"THE FINGER OF GOD"

Joel 1: 13-15, 2:1-2; Psalm 9; 11:15-26

“But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you”

            The leaders and the priests of the time of Jesus didn’t know who Jesus really is, and they didn’t show any interest to know him either. However they were afraid of losing their authority because of the good deeds of Jesus. People regarded Jesus as a prophet, some considered him as Elijah, some John the Baptist and some Messiah and of course the disciples as the Son of God. The leaders were so blind that they didn’t want to know who Jesus really is. They were not seeking him out most of the time to learn from him or know him but to persecute him. They were looking for a chance to get rid off him from the society. When they found no chances they tried to create chances by accusing him for healing the sick on the Sabbath, eating with sinners, casting out evil spirits, especially today we heard that they accused him saying that he casts out demons by the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons.

            When the leaders challenged Jesus about his authority or accused him or doing any good deed, in many occasions, he didn’t try to convince them by explaining what was doing and why he was doing. However, in today’s reading we encounter Jesus who explains how he casts out demons. By doing so, he not only announces them the good news that the Kingdom of God is at hand but also says that he casts out demons by the “finger of God” and if one realizes it then he or she will know that the Kingdom of God is upon them.

            Jesus’s reference to the finger of God points back to the important events of the salvation history of Israel. The psalmist says that the heavens are the work of the God’s fingers in Psalm eight verse three. In Exodus chapter eight verse nineteen we sees the magicians of Pharaoh realized that it is the ‘finger of God” that brought about the plagues and wants to save Israel from the clutches of Pharaoh. Further, Exodus chapter thirty-one, verse eighteen tells, “When God finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the covenant, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God. In the gospel today Jesus stresses that his works are the works of the finger of God, which give evidence that God’s kingdom has come that God wants to save his people.

            In line with the explanation of casting out the demons he talks about the vacant house being occupied by an evil force, powerful than before. He teaches us that it is not enough to banish evil thought and habits of our lives. It is not enough to cast out the evil spirits from us. We must also fill the void with God who is the source of all that is good. St. Augustine once said that our lives have a God-shaped void, which only God can fill satisfactorily. If we attempt to leave it vacant or to fill it with something else, we will end up being in a worse state in the end.

            We are invited to ask this question today, Is my life void? Or do I fill my life with something else than the Lord Jesus our Lord?

Our Lord wants to fill our hearts and minds with the power of his life-giving word and healing love. He wants to touch us with the finger of God. He wants to be in us that we may be with Him and for him and not against him. Let us then pray for the grace that Jesus may live in our house, the inner core of our true being, that he may occupy and be enthroned as Lord and Savior and that we may leave no room for the evil spirit to fill our lives.

Amen

Bro. Jinu Muthukattil SM