is on the road to ruin, and will fall. If Satan also is divided, his empire is coming to an end. How can you say that I drive out demons
by calling upon Beelzebul? (...) But suppose I drive out demons by the finger of God; would not this mean that the kingdom of God has come upon
you? As long as the strong and armed man guards his house, his goods are safe. But when a stronger one attacks and overcomes him, the challenger
takes away all the weapons he relied on and disposes of his spoils. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me, scatters.
When the evil spirit goes out of a person, it wanders through dry lands looking for a resting place. And finding none, it says, ‘I will return to my house from
which I came.’ When it comes, it finds the house swept and everything in order. Then it goes to fetch seven other spirits even worse than itself. They move
in and settle there, so that the last state of that person is worse than the first.” OCT Fri 08

Reflection

Jesus’ enemies are dumbfounded. Jesus performs
exorcism with effortless ease. As much as they want to
acknowledge it deep down, they must try to discredit it.
For demonic power bows to no other power but God’s.
The only conclusion the public could draw from Jesus’
exorcism activities was that He was God who could drive
out devils by mere command. His enemies could not accept
this. But they could advance no other argument than the
fallacious statement that Jesus drove out demons by the power
of demons. As response, Jesus exposed the incoherence of
their words. He could not have been a demon driving out His
own minions. He will essentially weaken His power base. Their
argument is also an insult to the exorcist that came before
Jesus. The subtle implication is that they too were demons
driving out demons. Then He warned His listeners that the
devil could still put up a good fight by finding allies among
the people of God. For some, after being freed from the devil
backslides. Exorcism leaves a void in his or her soul. If we do
not fill up the void with God’s grace, the devil returns and
repossesses the former victim. He or she will be much worse
than before. In this sense, the devil wins the war.