2018-3-8

朋友们，在今天的福音中，我们读到有人附了魔。耶稣会见了他并为他驱魔，但立刻被人指控为撒殚的同伙。见证人中有人说，“耶稣是仗赖魔王贝耳则步驱魔。”

 

耶稣的回答既富有逻辑又简洁精练：“凡是一国自相纷争，必成废墟，一家一家的败落。如果撒殚自相纷争，他的国如何能存立呢？”

 

恶魔的势力总是驱散性的。它粉碎交融。但耶稣始终是交融的声音、把一切重新集合起来。

 

我们回想一下耶稣首次增饼。面对一大伙饥饿的人群，耶稣的门徒恳求祂“遣散群众，叫他们各自到村庄去买食物。”但耶稣回答，“他们不必去，你们给他们吃的吧。”

 

使教会分裂的一切都是“遣散群众”这种冲动的回响，提醒我们恶魔的分裂主义倾向。在面对考验和威胁时，这是非常常见的本能反应。我们指摘、攻击、分开和解散。但耶稣说得对：“他们不必去。”

 

Friends, in today’s Gospel we learn of a person possessed by a demon. Jesus meets the man and drives out the demon, but then is immediately accused of being in league with Satan. Some of the witnesses said, “By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he drives out demons.”

 

Jesus’ response is wonderful in its logic and laconicism: “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house. And if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?”

 

The demonic power is always one of scattering. It breaks up communion. But Jesus, as always, is the voice of communio, of one bringing things back together.

 

Think back to Jesus’ feeding of the five thousand. Facing a large, hungry crowd, his disciples beg him to “dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.” But Jesus answers, “There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves.”

 

Whatever drives the Church apart is an echo of this “dismiss the crowds” impulse, and a reminder of the demonic tendency to divide. In times of trial and threat, this is a very common instinct. We blame, attack, break up, and disperse. But Jesus is right: “There is no need for them to go away.”