Tested by Satan and transfigured in glory, Jesus enters a battle with the mind of the Jews who sought only an earthly kingdom. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Hence after Jesus cast out a demon of deafness, dumbness and blindness, the Jews thought negatively. They could not recognize the hand of God and so they believed it was by Beelzebub that He cast out demons. They had just witnessed a man freed from darkness and silence and now they sought a sign. What sign could our Lord give them to soften their hardened hearts.
When one focuses upon this world as the kingdom then the promises of God become secondary to the desire to possess pleasure, power and security here and now. In doing so one becomes a divided being and so our Lord calls it out. If Satan is divided, then his kingdom cannot stand. If I cast out demons then what about these Jewish Apostles, your kinsmen, by whom do they cast them out?
Diabolical disorientation marked the Jewish mind and heart. They could not then nor now recognize the fulfillment of all the patriarchs and prophets in Jesus. Peter, James and John had seen the true manifestation of Jesus’ divine nature. They stood in awe at the glory that was merely preternatural. Imagine if the Jews were to receive a sign of his supernatural glory. Why they would fall dead in His presence. There is only one conclusion from the discourse of Jesus with the Jews: the finger of God has come to take over the weaker prince of this world. Hence the kingdom of God is come upon you.
The Divine will always conquer the prince of this world who seeks the worship that is due to God alone. Consider the manifestation of the Jewish desire to seek a nation and a kingdom in this world apart from the God Who sent His Son. They will stimulate wars, financial chaos and sickness in order to achieve their end: world domination. How will the divine conquer the satanic…through the humble virgin Mary. When the Word of God was made flesh through her humility, so the world will find divine peace through her heal coming down upon the head of the serpent.
In this world the Jews like Cain of old were condemned to wander the world due to their crucifixion of Jesus. They lost the priesthood, the sacrifice and the temple. Their efforts will come to naught for the principle runs throughout time: “Naught shelters thee who will not shelter Me.” Jesus was responsible for all creation and when He comes into His creation His own received Him not. Through the humility of Jesus and Mary the pattern of victory is in the detachment of the soul from the earth. It is not through an attachment to anything earthly or temporal. All that is of this world is futile.
In the heart of the Jew there is a demon and that demon went forth to bring back seven others more destructive than the first. Imagine these demons are seeking to rule the world with fear and force. Jesus’ kingdom is one of divine and sacrificial love. We want to live free of the evil one; free of the deceits and lies that he spits forth. We may have to suffer the physical punishments from the devil through the Russians or the Chinese or the Jew but our sights must be set upon the everlasting life with our Lord and our Lady. Fix this vision in your hearts and daily walk the stations of the cross to realize the pathway that the Divine Son trod. It is the path that leads to eternal happiness and union with the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
In the hearts of Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
Fr. Voigt
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