Today is the 3rd Sunday of Lent. We hear that Paul was addressing the Christians in Ephesus. He told them that they must imitate God. Just as a child imitates his father, so must the believer imitate God. We imitate the attitude of Jesus by being pure in body and soul. This is our own calling, not just the early Christians exhorted by Paul to follow the Lord, and not just simple imitation, but walking in the love of God. It is in righteousness and purity of life that we offer a sacrifice to God which is pleasing to God. Our love and faith must give rise to a life which is in accordance with the will of God, rather than to do things as pagans live and do.
There are many occasions when we claim to be Catholics and yet put ourselves in danger by maintaining our sinful lifestyle. This is the reason why St. Paul warns his people concerning this error. He was warning them not to ridicule Christ by living contrary to His teachings. How dangerous it is to ignore God’s commandment and continue to live their lifestyle with immorality, which is also common even to this day. Covetousness or greed too are totally out of place among believers for we are called to be imitators of Christ. We know that Christ‘s offering of redemption for us changes every aspect in the here and now. Our minds, thoughts and our whole body and actions must be pure, and we must consecrate ourselves to God whose gift we receive to enrich us and for us to give thanks.
The gospel today led us to have an understanding that Jesus is more powerful than the evil one, and “the multitudes were in admiration at” what Jesus did after casting out the devil. His power continues to allow us to have been safe guarded against all kinds of temptations.
Our society forces us to believe that we have the freedom to do whatever we want to do and have the right not to be constrained, and no one can ever dictate or tell us what to do. This we seek for personal freedom; therefore, we must go against Christian religious belief. This is indeed a serious evil with which we are being confronted nowadays, not to be obedient to keep the will of God and not to follow the guidance of our Holy Church. The very idea of obedience is belittled and in question. However, we must listen to the eternal word of God speaking to us through Jesus Christ saying, “Blessed are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” I do believe that THE GREATEST BLESSINGS, JOY AND PEACE, are found in a life of obedience to Christ.
Our obedience to Christ is not just some optional lifestyle for us, but to genuinely live in total dependence on God who gives us the security, comfort, and satisfaction we need. All of us are part of a human journey to accept that there is a Divine being greater than us, and so we pour out our adoration and worship to this Loving God. We cannot afford to be controlled by something dark and evil.
We see here the validity of Jesus’ argument that driving out the demon means jeopardizing Satan’s kingdom and accusing Him of being the “prince of the devils.” What a ridiculous idea! Jesus says, “If I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” The expression “by the finger of God” here evokes the remembrance of the Exodus experience of the chosen Israelites from the slavery of Egypt. The people were able to live through the plagues and survive from all their sufferings through Moses, which the Egyptian magicians could not imitate and discredit because they were clearly ‘the ginger of God’ to those held captive to the evil power of Pharoah. This gospel reveals that Jesus Himself manifested and intervened to challenge Satan by bringing healing and freedom to the dumb and possessed man.
This is a good illustration that even now we have been experiencing infestation of evil spirits. Satan is keeping us away from God. The devil is always trying to say that we are his, and not God’s, because many times we ignore and deny God through our continuous sinfulness. When will we be free from Satan’s deceptions?
I would like to conclude with these beautiful ideas of CS Lewis, (Clive Staples Lewis 1898-1963), a Briton, who was one of the intellectual giants of the 20th century and a most influential writer, even up to this day. He was a lay Anglican who wrote 40 books, many of them on Christian apologetics, or books on the defense of Christianity, saying that there are two equal and opposite errors when it comes to “devils.”
First is to ascribe too much fascination and fear of the power of Satan. We have to be very careful that as humans, we are complex beings whose emotional, mental and spiritual lives intertwine. We are emphasizing too much about demons being in everything and everyone.
Second is the opposite of the first error, to think that Satan has little power over our spiritual realities. We tend to be very materialistic and deny the need to be prayerful. Remember that we are at war against Satan. We are always advised to guard ourselves from evil’s destruction, lies and temptations. Do not allow ourselves to be caught off guard.
Therefore, we must always put Jesus Christ in the equation. If we take Jesus out of the equation, not believing in His power and authority, we certainly leave ourselves more vulnerable than ever to Satan’s domination. Let us accept Jesus, our Lord, in our hearts to rule over us. To have Jesus in our life is an enormous blessing and freedom from the clutches of evil.
God bless you.
Fr. Arlon, osa