A Logical Faith: Luke 11:14-23

As we continue moving through the gospels looking at miracles Jesus did to help people, we come to a miracle where Jesus helps someone, but where He receives pushback from those present. While this isn’t new at this point in Jesus’ ministry, and our next several miracles include pushback from people who were present, the way Jesus receives pushback in this miracle is interesting. Also, the specific pushback Jesus receives is fascinating when we look at how Jesus responds. After Jesus has responded, those present who opposed Him have only one logical response, even if the logical path is the one they had predetermined they would never take.

Let’s read what happened. Our passage is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 11, and we will read it from the Contemporary English Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 14, Luke tells us that:

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.

Let’s pause reading here to first look at the claim that was being made against Jesus. On the surface, this argument does make sense. It is logical to conclude that the ruler of the demons would have the power and authority to force the demons out. However, this argument breaks down because it would not be logical for the ruler of demons to intentionally shrink his dominion by willingly sending demons out of people unless there was a greater purpose or deception in mind. Looking at Jesus’ life and teaching, we don’t see any greater deception present because Jesus kept pointing people back to God and Jesus kept telling people to give glory and praise to God.

It is along these lines that Jesus responds to this latest angle of challenges. Continuing in verse 17, Luke tells us that:

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.

It’s interesting in this event that Jesus turns their own words, and their own allies against them. No one present questioned God’s greater strength and ability to force demons out, and because of this, Jesus has unlikely allies in the religious leaders who were able to cast demons out of people.

In a partially humorous way, Jesus strengthens His argument by breaking apart the unified front of the religious leaders. The religious leaders claimed Jesus was a rogue demon bent on breaking apart the demonic forces (which isn’t logical at all), while Jesus shines light on this fallacy before separating His accusers from those in their own midst who could also cast out demons. In essence Jesus says He is on the same side as those in their midst who cast demons out, and this is on God’s side.

This angle leaves only one option for His accusers, and it is not one they are willing to take. The option that is left is that they have sided with Satan and that Jesus is Someone God sent to grow God’s own kingdom. Since these people have already accused Jesus of being one of the demons, I have no reason to believe that they immediately would correct themselves and apologize when the flaw in their argument is revealed. People changing their opinions or beliefs in a debate rarely happens, and the only places we find examples of it happening are in people who are very mature, in people who are still deciding what they believe, or in situations where the belief or idea being debated is insignificant.

I don’t see maturity, open mindedness, or an insignificant idea present in this situation, and I also don’t see any hint of these people changing their opinion of Jesus. Instead, when faced with logic, they harden themselves to their illogical beliefs.

Some people probably believe Christians hold onto illogical beliefs, and I would agree with them. Some of our beliefs don’t make any logical sense at all. However, not all things are logical, or even understandable by us.

Probably the biggest illogical idea in all of Christianity is Jesus Himself. It is illogical that God would send Himself to take the punishment of a bunch of rebels when it would be much easier to simply wipe the slate clean and start over. The only answer we have defies all logic, because it is the key description we have of God’s character. The answer we have is love.

Love in its very nature is illogical. Lust, procreation, and a number of other ideas that are often linked to love have some elements of logic, but selfless, other-focused, enduring love that looks past faults and past the negatives is not logical at all. However, God’s love for us can only be described as selfless, other-focused, and looking past all our negatives in order to see us as the people we were created to be.

Jesus came into this world to die for sinners in the least logical way, but historical records all confirm Jesus did in fact die and that He did rise from the dead on the third day, regardless of how illogical or impossible this is.

God defied all logic because He loves us. It was illogical to come and redeem us from sin, but that logic didn’t stop God from coming to save us.

However, just because God sometimes defies logic doesn’t mean our faith should be illogical or that we should throw out logic when we become followers of Jesus. Instead, we should be willing to accept that some things we will have to take on faith because they simply cannot be understood. It also means that sometimes God steps in to history in supernatural ways that also cannot be explained.

We are called to have a logical faith, pressing forward to understand all that we can and having the faith that God will help us understand the things we don’t yet understand as we intentionally grow closer to Him. We also admit and look forward to the time when all our questions will be answered as we stand face to face with Jesus. Some questions simply cannot be answerable before heaven, and in the case of these questions, we have faith that God knows what He is doing moving the world towards eternity and the end of sin.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

Always seek God first and trust that even if we don’t have all the answers, He still knows what He is doing. Instead of distrusting God because of an unanswered question, claim, or idea, choose to trust in the truth that He is smarter than we can even imagine, and that His picture of history is bigger than we could ever think or dream. God’s ultimate goal is you, me, and as many people as possible redeemed with Him in heaven, and we can trust that with whatever happens on this earth during the reign of sin, it happened now so it will never have to happen again.

Also, always be sure to pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each and every day. Trust that God is able to keep you safe for eternity, and that if He wants us with Him forever in eternity, He is more than capable and willing to keep His Word the Bible safe for a few thousand years. Distrusting the Bible is almost like distrusting God.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or walk away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!