A Strong Man's House - Matt 12:22-30; Mark 3:20-28

Mark tells us that Jesus and his disciples were surrounded by a multitude of people “so that they could not so much as eat bread,” indicating that it was a large and eager crowd of people there to see Jesus. Speaking of an unknown person, Mark continues, “and when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.” Matthew tells us that the man who was brought to Jesus was “one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb.” I’ve never really understood this because why did satanic possession happen so much in ancient times and not so much anymore? I have always thought that perhaps this was a way to explain severe mental illness in a time where they didn’t have explanations for that. I’ve read a lot about it, and discussed it with people, and it does still happen today, just seemingly less frequently and in different ways.

We are told that this man who was considered possessed had friends, so it would seem to me that this man became possessed of the devil more recently instead of his entire life. Jesus had compassion on this man “and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw.” The people who came to see and hear Jesus “were amazing, and said, Is not this the son of David?” But then there is the Pharisees, who were not impressed, saying, “this fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of devils.”  Basically they are saying that Jesus is able to cast out devils by the power of the devil. Jesus “knew their thoughts,” and taught them, and me, a valuable lesson. He begins by teaching that “every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation.”

One of the concepts here that I’ve never really understood is that this implies that there is no order or hierarchy in Satan’s empire, meaning that Satan could cast out Satan IF there was someone who had higher power than Satan in his kingdom, but let’s look at that logic. The spirits that work for/with Satan as his minions, what can Satan do to them if they don’t obey him? Nothing. They already are surrounded with people who hate them and they probably torment each other. He can’t physically hurt them because they have no bodies, he can’t extend their sentence of service because that’s already been decided. Satan might be the worst individual that there is, but those who work with him, probably hate him for convincing them to give up their chances for bodies. It’s like the saying, there is no honor among thieves, in the world of spirit demons, there probably is not very much loyalty, respect, or order. It’s probably an “every man (or woman) for themselves.” We expect to see order there because that’s what we expect here in our life and how God’s kingdom is, but I don’t think that Satan’s world is like that.

Jesus makes an interesting point saying, “And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out?” Basically Jesus is saying, “if the only way to cast out devils is with satanic power, then those you love who cast out devils must be satanic as well.” Jesus continues, “But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.” Either I am possessed of a devil myself and therefore so are all others who do good, or I am possessed of the power of God and you therefore must recognize me as sent from God. The IM teaches, “The Pharisees took an untenable position when they accused Jesus of using the power of the devil to do something good by healing a man possessed with a devil… In challenging the Pharisees to ‘either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt,’ Jesus was telling them they deeded to make a choice about Him. Because of His good works they could not consistently call Him evil, and they could not take a neutral position. Confronted with His testimony and good works, the Pharisees had to choose whether or not they would accept Him as the Christ and follow Him. Christian write C.S. Lewis taught that we too must make an all-or-nothing choice in response to Jesus Christ: ‘You must make your choice. Either this man (Jesus Christ) was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a food, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us now come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.’”

Jesus gives a parable saying, “Or else how can one enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? And then he will spoil his house.” I had not idea what this meant, so I looked up some different perspectives. One was differing translations of this verse. The one that I thought was most informative was the “New Living Translation” which says, “Let me illustrate this further. Who is powerful enough to enter the house of a strong man like Satan and plunder his goods? Only someone even stronger- someone who could tie him up and then plunder his house.” Whoever has the authority to command Satan and to which Satan must comply, must be more powerful than Satan himself.

Jesus continues, “He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.” The IM quotes Elder Bruce R. McConkie as confirming “there is, in fact, no such things as neutrality where the gospel is concerned.” I think it’s important to point out that this doesn’t mean those who are loving and concerned for the welfare of others but don’t, for whatever reason, support the Church in every single thing are condemned. In fact, we know that we are forbidden to condemn anyone, and while we can love them and be friends with them we can not in fact, judge them, because that’s Jesus’ job.