Zero-Sum Game

Sometimes when you do good you are accused of being evil.

Jesus was casting out a demon that was mute; when the demon had gone out, the one who had been mute spoke, and the crowds were amazed. But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.” Others, to test him, kept demanding from him a sign from heaven. But he knew what they were thinking and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself becomes a desert, and house falls on house. If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? —for you say that I cast out the demons by Beelzebul. Now if I cast out the demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your exorcists cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his castle, his property is safe. But when one stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his plunder. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” - Luke 11:14–23

I guess it is possible that the Devil would cast out his demons to win over the confidence of the people and have them think him good.

But would they think that?

The reaction to Jesus says the opposite.  So, how would the Devil deceive us?

Surely the Devil wouldn't want to appear evil.  He wouldn't have to.  In fact, he would be as much like Jesus or an Angel of God as possible to win us over.

Mark Twain wrote a story about the devil, and that is exactly how he portrayed him.  It is called The Stranger, and I am pretty sure I mentioned it before.

The one thing that stands out as a major difference between the character this stranger portrays and Jesus is that the stranger has no compassion.

Jesus seeks to make this life better for the people he meets, like this mute, but the stranger puts a twist on it.

If he does something to make your life better, he counters it with something to make someone else's life miserable or worse.

There is a zero-sum approach to everything he does, and that is how the world seems to work sometimes.

To help one person, you may have to hurt another.

The one who is hurt in Jesus' case is Jesus.  He suffers the reaction of the leaders and the crowd whenever he does something good.

No good deed, as they say, goes unpunished.

But that is the Good News of Christ.  We are saved because He takes away what will kill us.

More to come...