “Can this be the Son of David?” But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons, that this fellow casts out the demons.” He knew what they were thinking and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand? If I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own exorcists cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you. Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property, without first tying up the strong man? Then indeed the house can be plundered. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. Therefore I tell you, people will be forgiven for every sin and blasphemy, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. - Matthew 12:22-32

We can try to focus on what makes us a target, but the real question may be something different.

Why are we an enemy?

Is it the way we hold ourselves?  Is it how we go about our daily work?

In today's Gospel reading, Jesus did not come to live among us to take a stand against the devil and defeat him.  He did not set himself up as the enemy of Satan.

Instead, he appealed to those who were trapped and controlled by Satan to free themselves of his grip.

You could make the case that Satan doesn't care that Jesus steals away his subjects, since they can easily be brought back into the fold.

It is far harder to resist Satan in this world and align oneself with God than it is to fall into sin.

So, Satan is our enemy, and Jesus shows us we can defeat him with our own wills.

To think, then, that Jesus is aligned with Satan is in one way understandable, since Jesus doesn't waste his time fighting the devil.  But as Jesus points out, why would Satan cast out his own demons?

This is our dilemma, isn't it?

If we are not willing to release ourselves from Satan's hold, we will not find our way to God's kingdom.

Those who saw Jesus as the problem, because he had power to show us how to cast out our demons, missed the point.

Let us pray that we don't miss the point, too.

More to come...