14 Jesus forced a demon out of a man who could not talk. And after the demon had gone out, the man started speaking, and the crowds were amazed. 15 But some people said, “He forces out demons by the power of Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons!”
16 Others wanted to put Jesus to the test. So they asked him to show them a sign from God. 17 Jesus knew what they were thinking, and he said:
A kingdom where people fight each other will end up in ruin. And a family that fights will break up. 18 If Satan fights against himself, how can his kingdom last? Yet you say that I force out demons by the power of Beelzebul. 19 If I use his power to force out demons, whose power do your own followers use to force them out? They are the ones who will judge you. 20 But if I use God’s power to force out demons, it proves that God’s kingdom has already come to you.
21 When a strong man arms himself and guards his home, everything he owns is safe. 22 But if a stronger man comes and defeats him, he will carry off the weapons in which the strong man trusted. Then he will divide with others what he has taken. 23 If you are not on my side, you are against me. If you don’t gather in the crop with me, you scatter it.
24 When an evil spirit leaves a person, it travels through the desert, looking for a place to rest. But when it doesn’t find a place, it says, “I will go back to the home I left.” 25 When it gets there and finds the place clean and fixed up, 26 it goes off and finds seven other evil spirits even worse than itself. They all come and make their home there, and that person ends up in worse shape than before.
27 While Jesus was still talking, a woman in the crowd spoke up, “The woman who gave birth to you and nursed you is blessed!”
28 Jesus replied, “That’s true, but the people who are really blessed are the ones who hear and obey God’s message!”
Read Luke 11:14-28 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!
If you have ever been in a church were those in the congregation talk back to the speaker, you may understand something that happens in this passage more than those who attend congregations where there is no dialog.
In a crowd where people are likely to speak up, whether it is simply to say “amen” in agreement, or if it is challenging something the pastor or presenter said, there is a completely different feeling in the room itself. I have preached in both types of places, and while each has its strengths, I prefer the more vocal crowds.
However, one challenging thing in vocal crowds is that there can be one person who speaks up and who can possibly derail the moment. We actually can see an example of this in Luke’s gospel during one of the times Jesus was speaking to the crowd.
Right when it seems like Jesus was about to hit on a key point about how to avoid being repeatedly trapped by an evil spirit and its friends, we read, “While Jesus was still talking, a woman in the crowd spoke up, ‘The woman who gave birth to you and nursed you is blessed!’” (v. 27)
Now this woman was giving Jesus and His mother a compliment. That is something that was very nice to do – but I really wonder what Jesus would have said next had it not been for this interruption.
Sometimes interruptions are inevitable, but how does Jesus respond to this statement? He replies: “That’s true, but the people who are really blessed are the ones who hear and obey God’s message!” (v. 28)
Perhaps this blends what Jesus was going to say, or perhaps it is simply a response to the distraction.
Whatever would have been said was derailed, but I wonder if Jesus jumped straight to His main point: We are blessed when we hear and obey God’s message. Perhaps Jesus was finished with the warning portion and this interruption served as a great transition that also emphasized the key idea He wanted to get across.
But the big thing I see with this interruption is that Jesus does not seem fazed or irritated. Instead, He simply goes along with the compliment, but wraps it into His big thought.
We can learn from this too. When life throws unexpected things at us, we may be tempted to get angry or upset, but either of these emotions don’t help solve the situation. Instead, we should accept the facts of what happened, and then continue moving forward despite how far we were set back.
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
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