URC Daily Devotion 1st February 2025

 St Luke 11: 14 – 27

Now 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 armour in which he trusted and divides his plunder.  Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. ‘When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it wanders through waterless regions looking for a resting-place, but not finding any, it says, “I will return to my house from which I came.”  When it comes, it finds it swept and put in order.  Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there; and the last state of that person is worse than the first.’

Reflection

“Hell is empty and all the devils are here,” says the king’s son Ferdinand in Shakespeare’s The Tempest.

These were the words that sprang to mind when reading today’s passage from Luke’s gospel. We see Jesus healing a troubled person in God’s name, but some of the mob gossip that Beelzebub (Satan) had more to do with Jesus’ healing powers than God. 

His comments – “Whoever is not with me is against me” – have the effect of dividing the listeners into those who stand by the truth in front of their eyes and those who want to muddy the waters. So the number of evil spirits multiply. All we seem to lack are a few of Harry Potter’s Dementors to disturb us further!

I must confess that I have little interest in the foul creatures that appear to inhabit this passage as well as numerous horror films; yet transferring the meaning to today’s world starts to make some sense for us.

Look around our planet and it often feels as if the devils with us now take the form of amoral and unjustified attack on others who are innocent of wrongdoing themselves. Wars are initiated and inflated by power-seekers. Lies are swallowed eagerly by the gullible. Fear seeps through whole populations bringing confusion and distress. The hungry starve when powerful commercial interests seize their land for ventures that will further deplete our ability to save Earth from destruction by flood and fire.

In that context, the message Jesus is giving his hearers is simple enough. Stop sitting on the fence. Stop mumbling angrily in the background when we witness things that we know to be wrong or evil. Stand by the truth. Stand by Jesus. Watch, pray and offer practical support where possible. That’s it.

Prayer

Lord, it is not always easy to discern truth from lies.
Help us to interpret events around us in an honest light.
Inspire us to prayer and to action where it is possible. Amen