He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters

 And He was casting out a demon, and it was mute.  So it was, when the demon had gone out, that the mute spoke; and the multitudes marveled.  But some of them said, "He casts out by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons."  Others, testing Him, sought from Him a sign from heaven.  But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them:  "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls.  If Satan is also divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?  Because you say I cast out demons by Beelzebub.  And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out?  Therefore they will be your judges.  But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.  When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace.  But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils.  He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters."

- Luke 11:14-23

Yesterday we read that as Jesus and the disciples went toward Jerusalem, He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house.  And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word.  But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?  Therefore tell her to help me."  And Jesus answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.  But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her."   The text that follows immediately in Luke (between today's lectionary reading and yesterday's) has already been given in the lectionary, in preparation for Ascension Day.  It includes the Lord's Prayer; see this reading.

 And He was casting out a demon, and it was mute.  So it was, when the demon had gone out, that the mute spoke; and the multitudes marveled.  But some of them said, "He casts out by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons."  Beelzebub was a name of the Jews for a pagan god of their ancient enemies (Ba'al).  This name means "Lord of the Flies" and was used in derision of a Canaanite god, Baal. But here, it's directly used as a reference for Satan.

Others, testing Him, sought from Him a sign from heaven.   A sign from heaven would be a spectacular form of proof of Jesus' divine origins and power.  My study bible comments that a sign is never given to those whose motive is merely to test God (see 4:9-12).

But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them:  "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls.  If Satan is also divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?  Because you say I cast out demons by Beelzebub.  And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out?  Therefore they will be your judges."  Jesus raises a logical question.  They accuse Him of using the power of Satan to cast out demons.  But why would Satan want to cast out his demons, if they are indeed his "men" or his "soldiers," members of his house and kingdom?   He then also raises the question about the Jewish tradition of exorcism, when He asks, by whom do your sons cast them out?   Their response will judge His accusers.

"But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you."  The finger of God is the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:28).

"When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace.  But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils."  Here is a natural image of war, from the ancient world to the modern, and even a kind of paradigm for the spiritual battle that goes on in our world, even through Christ's exorcism.  A strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace and his goods.  But when a stronger comes along, all the armor he had is futile, and his goods go to someone else.  Here, the strong man is Satan, the "prince" or "ruler" or "god" of this world, and a stronger, Christ, has come along to raid his goods, to liberate human beings for Himself and for the One who sent Him (1 John 4:4).

"He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters."   This is a clear statement that Christ is the stronger man in His parable above.  My study bible says that it is the work of Christ to gather the children of God, while those who scatter are in direct opposition to Him.  It adds that those who work in opposition to Christ are different from those who work in good faith toward His purpose but are not yet united to the Church (see 9:46-50).   Quoting St. Seraphim of Sarov, it notes that "only good deeds done for Christ's sake bring fruit," and therefore deeds done for any other purpose, "even if they are good, are deeds that scatter abroad."

We may wonder, all these centuries after the Incarnation, why it is that the "prince" of this world still seems to hold so much sway.  But that seems to be the natural reality into which we are born.  In recent days, the plea in the Lord's Prayer, translated "lead us not into temptation," has been in the headlines.  I do not wish to dispute about what exactly these words mean in the Greek.  But let us understand that we still live and are born into a world of temptation and where we will all surely face temptation (for even Christ was tempted; see 4:1-13).  And this is the spiritual battleground, which runs through the heart of each of us, and in which we're bound to struggle, like it or not.  We may wonder why Christ hasn't just fixed everything so that evil doesn't exist, or so that we don't have to think of ourselves as in the middle of some kind of struggle for power, control, dominance.  But when we do that, we forget about the one thing needed (see yesterday's reading, above).  That is, we forget about the nature of the spirit of God (9:55).  Our God is a God of love, who wants volunteers, and not slaves.  That is, love is a voluntary act.  One cannot compel love.   This is perhaps why Jesus, after speaking about exorcism in this passage, adds a statement about a house swept clean, but in which apparently the voluntary nature of our faith has not met with such a commitment, and there the unclean spirit brings back seven more like him, and the last state of that person is worse than the first (11:24-26).  In all of this spiritual battleground, we are not merely goods or pawns.  Human beings are meant for more; we are capable of love, and in such love is this battle fought and waged also by us as soldiers, if you will.  Christ may cast out all the demons and devils of this world, but human beings are capable of love -- and the things one loves or does not love seem to make such a great difference in life.  It is faith that makes a great difference between what we build in our lives and do not.  The reason for this is that faith is related to love; its root in Greek is the word for "trust."  What is love but a deep trust, a decision to give oneself to another?  This is our true bond with Christ, how we become one of His.   He may liberate all of us from evil influence, but how would this make us full human beings, capable of giving trust and love?  There is something deeper to which He aspires for each one of us.  How many of us realize its great significance for the things of which we are capable, the stature we have in our Creator's eyes?   We do not live in an existence caught between two absolute oppositional powers, good and evil.  We live in a world in which we are allowed to come into temptation, and even where evil still is at work, but for a purpose, because we are equipped for something greater than helpless matter.  Christ shows us the way with the Cross, by which evil is turned back upon itself, and "death is trampled by death," as the Easter hymn says.   We are equipped for faith and love and trust, out of which comes something far greater than a vote for one side or the other.  Like the apostles, we each are capable of sharing in Christ's power, God's grace invested in us, a living and active Kingdom carried within us and among us.  But that happens through love and trust, and persistence and endurance -- and this choice remains anew for each generation.  To those who understand the power of God as merely "power" in a worldly sense, all of this is lost.  With His last statement in today's reading, Jesus enforces the difference.