March 12, 2015
Thursday,
3rd Week of Lent
1st Reading: Jer 7:23–28
Gospel: Lk 11:14–23
One day Jesus was driving out a dumb demon. When the demon had been driven out, the mute person could speak, and the people were amazed. Yet some of them said, “He drives out demons by the power of Beelzebul, the chief of the demons.” So others wanted to put him to the test by asking him for a heavenly sign.
But Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every nation divided by civil war is on the road to ruin, and will fall. If Satan also is divided, his empire is coming to an end. How can you say that I drive out demons by calling upon Beelzebul? If I drive them out by Beelzebul, by whom do your fellow members drive out demons? They will be your judges, then.
“But suppose I drive out demons by the finger of God; would not this mean that the kingdom of God has come upon you? As long as the strong and armed man guards his house, his goods are safe. But when a stronger one attacks and overcomes him, the challenger takes away all the weapons he relied on and disposes of his spoils.
“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me, scatters.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
The word “Beelzebul” comes from Baalzebul, the name given to the innumerable local gods believed to be controlling the fertility of the soil and domestic animals of Canaan. A corruption of the term by the Hebrews eventually associated the term with a “dunghill” which in a way is also a kind of god as it was often playfully referred to as “Lord of the flies”. The Hebrews later used this term on the devil.
In today’s Gospel reading Jesus reacted to the accusation of the Pharisees by giving them a lecture on political science. He said, “Every nation divided by civil war is on the road to ruin.” He then exposed the flaw of their syllogism by pointing out that he could not have driven out devils by the power of the prince of demons since no prince would lend so much power to an agent for the destruction of his own kingdom.
Jesus drove the last nail by asking this question: “If I drive them (demons) out by Beelzebul, by whom do your fellow members drive out demons?” This was actually a mockery because none of them had the power to drive out demons. In plain language Jesus was telling them that an envious person of lesser capacities will seek to discredit the heroic deed of another. Jesus’ arguments rendered them speechless. By this manner of argumentation, Jesus reduced them to a restless fly with no “dunghill” to sit on. -Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website: www.frdan.org.
May comment ka ba sa column ni Father Dan? May tanong ka ba sa kanya? I-type ang BANDERA REACT <message/name/age/address> at i-send sa 4467.