Luke 4: 16-30
August 30, 2020Luke 4:38-44
September 2, 2020
22nd Week in Ordinary Time Year 2
1 Corinthians 2:10-16
Luke 4:31-37
A. Text and Context
- Jesus is now in Capernaum preaching in the synagogue
- And when he speaks the listeners are so awed and mystified because he has so much command, and he bears so much authority that even the evil spirits are scared of him
- And Jesus rebuked the devil because the devil is shouting: Jesus of Nazareth, have you come to destroy us? I know who you are you are the holy one of God
- The devil is telling the truth about who Jesus is
B. Human Situation
- Now did you see something wrong about what the devil is saying? What is wrong in telling the identity of who Jesus really is
- It appears that there are reasons behind why is it that Jesus rebuked the devil for telling the people who he is because it is not wrongful to know that Jesus is the Holy One of God
- Well, remember that the devil is the most cunning and clever of all. The prince of all lies and deceit
- But this time the devil is not lying, he is telling the truth about Jesus
- This is the character of the devil if he tells a lie it is to hide his own agenda. If he tells the truth it is because he wants to destroy us
- It is true that Jesus is the holy one of God but the indirect consequence of this is that people would adulate him and perhaps even crown him as king
- And with that, Jesus will not be able to finish his mission to die on the cross and there will be no redemption as what the Scripture is talking about
- In the end, the telling of the truth by the devil is still to destroy the very plan of redemption
- You see, Jesus is the holy one of God and the devil cannot see any impurity on Jesus
- If the devil could have accused another man in the synagogue who have committed plenty of sins in secret
- Then the devil will also expose all the dirty truths about that man in order to shame him in public
- We have to know that sin is the mastery of the devil. If we fight with the devil himself he can accuse us of our wrongdoings and shame us in public. We exorcise the devil in the name of Jesus
- The demons can read our sins but if we have confessed that it will be erased and he will not be able to accuse us of anything
- While they read our minds because of our sins it will be up to there, they cannot read what we think. They cannot dictate what we do
- You see, inspite of their power, the gift of our free will cannot be overpowered, but they can influence us to give in to temptations
- That is why a real demonic possession is really very dangerous and exorcising the devil from the possessed is also equally very dangerous
- If you report to a priest that somebody is possessed more often than not he will not go because an investigation must be done if the case is really real demonic possessions
- Fr. Jose Francisco Syquia has written books about exorcism you may use them as references to know the tactics of the devil
- Exorcism is reserved to the experts of the Church with a special permission and they are very few. The lay people can however exorcise similar to the charismatics and the Pentecostals
- The proper thing for us to do is not to fight with the devil ourselves but instead ask the Lord Jesus himself to do the fighting for you or ask St. Michael to do it for you
- As St. Paul exhorted us in 1 Corinthians, “ we speak about them (spiritual matters) not with words… but by the spirit” because it is a fight against nasty spiritual entities
C. Challenge
- So today we are reminded about these things concerning our Christian faith which we do not often think specially as Catholics that the devil is real
- The problem with modern society is that the faithful would relegate the existence of the devil as something fanatical or superstitious
- That the real evil in this world is poverty, suffering and all forms of maladies or sickness so degrading to all
- That is true also, but we must not forget that the devil as a spiritual entity is very real and can even do physical havoc
- The scriptures would say it so, the teachings of the church does the same
- If we are made to believe that the devil is not true and not in real existence, then the adversary already comes out as victorious because he hides from our unbelief
- We are reminded that just like what Jesus did, we also rebuke the devil not with our own capacity but through the power of Jesus and St. Michael
- We ask the Lord to deliver us from evil, we ask St. Michael to intercede for us