Goodness and Its Heavenly Origin!

Friday, October 10, 2025

Joel 1:13-15, 2:1-2; Lk 11: 15-26

Today’s Gospel highlights the crowd’s accusation about Jesus’ identity and mission. 

The crowd’s accusation is on two counts: some of them accuse Jesus of partnering with the prince of demons to drive out demons; others demand a sign from heaven, thus rejecting his identity as the Son of God and his miracles.

In my view, the scope of both accusations remains the same. Accusing Jesus of manifesting the devil’s power is equivalent to rejecting him as the Son of God. Thus, they are not two different accusations. They are one and the same. 

What is more, by refusing to acknowledge the finger of God by which Jesus drove out demons, the crowd dares to remove the active presence of God manifested in the person of Jesus. Because their accusation discredits even the work of God, it borders on blasphemy, which the people fail to realize.

In response, Jesus questions the very logic of their accusation and exposes its absurdity. That is when he asks, ‘If Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?’ Thus, the crowd makes an illogical and absurd claim by misattributing Jesus’ works to Satan.

Explaining further, Jesus shows that with regard to discipleship, neutrality is not an option. We are with Jesus or against him. We opt for Jesus when our response is decisive to ‘be with him and be sent out on mission’ (Mk 3:14). 

Jesus concludes his preaching with a sober warning about the danger of rejecting God’s grace at work in him. Though the crowd of followers often witnessed the power of God in Jesus exclaiming, ‘A great prophet has appeared among us; God has come to help his people’ (Lk 7:16), they still accuse him of having a partnership with Satan. 

For Jesus, rejecting anything good is equivalent to rejecting the will of God, the source of all that is good. 

Anything good comes from God and reflects the goodness of God Himself.

Let us pray that we may never fail to acknowledge the heavenly origin of anything good and glorify God. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar