Homily—Friday of week 27 in Ordinary Time, Year B
Readings: Galatians 3:7-14 and Luke 11:15-26
Theme: True belief inspires true action
As Christians, from where do our actions spring from? When one looks at the actions of every Christian, one ought to see the bases of their beliefs.
In the gospel, inspite of his good works and thus the clear evidence regarding the divine character of his ministry, the Jewish detractors accused Jesus of being in league with satanic powers, yet these are the very powers which he is destroying ( Luke 11: 14).
Nevertheless, Jesus exposes the absurdity of the charge by asking them , “And if I drive out demons by relying on Beelzebul, by whose power do your sons drive them out?” (Luke 11:19). Here, Jesus refers to the Jewish exorcists who cast out demons with prayers and formulas in Acts 19:13. Therefore Jesus was indirectly telling them that they do not genuinely believe in the power of God, for attributing to the devil the good actions of the Spirit. Their belief is shown in their actions towards Jesus.
In the same lense, we may understand Paul’s emphasis on the importance of faith. Faith affects one’s actions. Abraham’s belief in God inspired many of his actions and thus he was justified (Gal 3:6). So, Abraham’s belief was a genuine belief unlike those Jewish detractors who had less genuine or mixed/syncretic belief in God, which their actions portrayed.
As Christians, some of our actions are like those of the Jews in the gospel which shows that many of us don’t have full faith in Jesus; we see the actions of the devil in our lives more than the hand of God. Jesus simply requires us today to choose for or against him; not a small faith in him and a big faith in the devil, nor a big faith in him and a small faith in the devil. Not, “in the church today, in the devil’s shrine tomorrow.” That simply calls for full repentance and full Christian followership.
This also points to those whose superficial belief in God makes them not to repent enough of their past sins; they enjoy listening to the word, but they do not take the appropriate measures which will enable heal of the root of evil and so, and the last state is always worse than the first (Luke 11:26).
Also read: When does the Mass begin?