Luke chapter 11

vs 23

Here we find Jesus saying the bookend to his statement about the man blasting demons in his name. "He who is not against me is for me" and now "He who is not for me is against me".

There's no point looking at these clauses too logically, because you will realise what you thought immediately - on the surface, they are contradictory.

But both of these statements are made in context, and you can't separate them from that context. The first one was made in the context of a man driving out demons in Jesus' name, so He who is not against me (but is doing my work in my name) is for me. This one is in the context of people charging Jesus with using the power of Satan to do what he does, and therefore He who is not for me (who I have proved is of God, not of Satan) is against me.

Jesus also points out that he's on the winning team. If you don't join with him, you will end up scattered.

vs 24

These next couple of verses completely whack out demonology for me. It's not often Jesus starts talking about the whys and wherefores of demons, and this next story is not about demons for the sake of demons.

The whole idea that demons float around sort of bored for a while is really strange. Someone asked me once "Why doesn't Jesus just kill the demons instead of letting them loose to go harass other people?" Good question, no answer, move along.

vs 25

So when it goes back to the person who's had the demon cast out of them, it finds them very comfy and ready to move into. What stops it from moving straight back in when it gets sent out? We don't get told.

vs 26

And so in the end, according to Jesus, the person who had the demon cast out is worse off than when they just had one demon! So why get demons cast out if it only gets worse?

I have heard many people say that the idea here is that you should become a Christian, and the Holy Spirit will fill the gap where demons go, and therefore you will not have them return. That just seems so out of context for the statement. I have problems with that. It sounds reasonable, but Jesus hasn't mentioned the Holy Spirit anywhere. Were people just supposed to assume that they would receive the Holy Spirit? That is not really a valid assumption for your average Jew to make - only kings and prophets received the Holy Spirit.

Another thing - does that mean that when you've got the Holy Spirit, your 'inner house' is not kept clean and put in order? Is the Holy Spirit some kind of dirty university student?

So what does it mean? I don't know, which is a shame, becuase it makes that seem like the best option. I guess Jesus has been talking just before about joining the winning team, and he could be saying that if you don't join Jesus' team, then demons are always going to be a problem for you, whereas if you are on his team, then his power over demons will protect you. The difference is subtle, I guess, and perhaps with our mightly systematic theology we can draw the Holy Spirit bow, but I remain unconvinced.

vs 27

Fair enough. I mean, how can it not be a good thing to have your son be the Son of God, right? Pretty good thing to have in the family.

vs 28

But Jesus is on a role, and so he corrects her by replying that obeying God's word is more important than having spiffy children. Even for women. More important even than childbearing, perhaps?

vs 29

Seems an odd reaction to the increase in crowds. I think they are mutually exclusive - we find in another gospel that Jesus answers this as a question to people asking for a sign.

vs 30

Jesus doesn't explain as fully what he means by the sign of Jonah, but the obvious one is the residence in a fish for a while. The meaning of the sign is obvious - it is a sign of God's judgement, and just as Nineveh received it and repented, so should people when they see Jesus' sign.

vs 31

It is something that hasn't as yet happened with Jesus - the nature of his teaching has not reached to the far corners of the earth in these few short years, and so there hasn't been a huge influx of people to come and hear his words, even if they are better than Solomon's. Obviously Jesus needs better publicity.

vs 32

So Jesus is greater than Jonah and Solomon. Pretty big call. The idea of the people of old standing up in judgement of a current generation is a great picture. It would be like the trade unionists of old standing up in judgement of a callous and careless generation which voted in a government that would sweepingly destroy all the workers' rights that they fought and died for. It would be the soldiers of world war 2 rising up to judge a generation that funded a muslim regime who want nothing more than to gas the Jews and destroy our pluralism and freedom.

Strong picture, isn't it?