Seven times worse!

Reflecting on Luke 11:24-26

“And the final condition of that person is worse than the first.” (Luke 11:26)

This seems like a strange story, that doesn’t quite fit.
Jesus uses two words, unclean and spirit, not the word demon.
A spirit (literally breath, wind) is an invisible presence or power.
The Holy Spirit is an invisible presence/power that is clean, from God.
The clean/holy Spirit from God produces love, joy, peace, patience, etc.
An unclean, unholy spirit produces the opposite.
A bad spirit is a bad influence, power, force at work in a person.
Earlier in Luke 11 a man is muted by a bad, unclean spirit.
The religious leaders accuse Jesus of working for an unclean spirit.
Yet He is producing good things, not bad spirit results.

In this parable, the person is set free from a spirit not from God.
This is a good thing.
Think of an alcoholic set free from the control of ‘spirits’ (alcohol).
Yet Jesus is warning that they need to do more than lose the bad spirit.
Removing the strong man is not enough, a new strong presence is needed.
Dispossessing a bad spirit is not enough, we need to be possessed by a good spirit.

The Pharisees were pros at fighting the bad spirits in and around them.
They worked diligently at cleaning and putting themselves in order.
But their fight against bad spirits was not balanced with seeking the good Spirit.
Their hearts were empty, and they became vulnerable to other bad spirits.
They became possessed by arrogance, self-righteousness, boasting, etc.
In their fighting bad spirits, they became worse than before.

I see Jesus’s story as a warning to religious people.
Those who strive to clean up and control, become even worse monsters.
Sure they overcame something bad, but what replaced it was not better.
Satan is just as happy to make people self-righteous as unrighteous.
This is what I sense among some christians today.
Certainly in the extremes like Christian Nationalism.
But even among ordinary everyday christians all around us.
They aggressively fight immorality, yet do so in a non-Jesus way.
The fruit of the bad spirit is not replaced with the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
It is replaced by spirits seven times worse than the one’s they’re fighting.

As Jesus followers we cannot overcome or defeat the strong man.
We need someone stronger to move in, and to fill us with their spirit.
We need the Spirit of Jesus to move in and fill us, possess us.
We need to devote ourselves to being filled with, overflowing with, good fruit.
Replacing greed with generosity.
Replacing cruelty with compassion.
Replacing ungracious exclusion with gracious inclusion.
Replacing bitterness or revenge with forgiveness and mercy.
And these are not things we can produce ourselves.
We need to devote ourselves to Jesus, to be filled with His Spirit.
And Paul’s description in the fruit of the Spirit shows us what that looks like.

We are witnessing some Christians fighting tyranny with tyranny.
We are witnessing Pharisees fighting evil with evil.
They are also accusing those who love like Jesus of working for the devil.
Yet this warning of Jesus applies to me too.
As I see these wicked spirits infecting churchianity, how do I respond.
Driving them away, and cleaning myself up from them is not going to work.
Do I become angry, judgmental, holier-than-thou, another version of them?
Jesus is warning me to beware of impure spirits taking control of me.
Now more than ever, I need to focus on the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Now more than ever, I need to be loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good.
Now more than ever, I need to be gentle, faithful and self-controlled!

The fruit of the Holy Spirit is not other-control (managing other’s behaviours).
It is self-control, me controlling the bad spirits trying to control me.
I cannot clean myself up and put myself in order.
I need someone stronger to take charge, to fill me with goodness.
In my resistance to unrighteousness, I need to beware self-righteousness.
That condition is worse than the first, seven times worse!

PRAYER
Lord Jesus, help me to see that the Pharisee condition is seven times worse. Forgive me for fighting bad spirits with more bad spirits. I need more than just being cleaned up and put in order, I need Your Spirit to take charge, to fill me and overflow with Your goodness in and through me. May these words of warning challenge me, and all christians and churches, from becoming Pharisee christian, worse than the sins we are fighting.