10th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B June 9, 2024
Fr. Alexander Albert St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette
There are two extremes that get the devil wrong. One is to deny he exists at all, to reduce him to a myth or literary symbol. The snake is a literary symbol, but it a symbol that represents the very real fallen angel named Satan. When we deny his existence, we leave ourselves defenseless. If a Catholic denies the existence of the devil, he risks the sin of heresy and being cut off from God’s grace.
The other extreme, however, is to see the devil in everything that is wrong with the world, others, or ourselves. You might think being suspicious would help you stay safe, but Satan knows how to use that obsession and fear to undermine your faith, hope, and love. The scribes in Jerusalem give the devil too much credit and wind up rejecting God himself. Devil-deniers are in a bad place, sure, but this passage is the single most terrifying teaching of Jesus that someone might “never have forgiveness.” Obsession with the demonic is very dangerous indeed.
To clarify, the “everlasting sin” Jesus talks about is the sin of refusing to be forgiven. You see, sin and demons go together. When Jesus casts out demons, he is also forgiving sins. By claiming that other demons are driving out demons, these scribes are also denying that Jesus can forgive sins by the power of the Holy Spirit. If you think Jesus and the Holy Spirit can’t forgive you, you’re right. As long as you hold onto that lie, that blasphemy, you cannot be forgiven. If you do ever realize the truth and accept that Jesus can forgive, you are no longer guilty of blaspheming the Holy Spirit and so can be set free.
Still, the point stands: don’t give the devil too much credit! Don’t let fear of the devil blind you to the power of God! I run into this problem quite often. People come to me and say “the devil’s been after me, father, please pray for me.” Then they tell me about all their problems and act as if every single one is some clever plot by the devil. They seem to completely forget that we have more than one enemy.
In fact, we have three: the devil, the world, and the flesh. Yes, the devil tempts us and sets traps. But more often than not, he doesn’t have to do very much. Most of our problems come from the flesh… from ourselves. It’s not the devil that makes you overeat, use curse words, or look up dirty things on the internet, that’s usually just our own fallen desires, our inclination towards evil, the thing we call concupiscence. So many people want to blame the devil rather than admitting it’s their own fault. Yes, I’ll pray for your protection, but if you don’t have the humility to own up to your sins, the courage to confess them, and the willingness to do penance, it won’t fix anything.
Then there is the world. We use that word in two ways. One is the world that God created: us, nature, etc. That’s fundamentally good. The other use of that word is the fallen world. It’s basically a combination of peer pressure and bad momentum. Fallen human beings – our flesh – often build up cultures and systems that are selfish, greedy, violent, arrogant, vain, etc… Even when it’s no one person’s fault, there is a lot of money, power, and pleasure that motivates people to do the wrong thing. The fallen world is that almost invisible pressure to just go along with sin, to stay caught up in the distractions that keep us away from God and away from the self-knowledge needed to live a holy life.
If you blame the devil for your problems when it’s really the fact that your life looks exactly the same as a nonbeliever’s… well, then you’re missing the real cause. Again, I’ll pray for your protection, but maybe you should spend less time on entertainment and politics and more time in prayer, penance, and service to the poor.
Then there are the things that aren’t really our enemies so much as just… stuff that happens. Chemical imbalances, random accidents, disease, the weather. These are no one’s fault but sometimes just make our lives harder. Yes, it’s possible that the devil did something to make you sick, but sometimes a cold just means you need to eat better and sleep more; an exorcism probably won’t make a difference.
But yes, the devil uses the flesh and the world and even natural phenomena to his advantage. Even if the flesh or the world cause the temptation, once we actually commit a serious sin, the devil gains authority over us. So, demons might do things like remind us of a lustful memory, exaggerate the social cost of doing the right thing, or capitalize on our exhaustion to tempt us when we’re weaker than usual, but that doesn’t mean he’s in control of everything.
The story in our 1st reading from Genesis is a reminder that the devil is real and dangerous. But even in that story is a promise that he will not win, that the offspring of the woman will strike the devil’s head. Mary is the woman and Jesus, her son, is the one who crushes the serpent’s head. He is the one who ties up the “strong man” and plunders the house. The good news is that Jesus takes us back, he redeems us from the devil with every confession and sincere act of repentance. This, in turn, is also the guide to a healthy way of dealing with the demonic in our lives, by turning to the woman and her “offspring.”
Do not forget about demons and do not take them lightly. At the same time, do not fight demons. Do not talk to them, listen to them, or pay too much attention to them. Let Jesus tie them up. Don’t go around like some kind of vampire hunter out of the stories, fighting demons with special prayers and wielding blessed objects like talismans. Every prayer, every medal, every act of “spiritual warfare” is only effective to the extent that it relies on faith in Jesus Christ. By all means, use these things, but use them rightly, as ways of turning towards Jesus.
And Jesus tells us that “whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” By doing God’s will, we become kind of like Mary who brought Jesus into the world so that he could strike the winning blow. We become his own family, counted among the woman’s victorious “offspring.”
Renounce Satan. Renounce his lies – each lie by name if necessary. Avoid the occult, witchcraft, sorcery, and superstition. Renounce sin – each sin by name if necessary. But above all, do not be afraid. Remember that the Lord is stronger than evil ever can be and that “with the Lord there is mercy, and fullness of redemption…”