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Gospel: Luke 11: 14-23
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.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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In 1954, William Golding published a novel about a group of boys stuck on a remote Pacific Island. Their makeshift community quickly deteriorated into chaos as the boys’ worst instincts overtook any sense of common good.
They fought amongst themselves for power, food, and survival.
That inner demon stifling the boys’ unity was known as the, “lord of the flies,” which also provided the book’s title.
Golding used this idea – the “lord of the flies” – to describe that malicious instinct seemingly written into our human nature, dating back to the Book of Genesis.
Consider what happened to the first set of brothers on earth, Cain and Abel.
When God found Abel’s sacrifice to be more pleasing than Cain’s, the “lord of the flies” took over and Cain killed his brother, Abel, in a jealous rage.
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That same destructive instinct is at work in the Gospels.
Jesus is doing something incredible – he’s driving a demon out of a tortured man! But instead of celebrating the good that Jesus is doing, some within the crowds accuse him of cozying up to the devil himself!
Were they jealous of him?
“By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he drives out demons,” they say.
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That “lord of the flies” instinct, which breaks our communion with others, still arises within us today. Common examples include gossip; tarnishing a person’s reputation; speeding or cutting other drivers off the road; being rude or ungrateful.
Just turn on the news: we see Americans fighting against one another every single day.
It’s a humbling point, but the Gospel invites us to consider ways in which we break communion with our brothers and sisters, then try to counteract that impulse with charity.
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What is something kind that I can say or something generous that I can do for someone else today?
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This is what makes us pleasing in the Lord’s eyes – striving to live as one human family.
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Image credits: (1) In God’s Image (2) Jesus Casts Out a Demon, icon (3) Geneva College