Homily For The Third Sunday in Lent 2026
Nature abhors a vacuum. You will be filled. The question is with what. A corollary of this statement is that one will worship - either the true God or some idol of which Satan and his minions is the puppeteer. We will worship, we will be filled.
On this third Sunday in Lent, we have another account of Our Lord’s conquest over the devil. Jesus shows his power over a demon that has silenced a person made in the image of God. The demon prevents him from speaking, from worshiping the Lord with his words.
Jesus heals the man and then we read of the response of some in the crowd who used their words to honor Satan at the expense of true worship of God. They said the healing of the mute man was because Jesus was in league with Satan. They take the glory of God - the truest evidence that God was among them - and then attribute it to Satan. Jesus uses the phrase - the finger of God - this same terminology was used by Pharaoh's magicians in their battle with Moses and Aaron. The magicians could recognize something greater than their sorcery in the intensifying miracles of judgment through Moses and Aaron. It is worth mentioning that the finger of God is used in other passages of the Old Testament to speak of the Holy Spirit. St. Matthew’s parallel of this passage bears this meaning where we read 28 But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. This is a clear reference to the work of God, and in contrast to our Gospel, the pagans in Egypt could see that which Our Lord’s critics could not see.
The pagans could see a greater work than they could do, greater evidence of the Holy Spirit’s work among them.
Our Lord speaks to the absurdity of Satan casting out by Satan - for this would be a divided kingdom that could not stand. Moreover, Jesus asks the question of what is the source of the power that Jewish exorcists used when casting out demons for the same accusation could be leveled against them. It is not by the power of Beelzebub that Jesus casts out demons, and heals mankind. It is an open and obvious declaration of the inbreaking of God’s kingdom. That one stronger than Satan had arrived, that the word of his voice conveys the power of the Holy Spirit - the finger of God - to bind the evil one and set men free.
Jesus ever condescending to help man by direct propositions or parables, gives an analogy. He uses the analogy of the strong man.
A strong man is safe as long as no one stronger arrives on the scene. If someone stronger does appear, he will spoil the defenses of the weaker one and take all his power, his goods, his belongings for his own. Jesus is the stronger, he makes a spectacle of Satan’s former power. Driving out illness, casting out demonic possession and filling the one healed with the presence of the Holy Spirit redeeming and restoring the eager heart.
Our Lord speaks to the binary reality of his kingdom - either you are joining in His battle against evil or you are supporting the enemy. He uses the analogy of gathering the lost sheep, bringing them back to the fold. If you aren’t active in encouraging people to return to the Lord, then you are allowing them to drift into a wilderness full of predators.
In this section, Jesus finishes with the final analogy in a series of three in our Gospel.
He speaks about exorcism - expelling an evil spirit and he teaches the necessity of then making preparations for indwelling Holy Spirit. There is a danger in failing to be filled with the Holy Spirit. With language strangely similar to the Prodigal Son, the evil spirit wanders about, seeking rest, a place to abide, and says to himself - I will return to my former house from whence I was cast out. The evil spirit returns to find it the perfect habitation - it is “garnished”, better prepared for habitation than before. Notice that Satan gathers, he brings together evil at every opportunity. The evil spirit then gathers together seven other spirits more wicked than himself to inhabit - so that the man is worse off than before.
There are two aspects to this final analogy that bear mentioning. First, the corporate expression of this analogy for the Jewish people as a whole as he applies it to what he calls “this evil generation.”
While Israel had been exorcised of the evil of idolatry as a result of exile and restoration, it generally refused to receive the Lord when he came. They refused the Messiah and so the void created by the removal of formal idolatry was being filled with other sins: hypocrisy, religious formality, adultery, fornication, false swearing, disobedience to parents. Second, on a personal level, a person may experience a true exorcism, it may be a person, like we see in v.23, who wants to have evil removed but remains neutral, or open to other religions, or persons who demand additional signs, proofs from heaven. Regardless of the posture, the reality is that those people will be filled either with the Holy Spirit or with even worse insidious forms of evil.
Whoever has witnessed the power of God in Jesus Christ, His word and the potential for his healing, but casts aside the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the complete filling of the Holy Spirit are primed for complete mastery by the demonic. A truly terrifying state of being, a true threat to the soul’s health.
How do we avoid the trap of the empty house? We heed our Lord’s words to the woman who cried out at the end of our passage. She proclaimed the blessedness of the Virgin Mary who gave the world our Saviour. Jesus, ever loving and respectful of the Virgin, redirects to the hard truth of the Gospel. It is one thing to hear; it is another to believe. It is easy to speak words, it is incredibly difficult to live with godly integrity. Blessed is he or she that hears the word of God and keeps it. Keeping the word is the true expression of faith.
Being satisfied with hearing the word may allow the heart to remain full of all kinds of wickedness if that word isn’t put into practice; indeed, one may confuse accumulating teaching with application. We all will give an account for what we have done - what we have heard, what we have said, what we say we believe and our access to the truth. Satan would be delighted to have people who do not repent from their sins and yet assent, profess even, the truths of the Gospel. There is no better way to garnish, prepare for the re-infestation of evil than to hear the truth, think on it and decide not to apply it.
Let us repent from careless hearing of the Word of God, passive listening to God’s truth being taught and preached. Instead let us enter into the blessedness of obeying - hearing and doing. Notice the instructions of St. Paul in our Epistle - walk in love, just as Christ loved us.
Love is a commitment, whether accompanied by pleasant sentiments or not, to do what the Lord commands, to walk, to live in a manner like our Lord. We do so not to earn his approval, not to work for our salvation. Rather, obedience is the fruit of belonging to him - being filled with the Holy Spirit. Love is known through being living sacrifices. Turning away from actions that are contrary to complete self-giving of oneself to the Lord. Obedience to God’s word and will is synonymous with being a living sacrifice. Instead of being filled with sexual immorality, loving God, obeying God is to submit to His will for our bodies in regards to sex - one man, one woman within the bonds of marriage, for life. Instead of being filled with all manner of evil speech, we must be people whose lips are full of thanksgiving. Instead of disobedience, we should be filled with obedience to God’s holy word. Being filled with actions and attitudes of righteousness, of those things that please God, rather than being consumed with all manner of evil. Let us be filled with light as we are filled with obedient love of God.
This requires intentionality; it must be actively cultivated in the heart. As it has been said, “For holiness is not a condition into which we drift. We are not passive spectators of a sanctification God works in us. On the contrary, we have purposefully to ‘put away’ from us all conduct that is incompatible with our new life in Christ, and to ‘put on’ a lifestyle compatible with it.”
Let us again touch upon the themes of fasting and feasting in Lent. I would argue that we should feast on the presence of the Holy Spirit. Feasting on the joy of His indwelling presence - the promise of His greater and greater filling of our hearts. Turning toward greater obedience, being exercised in heart, will and mind to do what we know pleases God. Ask God to help you with this, and He will surely answer.
Let us be feasting by casting aside all double mindedness; ungodly compromise and giving ourselves completely to God in Jesus Christ. Brethren, feast on the joy of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling and ask the Lord to expand your capacity for being filled with all His righteousness. Amen.
