The Holy Gospel according to Mark (3:22-30)
The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said of Jesus,
“He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and
“By the prince of demons he drives out demons.”
Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables,
“How can Satan drive out Satan?
If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
And if a house is divided against itself,
that house will not be able to stand.
And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided,
he cannot stand;
that is the end of him.
But no one can enter a strong man’s house to plunder his property
unless he first ties up the strong man.
Then he can plunder his house.
Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies
that people utter will be forgiven them.
But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit
will never have forgiveness,
but is guilty of an everlasting sin.”
For they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
Reflection: In this Gospel passage, Jesus addresses accusations made against Him by the scribes. They claim that He is possessed by Beelzebul and that He is driving out demons by the power of Beelzebul. In response, Jesus simplifies things with His parable-like teaching about the impossibility of a kingdom divided against itself can still stand. He opens our eyes into the nature of His mission and the severity of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
Jesus responds with this logic, asking “how Satan can drive out Satan. If a kingdom is divided against itself, it cannot stand. Therefore, if Satan rises against himself and is divided, he cannot stand and is coming to an end”. Therefore, it is impossible if one can drive out oneself?
Growing up in high school I participated on the track team. I know what you’re thinking and “NO”, I wasn’t a runner, I was a shot-putter. Anyway, our track team was like a huge family, and we were one team, one heartbeat, and un-divided which made us very successful. Now I remember we competed against a certain school, and I couldn’t help noticing that the team came out separately, warmed up separately, and hung out separately. They were two groups, the Caucasians, and African Americans. That was my first experience of racial segregation, and I was just disgusted by it. I was also bewildered on how a Catholic school would allow this. Ultimately, they were not a very strong team because of their division.
Knowing Jesus has defeated evil through His death and resurrection fills us with hope. It reassures us that evil does not have the final say in our lives. His victory invites us into a relationship of freedom from fear and sin, where we can trust Him to guide us through life’s challenges.
What we need in our life is Hope because it fills us with the strength to stay in the present, to abide in the flow of the compassion no matter what outer storms is occurring in our lives. Hope is always present in us, but we need to surrender and be willing to use it by letting go of everything we are presently clinging to. And yet when we enter it, it enters us and fills us with a quiet strength beyond anything we have ever known. We must re-train ourselves to cherish life on earth and engage with it by focusing our energies on learning to love neighbor, self, earth, and God. We were all created in the “Image and Likeness of God” so we must learn to be “One in Christ”.
Audio Reflection:
