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By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons,
he drives out demons.
Some of those in the crowd did not want to be convinced. They were entirely willing to attribute an obvious good to an evil source in order to maintain their smug and superior attitude. They preferred the possibility that trickery originating from evil was afoot rather than the chance that what was happening came from God. If it came from God they knew that their posture of indifference was untenable, and they did not want to realize this.
Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven.
They asked for a sign, not because Jesus hadn't done enough already to reveal himself, but for the same reason they tried to impugn his motives. They sought reasons so they could continue to delay their final decision about Jesus, or so that they could find a reason to ignore him or excuse themselves from his call. Yet something was in fact happening before their eyes for which their excuses could not adequately account.
“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?
Satan and his kingdom were entirely oriented toward darkness and the destruction of humankind. Jesus and his Kingdom were entirely oriented toward light, freedom, and salvation. It was those in the crowd who attempted to occupy a precarious middle position that could not be maintained indefinitely. Jesus called their attention to the legitimate good done by their own people so he could demonstrate that he was the fulfillment of that good, the result of a goodness that was entirely undiluted and undivided.
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.
When we try to maintain a middle way where we do not unconditionally accept Jesus, but also try to smuggle in some of our favorite aspects of a fallen world, we are not immediately deprived of all goodness. But we become even more liable for the ways in which we choose not to follow Jesus. The very good we do will be the judge of our partial response, for it itself was a testimony to our consciences of the need for a response that is more than lukewarm. We will witness what happens when we insist on relying on ourselves or refusing to surrender control precisely by the invariably partial results from a compromise with what must needs to be a wholehearted commitment.
For all who depend on works of the law are under a curse;
for it is written, Cursed be everyone
who does not persevere in doing all the things
written in the book of the law.
Jesus was the one who opened the door for both Jews and Gentiles to receive the blessings of Abraham by faith. Under the law, our response was invariably partial, and we were left us in the driver's seat, responsible, as it were, for all of the traffic violations and collisions that ensued. Our response of faith was one in which we no longer needed to rely on ourselves because this response was to allow a better driver to take the wheel. It was a surrender into the hands of the one stronger than our enemy, who not only set us free, but filled our empty houses with his grace so that the enemy could not return with friends.
But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him,
he takes away the armor on which he relied
and distributes the spoils.
Paul was trying to make the Galatians see that they could not achieve salvation merely through conformity with the ritual requirements of the law, for that did nothing to prevent sin and inevitable curse. It was only by a surrender of faith in Jesus that the blessings could be received, that the curse could be paid. This was why Jesus himself insisted there was no other way, no lukewarm compromise that could yield desired results.
Whoever is not with me is against me,
and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
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