08
Oct
Oct
Reflection: Luke 11:15-26
Amazement in the Gospel does not always lead to faith. People are amazed to see Jesus liberate a dumb man from the evil power that prevented him from speaking. But, rather than seeing the clear intervention of God’s saving power, they accuse Jesus relying on the power of evil spirits to perform the healings. The evil power on the man prevented him from speaking. As Christians, many of us can suffer from the same evil influence when we refuse or are afraid to acknowledge openly our Christian faith. We hide and we remain silent, especially when the values we hold are attacked or ridiculed. Once liberated, the man could speak and he did so, much to the amazement of the crowd. Let us, too, pray for this gift of speech, to be able to say the right thing at the right time. In spite of the extraordinary signs that Jesus performed in the helpless lives of the sick, the poor and the sinners, including the one that has just caused such astonishment among the people – his enemies refused to see the hand of God working. The mute man could be healed by Jesus, because his speech impairment was real. But, his enemies although claim to have sight, but pretend to be blind. “There is none so blind as those who refuse to see.” There is a clear gap between the leaders and the people here. While the leaders keep asking Jesus for his credentials, the people are shown as constantly praising and thanking God for all that is being done among them by Jesus. The devil is strong and it afflicts the people. But before Jesus, the Son of God, the powers of the devil cannot stand anymore, because Jesus is ‘the stronger one.’ He liberates his people from the afflictions of the evil powers. But, it is up to each person to make his choices. God will not force anyone to stand on the side of God. It is our personal choice. “The man who is not with me is against me, and the man who does not gather with me scatters.” There can be no neutrality where Jesus is concerned. We have to make our choice – for him or against. Not to choose is itself a choice – against him. Compare this with the similar but actually quite different saying with one we saw earlier in chapter 9. “Anyone who is not against you is for you”. This was in the context of the Apostle John complaining that he saw a man cast out demons in Jesus’ name. As far as that nameless person was doing the work of Jesus and doing it in Jesus’ name, he was with Jesus. It is time for us to make our choice.