Who is stronger?
Luke 11:21 – 26
Rabbi Rev. Dr. Michael Harvey Koplitz
21 “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his house, his possessions are secure. 22
“But when someone stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, that man takes
away his armor on which he had relied and distributes his plunder. 23 “The one who
is not with Me is against Me, and the one who does not gather with Me scatters.
24 “When the unclean spirit comes out of a person, it passes through waterless places
seeking rest, and not finding any, it then says, ‘I will return to my house from which I
came.’ 25 “And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. 26 “Then it goes and
brings along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they come in and live there;
and the last condition of that person becomes worse than the first.”
Let’s start with an easy question. Which is stronger, good or evil? Sounds like an easy
question to answer, but in reality, it isn’t as easy as one thinks. In Luke’s gospel, chapter
11, verses 21 to 26, Jesus gives us a simile about good triumphing over evil. One of the
problems in his day, and I believe it exists today, is that evil can infect any one of us,
but do we have the strength alone to get rid of the evil? Obviously not. In Jesus day the
people needed help to rid themselves of evil spirits and demons. Jesus came along and
did exorcisms for the people, but he also wanted to instruct them to understand that
each one of them who is with us can overcome evil.
Jesus said that if a strong person is protecting their house, who could steal from the
house? A stronger person than the person who is guarding the house would have to
come in and cause this to happen. It is an interesting twist of a metaphor. When you
think about evil, we have to realize that evil is forceful. And it takes someone or
something stronger to overcome evil.?
Okay I’ve said enough about that, so the question becomes why is evil so strong? Even
people that don’t attend a religious organization like the church or synagogue
understand that if you are evil and do bad things, you may not make it into heaven.
Well, then the question is, where do you go? Of course, culture which is developed
from the Bible in this case, says that you go to a place called hell, and a demon named
Satan will then torture you for the rest of eternity. If you will be tortured for the rest of
eternity because you turn to evil, why would you possibly want to do it?
Usually, it’s because we don’t think about the consequences of our actions, and let’s be
honest with each other: doing evil can be fun. Now I’m not talking about the evil of
killing people or hurting people; rather I’m talking about simple things. Shoplifting
tends to be an exciting thing for young people especially if they don’t have money to to
pay just to see if they can get away with it. The adrenaline starts flowing as you walk
into the store and select the item that you covet. Then you hide that item on your
garments. Then the most difficult part is you have to walk out of the store and hope
you don’t get caught. The adrenaline that starts to run through the body feels good even
though you’re probably scared half to death that you're going to get caught. It’s a great
feeling. It’s a horrible thing to say, but it’s the truth.
Not only is shoplifting wrong, but there are also many evil things that you can do that
will give you that adrenaline flow and that feeling of excitement that you now know are
wrong to do. If you could find an adulterer and they would be honest with you ,they
would tell you that part of the thrill is being able to get away with doing what they’re
doing without getting caught. They will also tell you that eventually adulterers do get
caught.
I remember a pastor in the district that I am in who is accused of adultery. For over
two years he denied that that was happening. He was seeing another woman who was
not his wife. Now I don't understand why, but someone decided to follow him with a
camera. That was probably a private investigator his wife hired to find out what was
going on. Even when he was caught on film and the photographs were shown to the
bishop this pastor still denied that he did anything wrong. Eventually he did confess
when he was brought into the office and shown the pictures. His life naturally fell apart
in divorce and being expelled from the clergy of the church. So, you can sit there and
say “Why in the world did he do it?” Would it not have been safer to go to his wife and
get a divorce because obviously he wanted to be with this other person? While that’s
not what happened. He ended up destroying himself and the members of his family.
The force of evil is strong. In Jewish mysticism we call it evil inclination. The mystical
documents from into antiquity tell us that evil inclination is always surrounding us and
trying to infiltrate us. Even the most dedicated person to following God’s laws and
commandments is constantly being attacked by evil inclination. There are many times
that evil inclination will flow in, and the most important thing is for the person to
understand it’s happening and stop it.
There is good inclination which is the power of God and Jesus through the Holy Spirit
that also wants to infiltrate our system and help us to rid ourselves of the evil inclination
and be on an honorable and righteous path. So, if evil inclination takes over there is a
point where it becomes such a part of your soul that the shell of the evil, called the
klippot, will surround you, and positive energy, and good inclination, will not be able
to penetrate. At that point a person turns into pure evil. That is an unbelievably strong
influence.
But from these words of Jesus about a strong man who could be taken out by a stronger
man it is possible to break through the clip it and remove the evil inclination because
good is stronger than evil. Jesus is stronger than Satan. End of story.
It is important for each of us to realize that evil inclination is infiltrating our soul and
to want to have the desire to get rid of it. That’s where it’s significant to invite Jesus
into your soul and follow his ways. That will work. Jesus is stronger than evil inclination
and Satan. Always remember that. Doing sinful things and evil things on the surface
looks very exciting, but before you do it you have to ask yourself What would Jesus
do?.
Protect yourself also by not associating with people who are under the influence of evil
inclination. You may think that you could help break through their klippot, but let’s be
honest as mere humans we are not that powerful. That is where it’s better to pray that
the Holy Spirit would break through and show this person that evil inclination has taken
them over and that they need to get Jesus into their soul so that they can only follow
good inclination.
Watch out for evil and avoid it as much as possible. We do have to live in this world
where evil inclination exists. I do not believe that God created an evil world as many
other preachers will tell you. Rather, God created a bipolar universe. Therefore, evil has
to exist for us to know what good is. How can we know what righteousness is if we
don’t know what evil is? That is why God set up the universe this way. You will see
bipolar items all over the universe.
The way to protect yourself from evil inclination is to read your scriptures and follow
what Jesus says in the Gospels. So many people look at the Bible and think that it’s a
set of rules to restrict their lives. The rules and regulations that we find in the Bible are
there to help us to fight evil inclination. They are not there to restrain us or take away
our free will. Rather, they are there as a guide so that evil inclination cannot take us
over, and if evil inclination has invaded your soul, it offers the way to get evil inclination
out of your soul. So follow the ways of Jesus as we find in the gospel and read your
Bible for good inclination every day of your life.
