Friday October 13, 2017
The religious leaders who hated Jesus could in no way disprove the reality of Jesus’s exorcisms and healings. So they maliciously decided to attack his intent. Thus, they accused him of a pact with the devil that helped Jesus gain popularity among people but served the interests of the evil one ultimately.
Jesus condemns their accusations in strong words, deconstructing the falsity of their arguments. He declares that it is the finger of God that is at work in his miracles and healings, and that his works are signs of the presence of the Kingdom of God in their midst. In invoking the finger of God, Jesus was perhaps alluding to the great signs God worked in Egypt through Moses and how the pagan magicians in the court of Pharaoh recognized and acknowledged the signs as the works of the finger of God (see Ex. 8:19), and was thereby chastising his fellow Jews for their stubbornness of heart.
How willing am I to recognize the finger of God working in the world?
