Luke 11:14-32
We have been going through the Gospel of Luke, line by line, chapter by chapter, and we have seen a lot of miracles. I think it is easy, over time, to become somewhat numb to reality of these events. For example, in this passage, it is really easy to skip over the miracle and move on into the discussion that follows without really appreciating what has just taken place. Let’s look at this miracle more closely.
We have a man who was mute, unable to speak. Based on this passage, we can say that this man had been mute for a very long time and was simply known as a mute man. Perhaps nobody in that crowd who knew this man could remember a time when this man could speak.
Now, this was an unusual situation, in that the cause of this particular man’s “muteness” was a demon. I shouldn’t have to say this, but we should all know that people can be mute for a variety of physical and psychological reasons. It is certainly not true that a demon lurks behind every illness or impairment.
But not only was this an unusual situation, this was an unusual demon. Previously in Luke, we have seen demons that have been anything but mute – in fact, they tend to make their human hosts scream at the top of their lungs. In Luke 4:41, we have the following:
Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” – Luke 4:41
Also recall the demon that Jesus and the disciples met called Legion in the region called the Gerasenes, across the Sea of Galilee. In Luke 8:28, it says this:
When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at His feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do You want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, don’t torture me!” – Luke 8:28
But this demon was different. He didn’t say a word. Did this make any difference to Jesus? No. He cast out this demon as effortlessly has He had cast out all the others. And to prove that the demon was gone, the man spoke.
A mute man speaking was a shocking thing. Isaiah 35 is a messianic passage that talks about the things that the coming Messiah will do. And in verse 6, one of the things mentioned is “the mute tongue [will] shout for joy.” So when the people in the crowd well-versed in the Scriptures saw this mute man speak, they associated the messianic implications – that is, they understood that this Jesus person seemed to be doing something that the promised Messiah would do. A similar passage, perhaps referring to the same event is Matthew 9:32-34. In verse 33, it says this:
The crowd was amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.” – Matt. 9:33
And so we see that this truly was an astonishing, show-stopping event. As our passage in Luke says, the crowd was amazed. They were blown away. And I suggest you would be blown away too. Imagine if you had a friend with some disability and had known them for many years with that disability – how amazed would you be if suddenly this person was healed? Here is our passage again:
Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed. But some of them said, "By Beelzebub, the prince of demons, he is driving out demons." Others tested him by asking for a sign from heaven. – Luke 11:14-16
And so despite the nature of this absolutely amazing miracle, we see that two groups are seemingly unimpressed. The first group says that Jesus is in league with the prince of demons, Beelzebub. They are saying that Jesus is evil, that He is doing the work of the devil! The second group is somehow unimpressed with this miracle, and think that if they just saw a real miracle (whatever that might be), then they would believe. Jesus first addressed the first group, and then addressed the second, with his comments in the rest of today’s passage.
Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: "Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebub. Now if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your followers drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you. – Luke 11:17-20
So here Jesus is addressing the first group of people, those who think Jesus is in league with Satan. There are really two arguments here in Jesus’ answer. First, He is pointing out just how outlandish an idea this is. Satan wouldn’t enable people to cast out demons, because from Satan’s point of view, the demons are the “good guys”! Satan has just lost a man who he had controlled for a long time! This isn’t a victory for Satan; it is a defeat.
Now, going beyond the text, I suppose someone could argue that Satan allowed this to happen so people could believe that Jesus was a good guy, but if so, what would it accomplish? It’s not like people who believe in Jesus turn away from God and worship Satan. So this makes no sense at all.
Now I really love the second part of Jesus’ answer. He says “If I drive out demons by Beelzebub, how do your guys who claim to drive out demons do it?” Now a good question to ask is whether there were people out there who didn’t follow Jesus who could drive out demons. Unless God were empowering them, I doubt it. Now there were other “God followers” out there (some described in Acts) who perhaps did things like this who tried to serve the living God but who didn’t yet have the complete revelation about Jesus – some of these people may well have driven out some demons with God’s help. But I suspect there were also a number of dishonest swindlers out there, who, for the proper fee, could try to do this. Of course they would have testimonials from satisfied customers, much like the folks back in the 1800s who would try to sell “McPherson’s Miracle Elixir” or things like that. A guy would come to a new town along with a friend who would pretend to be healed of whatever ailed him (for a cut of the take), and would sell tons of their miracle cure based on the other man’s false testimony. Then they would leave town before the customers had a chance to become suspicious. I have no doubt this type of behavior occurred with regards to healings and driving out demons back in Jesus’ time. I suspect that even some of the temple priests may have been a part of this.
Jesus’ question put those who claimed to be able to drive out demons in a very awkward position. Either they could confess that they were swindlers, that they hadn’t actually driven out any demons (a confession I really doubt they would make) or they would be forced that their ridiculous argument would apply to themselves as well. The passage gives no indication that they made any reply at all (a prudent choice).
I want to say something also about this interesting phrase “the finger of God.” This is a loaded phrase, and I have no doubt that those who knew Scripture well understood what Jesus was implying. What was Jesus implying?
Well, the phrase “finger of God” occurs only a few places in the Bible. The first location, and the one I think Jesus was referring to, is in Exodus 8. For context we need to go back to Exodus 7.
Exodus 7 begins the account of the ten plagues God sent upon Egypt. If you remember, Moses and Aaron went before the Pharaoh of Egypt, and Aaron through down his staff in front of Pharaoh and his officials. Do you remember what happened? It became a snake. But what happened next? Pharaoh’s wise men and sorcerers seemed to do the same thing – did they really do it? Perhaps they used slight of hand, or perhaps they were assisted by demons – we don’t know. But then Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.
This did not change Pharaoh’s mind to let the people go so next Aaron took the staff and struck the water of Nile. What happened? The water changed to blood. But then what happened? The Egyptian magicians did the same thing (or pretended to). Although the Egyptians were forced to dig wells to get acceptable water, Pharaoh again refused to let the people go.
Next was the plague of frogs. Once again, the Egyptian magicians seemed to do the same thing, but the frogs were such a nuisance to Pharaoh that he summoned Moses and Aaron to get them to make them go away. They let the Pharaoh pick a day (he said “tomorrow”) and frogs left their homes on that day, although, as Moses explained to Pharaoh, they would not be removed from the Nile. Once again, Pharaoh refused to let the people go.
You may be wondering what this has to do with anything in Luke. Hold on a little longer!
We now come to the next plague. This time, Aaron stretched out the staff and struck the dust of the ground. What was the plague this time? Gnats! Gnats on men and animals! Gnats everywhere! I exercise most mornings by walking around a walking trail that goes around my neighborhood. Sometimes I pick up these small flies that are just unbelievably pesky! Once they find me, they will follow me for a mile. I can’t out-dodge them. I can’t outrun them. They drive me crazy. So I have a very small sense of what it must have been like to be plagued by millions or billions of gnats. Now listen in to Exodus 8:18:
But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not. And the gnats were on men and animals. The magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” – Ex. 8:18-19a
In other words, they were finally convinced. Now, what did Jesus say? But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you.
As I thought about Luke and Exodus this week, I was struck that there are enormous parallels between the passages. In Exodus, you have the Lord (working through Moses and Aaron) performing miracle after miracle after miracle to try to convince the Egyptians (especially Pharaoh) that He, the Lord, is the all-powerful God. And you have the Egyptians (especially Pharaoh) trying desperately not to believe it, setting his heart against the clear evidence. And in Luke, we see Jesus performing miracle after miracle after miracle to try to convince the Jewish people that He is the all-powerful God. And you have the Pharisees and teachers of the law and others trying desperately not to believe it, setting their hearts against the clear evidence, even going so far as to make the ridiculous suggestion that it is by the prince of demons that Jesus can cast out demons. I believe that Jesus’ use of the phrase “finger of God” was meant to try to pierce their hearts with the fact that they were behaving like Pharaoh, not like the Israelites! And I am not the only one to think this – experts in Greek point out that the Greek phrase here uses bad grammar (for Greek) – it should read like “the finger of the God,” but has a construction that is exactly like what you would expect if it were translated word-by-word from the Hebrew.
Jesus went on to say:
"When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up the spoils. – Luke 11:21-22
By the way, the Greek word for “house” here implies a very nice house, more like a palace. His possessions, therefore, are very nice things. Picture a Hollywood mansion and you get the idea. Such a place needs guards to protect the possessions from theft.
But what does Jesus mean by saying this? He is giving the real explanation for how it is that Jesus drives out demons from people. This is not really a parable, but a simple analogy. Jesus is like the “someone stronger” in the sense that he overcomes the demons protecting their “treasure” – the person they control – but for Jesus to overpower Satan doesn’t even take a battle. It is over before it begins. When demons see Jesus, they do not fight; they surrender! We have seen this again and again in Luke.
Then Jesus says this:
"He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters. – Luke 11:23
When I read this phrase I am instantly reminded of a scene in Star Wars Episode III where Anakin Skywalker says to Obi Wan Kenobi, “If you are not with me, then you are my enemy,” to which Obi Wan replies “Only a Sith deals in absolutes.” This goes right along with a very important value in our culture – that the only real sin is to believe in absolute right and wrong. Well, how can I put this? This belief is absolutely wrong! I guess I would be the guy who would wear the T-shirt that would say, “There are only two types of people: those who believe in absolutes and those who don’t.”
What Jesus is saying is that there is no such thing as neutrality when it comes to faith in Jesus. The description of gathering versus scattering probably refers to farming, but I like to think of it in terms of toddlers. They can either be in the process of picking up their toys (gathering) or making a huge mess (scattering). There is no middle ground when it comes to toddlers, and there is no middle ground when it comes to faith in Jesus. The people who make up lame excuses or the people who say “if only I had a real miracle” (whatever that might be) are on the wrong side.
A while back I saw the literal truth of this when I got into a heavy spiritual conversation with someone who was hostile to Christianity. I was with another person who claimed to be a Christian, and who I presumed would be helping me in this conversation, but as the conversation continued he was consistently taking the side of the other person. I remember actually thinking, “Hey, which side are you on?” This verse says that there is nothing funny about such a thought – those who are not gathering are scattering.
And then Jesus expands on this concept further with the following vivid illustration:
"When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first." – Luke 11:24-26
What is Jesus saying? He is saying that choosing neutrality, taking a wait-and-see attitude towards faith, leaves you open and defenseless against Satan’s attack. I wonder what the man who had just been literally delivered from a demon thought about these comments? Of all people, he would have absolutely no desire to be set free only to later be under the control of that old demon again plus seven more!
Now I believe that what Jesus said here was as much or more for our benefit as it was for those who there listening to Him. We know that when we come to faith in Christ, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in us. The Bible says we are “sealed” with the Holy Spirit. Extending Jesus’ story of the evil spirits, when they come back to check out a person who has since put their faith in Christ and entrusted Christ with the reigns of their life, they find that the doors to the house are locked. The windows are bolted tight. And if they did somehow manage to break into the house, they would find the equivalent of a ferocious pit bull and sincerely wish that they had never tried to enter the house in the first place!
Notice that “cleaning house” and “putting things in order” do absolutely nothing in the way of protecting the man from the evil spirits. When I read these verses I think of people who through just superhuman effort and willpower manage to change a major behavior in their lives – whether it is to lose a large amount of weight or to overcome an addiction to alcohol or drugs. Yes, they have cleaned house and put things in order, but they are wide open to something even worse. People who become addicted to something end up with what some call “addictive personalities” – it is no achievement to give up alcohol only to, in the following year, become addicted to cocaine. Apart from a life given over to Christ and protected by the Holy Spirit, victories over destructive habits are only winning individual battles. Apart from Christ, the war will yet be lost.
As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, "Blessed is the mother who gave You birth and nursed You." He replied, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it." – Luke 11:27-28
It’s almost as if Jesus knew that many centuries later, people would be tempted to worship Mary, the mother of Jesus. Of course, there is no “almost” about it! Jesus’ reply just cuts off all possibility of going in this direction. Without it, perhaps people would wonder – after all, in Luke 1, the angel Gabriel greeted her with “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you!” And her friend Elizabeth greeted her with “Blessed are you among women!” And Mary herself said, “From now on all generations will call me blessed.” But Jesus makes it clear that people who think like this are falling off track – their focus should be on learning and putting into practice what the Bible actually says.
As the crowds increased, Jesus said, "This is a wicked generation. It asks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation. The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here. – Luke 11:29-32
What is the sign of Jonah? Just as Jonah, in effect, gave himself as a sacrifice so that his shipmates could live, Jesus gave Himself up as a sacrifice to save us. Just as Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days, so also would Jesus spend three days in the belly of the earth. And just as Jonah was given up for dead and yet seemingly came back to life, so too would Jesus be despaired upon as dead forever and yet He would miraculously and truly rise from the grave. But even though Jonah gave an incredibly brief, barebones message of repentance to the Ninevites, they as a nation repented. Yet Jesus’ message was proclaimed for years while He was on this earth and continued by His followers, proclaimed extensively and clearly, but so many who heard it refused to turn to God. And although the Queen of the South, with very little to go on, made a huge journey to visit Solomon because of His reported wisdom, the Jews who were in Jesus’ presence rejected the vastly superior wisdom of the Lord. Jesus’ examples of the people of Nineveh and the Queen of the South were a further condemnation to His hearers because these people were not even Jews. How much more should the people of God’s Word been able to recognize the “signs.”
I use that word, “signs,” because even though Jesus says they get no sign except that of Jonah, and even though the people kept asking for a sign, the reality was that they were getting multitudes of signs – what were the healings, deliverances, raisings from the dead, profound teachings, knowledge of unsaid things – what were these things, if not signs? Every minute spent with Jesus was a sign that here was a man of God, a man unlike any other man. And yet, in their hardness of hearts, like Pharaoh, they totally missed it.
Applications:
1. Understand that, when it comes to salvation, we live in a black-and-white world.
We shouldn’t deceive ourselves about this. When I think about this I sometimes think about a series of computer games called the Sims. Sims are simulated people, and so that you can understand what they are thinking, little icons appear next to the graphics of the people saying if they are happy, bored, or whatever. I picture God looking down on the whole earth, looking at the multitudes, and most of them are drawn in black and white. But some of them are in living color, and next to them appear icons of the cross. These are the ones who, by faith, have allowed Christ to redeem them and make them reborn in Christ. There aren’t any that have a part of the cross, or are in partly color and partly black and white – it is all or nothing.
We presently have a team of three members of our church, Aaron, Gail, and Fred, who have gone halfway across the world to Ukraine with purpose of being “gatherers.” Their desire, and our desire, is that some of those black-and-white people would turn to Christ and become full-color people with crosses.
2. May we be those who “gather,” not those who “scatter.”
Even believers can become scatterers. Our actions around unbelievers are constantly affecting them in one way (towards Christ) or the other (away from Christ). Some people think that if they don’t reveal that they are Christian, then their “imperfect” actions won’t turn people away from Christ. But this is false. Every action, every word we say, every attitude we reveal, is constantly either drawing people towards Christ or away from Him. I pray that we would daily depend on the Lord for strength to be gatherers. As Jesus says in John 4:35, “I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” We do not want to have any part in trampling and scattering the harvest! Let us be gatherers.
3. May we be content with the “sign of Jonah.”
What do I mean by this? Do I mean that we should not ask God for miraculous answers to trials and sufferings that we endure in our lives and that we see in the lives of those around us? Not at all! What I mean is that our faith should not depend on how God chooses to answer our prayers. I understand that we can become frustrated and even angry with God when loved ones die or when other tragedy strikes. This is normal, and I would say it is even a healthy part of the grieving process. But some people, after tragedy strikes, just completely walk away from their faith. They have become fundamentally discontent with the gospel story; reading about the death and resurrection of Jesus is just not enough for them. Like the people in our passage, they want another sign, something to overcome their profound disappoint over what has happened. How do we make sure this doesn’t happen to us? By seeking hard after Christ in the good times so that we know Him so well that we don’t doubt Him in the bad.
4. May we remember that Jesus is our “stronger man.”
Jesus is our stronger man, the one who overcomes demons without a fight. He is our deliverer and our protector. With Jesus in the driver’s seat of our life, even seven million demons cannot break into our “house.” I think of I John 4:4:
“You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” – I John 4:4
Whether we think about it or not, we live in a cosmos in all-out war. The consequences of every battle are eternal. But we have nothing to fear. The One who is in us is greater than the one who is in the world.
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