"Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: "Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? "
Gospel of Luke
A well know author, John Powell S.J. wrote a book called "A Life Given Vision". He starts the book with the following story.
"Some time ago a friend told me of an occasion when, vacationing in the Bahamas, he saw a large and restless crown gathered on a pier. Upon investigation he discovered that the object of all the attention was a young sailor making the last-minute preparations for a solo journey around the world in a homemade boat. Without exception everyone on the pier was vocally pessimistic. All were actively volunteering to tell the ambitious sailor all the things that could possibly go wrong. "The sun will broil you". You won't have enough food. That boat won't withstand the waves in a storm.
When my friend heard all these discouraging warnings, he felt an irresistible desire to offer some optimism and encouragement.
As the little craft began drifting away from the pier toward the horizon, my friend went to the end of the pier, waving both arms wildly like semaphores spelling confidence. He kept shouting: "Bon voyage! You're really something. We're with you. We're proud of you. Good luck.
Sometimes it seems to me that there are two kinds of people. There are those who feel obligated to tell us all the things that can go wrong as we set out over the uncharted waters of our unique lives. Then there are those who stand at the end of the pier cheering us on exuding a contagious confidence: "Bon Voyage"
The point that John Powell is trying to make with this simple story can also be found in the above scripture reading. What Jesus encountered in His journey of faith, we also will encounter. People will react differently to what we say and do.
What were the different reactions that Jesus provoked by what He said and did?
1. Wonder - he even commands the unclean spirits
2. Praise of God - they were astonished by God's majesty
3. Questioning - give us another sign
4. Suspicion - He does this by the power of Beelzebul
Some put the worst interpretation on Jesus' acts of power and compassion. It is those who interpreted his actions with suspicion and cynicism that are the most difficult to penetrate.
Beelzebul was a popular name for the master of demons. Jesus is able to counter this absurdity that His work is done through the prince of demons by saying: "If I am working for Beelzebul, then Beelzebul is destroying his own kingdom." The routing or casting out of demons is a sign of power that is stronger than the force of the demon itself. This power can only come from God. Jesus warns his critics that there is no middle ground. One must be an instrument of God's power, or they may find themselves in the opposite camp, not fighting for the cause of good, but of evil.
Those who are critics and cynics of the actions of generosity and compassion are in danger of ending up on the wrong side.
Psalm 95 which is part of our daily church prayer further cautions us:
"O that today, if you hear God's voice, harden not your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the desert, when your fathers tested and tried me, though they had seen all my good words. For forty years I endured that generation; I said, they are a people whose hearts go astray, and they do not know my ways."
There are many good things happening that we may not be able to identify or recognize as good and beneficial, but if we look at the intention in which they are done, and the fruits that result from them, we may discover that God is at work.
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