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?
They accused Jesus of using dark powers to do good. In order to make such an assertion they would have to downplay or ignore the genuine value of the exorcisms Jesus performed. They had to make themselves believe that either they weren't good at all or that they weren't good enough to matter in the grand scheme of the enemy. And in doing so they were revealing inner fault lines and exposing themselves to division. They claimed to be acting in service of the good by attempting to undermine Jesus or make him prove his qualifications. But Jesus was God, and God wasn't just good, he was goodness itself. Intentionally ignoring or opposing Jesus only left partial and temporary goods with no guiding principle to organize them. Satan was certainly not interested in doing some good and some evil. He was fully committed to the ruination of God's good creation. But regular individuals in the middle of it all, once they encountered Jesus, would need to put their faith in him and accept him, or else risk internal fracture and eventual collapse.
But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons,
then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.
Jesus was better than the best of the people to whom he came. His power to set captives free was above and beyond anything anyone had seen or anything they could imitate. They claimed to be in service of the same good in virtue of the fact that they too performed exorcisms. But they were not a threat to the dark powers in the way that Jesus was. That enemy was the Jesus described as a strong man, fully armed, who guarded those souls whom he held captive. But Jesus was one who was stronger still, who without the possibility of opposition, overcame the enemy, took away the armor on which he relied, and distributed the spoils. In doing so he fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah.¹
For thus says the Lord:
“Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken,
and the prey of the tyrant be rescued,
for I will contend with those who contend with you,
and I will save your children (see Isaiah 49:25).
People who claimed to serve the good ought to get on board with the one who was finally able to do what they claimed they desired. But they were perhaps less interested in seeing captives set free than in being held in high esteem. It seemed that others may well have eventually convinced a demon to leave an afflicted individual but were incapable of filling the newly free person with anything sufficiently substantial to resist future incursions.
But upon returning, it finds it swept clean and put in order.
Then it goes and brings back seven other spirits
more wicked than itself who move in and dwell there,
and the last condition of that man is worse than the first.
What newly freed captives needed was the gift of the Holy Spirit, who would keep the safe from all of the wickedness and snares of the enemy. Seven other spirits might return and try to assault such an individual, but they would not find him to be an easy target. He would be fully equipped with all of the weapons of spiritual warfare provided by Jesus himself, able to use the same tools with which Jesus won the initial victory in order to live that victory in his own life. He would be united by Jesus as the ordering principle of his life, and the throne at the center of his heart, and filled with the Holy Spirit, leaving no empty vacuum that might draw the enemy back to him. For this reason it is essential not to treat Jesus as an optional extra but rather as the most essential reality one can come to know.
1) Gadenz, Pablo T.. The Gospel of Luke (Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture): (A Catholic Bible Commentary on the New Testament by Trusted Catholic Biblical Scholars - CCSS) (p. 226). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
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