10B
The scribes wrongfully attribute Jesus’ power to the sorcery of Satan. It was tantamount to an accusation of witchcraft.
The background is that it was commonly held back then that weaker demons could be exorcised by more powerful ones. Jesus points out that this is a contradiction, because Satan’s house is not divided.
In Jesus’ analogy most see “the strong man” as Satan and Jesus is the one who ties him up. So Jesus is the plunderer who loots that demon’s house of sin and wickedness. Some see the strong man as an ordinary person who is overtaken by sin and so bound-up, and robbed of grace by Satan.
Let’s consider both interpretations:
1). Regarding being bound up by evil influences-- just think of today’s digital culture-specific illnesses on the internet. The original Latin “addictus” means “one who has been given up or made over as servant to his creditor.”
Of course with circumspection and prudence, we can’t be too ready to believe that everyone seemingly stuck in serious sin is possessed or harassed by demons, still the enemy has a hand in many sins, and the whole basis of Christian life is the mystery of Christ’s deliverance of people from sin, and from the influence of the devil, with his cunningness.
Saint Angela Merici once said, “consider that the devil does not sleep but seeks our ruin in a thousand ways.”
e.g. A recent study out of Georgia State University explains that habitual street offenders exploit the absolvitory tenets of religious doctrine, neutralizing their fear of offending God, which allows them to continue a life of illegal activities. The attitude is a basically, “we already live in hell, as long as you ask for forgiveness, Jesus has to give it to you.” So, there no contrition, conversion or metanoia.
Speaking of the false attitudes, the most common place Satan makes his first move is in the mind by suggesting things. Proverbs 4:23 says, “More than anything you guard, protect your mind, for life flows from it. “ Other translations say that the mind is the place from which your issues arise. Isn’t this the truth! Most of the issues you face stem from what you think about.
Thoughts have the power to lead you into temptation or hold you captive to things such as hopelessness.
Since they are immaterial, angels and demons do not move from point A to B by any kind of locomotion, but instead shift their activity from one point or place to a different one. Some theologians have likened this movement to the human mind, which can instantly transfer thoughts over long distances or onto random objects.
For example, St. Teresa of Avila writes, “The devil comes with artful wiles, and, under the color of doing good, sets about undermining a person in trivial ways, and involving it in practices which, so he gives it to understand, are not wrong; little by little he darkens understanding, and weakens its will, and causes it’s self-love to increase, until in one way and another he begins to withdraw it from the love of God and to persuade it to indulgence its own wishes” (Interior Castle, 4.4, 5).
2). Regarding Jesus binding the strong man-- Someone once asked an English General, famous for the victories he had won on the battlefield, “General, which side gains the victory in any battle?”
This man responded, “The side that advances."
e.g. Dawn Weiss’ life was falling apart. Dawn, a recovering alcoholic, moved to
Tennessee after the California earthquake of 1994. She got a job as a waitress and enrolled in school. But Dawn had never confronted the stress of an earthquake, of moving, of leaving loved ones. One night, she felt ready to give up. She prayed for help, but didn’t feel any better. That night, Dawn decided that after work she would go out drinking.
When Dawn got to work, she noticed that every single customer in the restaurant was wearing a button that read, “I am a friend of Bill W.” Bill W. is the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, and this slogan helps AA members discreetly recognize one another. To Dawn’s surprise, there was a huge Alcoholics Anonymous convention in town that weekend. All the customers at her restaurant that night were attending it. After Dawn revealed her own struggle with addiction, a group of customers offered to stay with her all night and protect her from drinking. Dawn had prayed for help, and God sent her a whole convention of people who understood her problem.
It all began when Dawn prayed for help although she did not feel warm and fuzzy when she did so.
Is there an area of our life or our thinking where we feel that we are spiritually bound, and we know it isn’t good?
A new Catholic website ministry is call “Exodus 90” which is a powerful spiritual exercise that has helped many men, young and old, to achieve a greater interior freedom. It employs the time-tested Catholic disciplines of asceticism and prayer in the context of fraternity. They discovered that men need asceticism to grow in holiness with the specific goal of breaking bad habits and forming virtues in 90 days.
One more true story to end:
Catholic University in Washington D.C. featured an article recently about a man in DC who was heavily addicted to cocaine, which he said was his go-to drug. He said that it had power over him, and he felt like he was being held captive, quote, “There were moments, where the window opened and I caught an occasional breeze. I wanted to stop. And just like that the breeze was gone and I was back in that sniffing room. The drug was calling my name.”
That man has now has over ten years of sobriety and just graduated with two degrees at Catholic University, with his second decree being in addiction counseling. One thing he believes in is that addiction is a disease, and we need to tell addicts that they matter, that they have value, and they have something to offer society.
Regarding the temptations to be shackled up again, he said, “Every day for the last ten years, I’ve made a conscious decision not to use drugs. There have been so many days I could have used again. My mom died, and not long after that I lost my dad and my grandfather. I had a broken engagement. Even just a dreary day. It would be so easy to go buy two bags. But I know what the end result would be. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, eventually I would end up in handcuffs.
Ten years earlier, he was arrested many times and spent time in jail and in prison. His mother was an unwitting enabler. She was a safety net for her son, taking him in when he relapsed or was released from a stint in jail. By late 2007 she had had enough. She closed her door to her son and told her extended family to do the same. Later, the man said, “That total amputation from my family was my defining moment. He entered rehab again, for the fifth time. He said, “This time it was different, and I immediately knew I wanted to dedicate the rest of my life to helping others.”
He says, “Some days when I think about those twenty-seven years using drugs I ‘m sad. I have so much regret, especially toward the people I hurt. But there are just as many days, I feel gratitude. Without that life experience, I’m not sure I’d be in this place right now offering hope to others.
[various help from reading was used: Thanks Charisma magazine, and the internet].
