By the Finger of God

By the Finger of God

Friday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time

Realize that it is those who have faith who are children of Abraham. Scripture, which saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, foretold the good news to Abraham, saying, through you shall all the nations be blessed. Consequently, those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham who had faith.  Galatians 3:7-9

But if it is by the finger of God that [I] drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.  When a strong man fully armed guards his palace, his possessions are safe.  But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him, he takes away the armor on which he relied and distributes the spoils.  Luke 11:20-22

Piety

Darkness is not dark for you, and night shines as the day. Darkness and light are but one. —Psalm 139:12

Study

Faith (once again) takes center stage in both of our readings today.  The finger of God is at work, not the civil law or even Church law. 

In the Hebrew Bible, the magicians had, for the most part, been able to replicate the signs and wonders Moses performed to manifest God’s power—turning their staffs into snakes (7:11–12), turning water into blood (7:22), and producing frogs to overrun the land of Egypt (8:3). However, in Exodus 8:15 after Aaron turns the dust into gnats, for the first time they are unable to compete, and confess and admit that a power greater than their own is at work.

Jesus’ uses that same image – the finger of God – when referring to how he drives out demons.  Those who put their faith in the finger of God at work in the world over magicians, kings, soldiers or others will be blessed as Abraham.

Faith is what matters, for Abraham and the children of Abraham, for the Galatians, and, for the Virginians, in contrast to the claims of the opponents that observance of the (man-made) civil or church laws is needed to bring the promised blessing.

Action

What does that faith compel us to do?  While there are beauty and power in prayer and liturgy, Jesus uses a very active situation in both readings to get across the point.

Whether trying to save the people trapped in a strange land or driving out the demons of poverty, violence, and sin, faith propels us to act, too.

Sometimes Beelzebub returns with stronger companions. However, sometimes, they are gone! 

In case you missed it, this has been an epic 24 hours for death penalty abolition.

Malaysia announced it would be ending the death penalty.

Gov. Bill Haslam stopped Thursday night's execution in TN!

The Supreme Court of Washington unanimously ruled the death penalty unconstitutional. Washington is the 20th state to abolish capital punishment. The ruling also converted the death sentences of the eight men on Washington's death row to life sentences.

It took faith AND action, ora et labora to achieve these milestones.

What demons will you drive out today with your actions grounded in faith?