A House Divided

Some women were with him too. They had been healed of evil spirits and of illnesses. There was Mary who was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out. There was Joanna, the wife of Chuzas, the man in charge of Herod’s household. There was Susanna, and there were many others, who used what they had to take care of them.

Once again the crowd came together, so that they couldn’t even eat a meal.

When his friends heard about it, they went out to take hold of him, because they said, “He has lost his mind.”

In Luke, Jesus was casting out a demon, and it was mute. When the demon had gone out, the man who had been mute talked.

All the crowds were amazed. In Matthew they said, “Could this man be the son of David?”

In Mark, the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul,” and, “He casts out the demons by the prince of the demons.”

Matthew says that when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons.”

In Luke it was some of the crowd who said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons.” Others wanted to test him, and they asked him for a sign from heaven.

“How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom can’t stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house can’t stand. If Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he can’t stand, and that is the end of him.”

In Matthew and Luke he says, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to ruin.” In Matthew he goes on, “Every city or house divided against itself won’t stand. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. So how will his kingdom stand?” In Luke he says that a house divided against itself falls, and he asks the same question about Satan’s kingdom. And he adds, “You say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul.”

“If it is by Beelzebul that I cast out demons, by whom do your children cast them out? So they will be your judges.

“But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, God’s Kingdom has come upon you.”

In Luke he says, “But if I cast out demons by God’s finger, then God’s Kingdom has come to you.”

And he said, “No one can go into the strong man’s house and carry off his things unless he ties up the strong man first. Then he will rob his house.”

In Luke he puts it this way: “When the strong man, with all his armor on, guards his own home, his things are safe. But when someone stronger attacks him and beats him, the stronger one takes away all the armor the strong man trusted in, and divides up what he has taken.”

Then he said, “If someone isn’t with me, he is against me. And anyone who doesn’t gather with me scatters.”

He said this because they said, “He has an unclean spirit.”

In Matthew he says, “So I tell you, people will have every sin and blasphemy forgiven, but the blasphemy against the Spirit won’t be forgiven them. If anyone says a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him. But if anyone speaks against the Holy Spirit, it won’t be forgiven him, not in this age, and not in the age to come.

“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree rotten and its fruit rotten, because the tree is known by its fruit.

“You offspring of vipers! You are evil; how can you speak good things? The mouth speaks whatever fills the heart. The good man brings good things out of his good treasure, and the evil man brings evil things out of his evil treasure.

“I tell you, when the day of judgment comes, people will have to answer for every careless word they say. By your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Jesus answered them, “An evil and unfaithful generation looks for a sign, but it will be given no sign except the sign of Jonah the prophet. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the huge fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

In Luke, he said it as the crowds were gathering around him: “This is an evil generation. It looks for a sign, but the only sign it will be given is the sign of Jonah the prophet. Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, and the Son of Man will also be a sign to this generation.”

“When the judgment comes, the men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation and will condemn it, for they repented when Jonah preached; and look, someone greater than Jonah is here. When the judgment comes, the Queen of the South will rise up with this generation and will condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and look, someone greater than Solomon is here.”

In Luke he speaks of the queen first, and then of the men of Nineveh.

Then, in Luke, he said, “No one who lights a lamp puts it down in a cellar or under a basket. He sets it on a stand, so people coming in can see the light.

“The eye is the body’s lamp. When your eye is good, your whole body is also full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness.

“So check that the light in you isn’t darkness. If light fills your whole body, and no part of it is dark, it will be full of light all through, as when a lamp shines brightly and gives you light.”

“Then it says, ‘I will go back to my house, the one I came out of.’ When it gets there, it finds the place empty, swept and tidy.

“So it goes and gathers seven other spirits more evil than it is, and they go in and make their home there. That man ends up worse off than he was at first. And so it will be with this evil generation too.”

He was still saying this when a woman called out to him from the crowd, “Blessed is the womb that carried you, and the breasts that nursed you!”

But he said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.”

He answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?”

Looking around at those who sat around him, he said, “Look, my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God is my brother, my sister, and mother.”

Matthew tells it this way: While he was yet speaking to the multitudes, look, his mother and his brothers stood outside, seeking to speak to him. One said to him, “Look, your mother and your brothers stand outside, seeking to speak to you.”

But he answered him who spoke to him, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?”

He stretched out his hand toward his disciples, and said, “Look, my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

Luke tells it in a different place, after the parable of the sower. Jesus’ mother and brothers came to him, and they couldn’t come near him because of the crowd. Some people told him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, wanting to see you.”

But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are these people who hear the word of God and do it.”