God is in our midst but sometimes we refuse to listen to him and refuse to see his hand at work. This is the message of the prophet Jeremiah in our first reading and the message of Jesus in our Gospel. In today’s Gospel Jesus is doing an extraordinary deed, he is driving out a demon. While some were amazed others literarily demonized him: “By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he drives out demons.” Jesus tries to get them to realize that God the Father is out work in his healings and exorcisms: “But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” Jesus teaches that the “finger of God” is working through him and that the Kingdom of God is overcoming the Kingdom of Satan as he said in the previous chapter: “Jesus said, ‘I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky.’” (Luke 10:18).
In today’s first reading the prophet Jeremiah recalls God’s command to the Israelites: “Listen to my voice; then I will be your God and you shall be my people. Walk exactly in the way I command you, so that you may prosper.” Even though God kept sending his prophets, they still refused to listen: “But they did not listen to me, nor did they pay attention. They walked in the stubbornness of their evil hearts and turned their backs, not their faces, to me.” Yet God is always faithful and merciful, never giving up but time and again calling them to listen, to repent, to recognize his presence in their midst.
During this season of Lent, we fast to make us hungry to hear the Word of God and to see the “finger of God” at work in our midst and in our daily life. Who is this God in our midst? Listen to the words of this Eucharistic Prayer:
“For you do not cease to spur us on to possess a more abundant life and, being rich in mercy, you constantly offer pardon and call on sinners to trust in your forgiveness alone. Never did you turn away from us, and, though time and again we have broken your covenant, you have bound the human family to yourself through Jesus your Son, our Redeemer, with a new bond of love so tight that it can never be undone.” (Eucharistic Prayer for Reconciliation I).
Image: “Jesus Casts Out Demon” by Will Humes is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.