A reading from the prophet Jeremiah (7:23-28)
The Lord Sabaoth, the God of Israel, says this: ‘My one command to them was this: Listen to my voice, then I will be your God and you shall be my people. In everything, follow the way that I mark out for you and you shall prosper. But they did not listen, they did not pay attention; they followed their own devices, their own stubborn and wicked inclinations, and got worse rather than better. From the day your ancestors left the land of Egypt until today, I have sent you all my servants the prophets, persistently sending them day after day. But they have not listened to me, have not paid attention; they have deliberately resisted, behaving worse than their ancestors. So you will tell them all this but they will not listen to you; you will call them but they will not answer you. Then you are to say to them: This is the nation that will neither listen to the voice of the Lord its God nor take correction. Sincerity is no more, it has vanished from their mouths.’
The Jewish prayer known as the shema, with its opening words ‘Listen, Israel,’ is recited twice every day. The word ‘listen’ is found five times in this passage of Jeremiah, either as a command, or in the sorrowful statement ‘they did not listen’. Ever since they left Egypt they have disregarded the voice of God’s prophets. The history of this people is a history of not listening, and their behaviour has worsened as the generations have passed. One might expect that in the dire circumstances of Jeremiah’s day they might change, but the prophet is told that once again ‘they will not listen to you’. The sincerity which comes with listening to the word of God has vanished.
Psalm 95 (94) The psalm contains a similar lament ‘oh that you had listened’.
A reading from the holy gospel according to Luke (11:14-23)
Jesus was driving out a demon and it was deaf; and it happened that when the demon had gone out the deaf man spoke, and the people were amazed. But some of them said, ‘It is through Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that he drives demons out.’ Others asked him, as a test, for a sign from heaven; but, knowing what they were thinking, he said to them, ‘Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and house collapses against house. So, too, with Satan: if he is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? – since you claim that it is through Beelzebul that I drive demons out. Now if it is through Beelzebul that I drive demons out, through whom do your own people drive them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. But if it is through the finger of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has caught you unawares. So long as a strong man fully armed guards his own home, his goods are undisturbed; but when someone stronger than himself attacks and defeats him, the stronger man takes away all the weapons he relied on and shares out his spoil. Anyone who is not with me is against me; and anyone who does not gather in with me throws away.’
Jesus is on the way to Jerusalem, and differences with his opponents are sharpened. Some deliberately undermine the healing work of Jesus, attributing it to the work of ‘Beelzebul’, one of many names given to Satan. Jesus uses the analogy of a divided kingdom, and a divided household to point out the fault in their argument. The one who undermines the work of Satan cannot be said to be in league with Satan. In fact, it is by ‘the finger of God’ that Jesus casts out demons, and such actions are signs that the kingdom of God has drawn near. Jesus goes on to speak of himself as ‘the stronger one’, echoing what John the Baptist said of him (Luke 3:16). With such strength he is able to confront and vanquish Satan.
Do I ever misrepresent the works of a good person in order to undermine them?
Pray for those whose hearts are closed, and whose minds are stuck.