The crowds have seen Jesus heal people and perform many other miracles. Yet, when they see Jesus drive out a demon, they respond that Jesus must be able to do this from some demonic power inside himself. Jesus challenges the crowd: “If Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?” We can see in the reality of our world today that what Jesus says is true. There are two kingdoms present in the world today. I have heard the times we live in referred to as “secular, critical times.” This is in contrast to the Kingdom of God that we are to proclaim to the world as Christ’s disciples. Yes, whoever is not with Jesus is against him; whoever does not gather with him scatters. Jesus invites those of us who follow him to do so completely and without compromise or reservation. Our act of contrition in the sacrament of reconciliation states that we “firmly resolve, with the help of God’s grace, to confess our sins, to do penance and to amend our life.” This is the theme of Luke’s gospel passage today: that we are to wholeheartedly follow Jesus as his disciples, without reservation and without caveat.
Jesus expelled demons in today’s Gospel. How do we turn to God to expel those things that are the demons in our own lives? How do we turn away from things that are leading us astray and that are tempting us to go down the wrong path? We know in our hearts that we cannot do this on our own. Only with Jesus' help will our continuing process of repentance and conversion be successful. Only then can we be true disciples.
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