The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said of Jesus,
“He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and
“By the prince of demons he drives out demons.”
Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables,
“How can Satan drive out Satan?
If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
And if a house is divided against itself,
that house will not be able to stand.
And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided,
he cannot stand;
that is the end of him.
But no one can enter a strong man’s house to plunder his property
unless he first ties up the strong man.
Then he can plunder his house.
Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies
that people utter will be forgiven them.
But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit
will never have forgiveness,
but is guilty of an everlasting sin.”
For they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
The scribes at this time, were the great theologians of Isreal. In this passage they have come to see Jesus so that they can challenge Him. In the previous passage, His disciples try to extract Him from this confrontation with the Scribes. But now it is upon Him. The Scribes accuse Jesus of being possessed by bealzubul, and using the power of satan to cast out demons in the name of bealzubul.
Jesus’ response is so good. He uses logic to defeat the accusation on its face, and then at the same time turns the tables on them. Jesus is basically saying, If you are the devil and you are trying to destroy the work of god, why would you be so dumb as to work against your own efforts. The devil is smarter than that, and it is only Jesus’ own people that are dumb enough to act this way.
And that is indeed, what the Scribes and the Pharisees are doing, trying to sew anger and division among their own people, against Jesus. The Scribes and the Pharisees are jealous of the fact that Jesus is proclaiming truth, and working healings, and helping those that are bogged down with many burdens. The Scribes and the Pharisees, believed that only they are supposed to be the ones proclaiming the truth, and that only they are the ones that are supposed to be perfomining the healings, and that because they are the ones that put those heavy burdens on the shoulders of the people, that it is only they that should be the ones to remove them. So instead of embracing Jesus as the Messiah, the Scribes and the Pharisees are actually the ones dividing the house of God against itself. A brilliant and convicting response to a truly stupid accusation.
And then Jesus drops the hammer on them. When He references the strongman, Jesus, in this analogy, is saying that if you want to steal from a strong man, you must first come into his house and tie him up. What is this analogy making reference to? Well Jesus is pointing specifically, to the fact that the Pharisees and Scribes have used their power and knowledge of the Law to bind up the “strong” people of isreal, with unecessary laws, and customs, and using that power to lord it over them, while at the same time, plundering the church, and its people of all of its goodness.
This was a powerful indigtment, and the shock value of it cannot be understated. Jesus was not a shrinking violet in the face of great power and authority. He instead, spoke truth to power and did it in a way that they could not ignore. Truly amazing.
