"It is through the prince of devils that he casts out devils." (Mark 3: 22)
In today's gospel we see the gulf between the wisdom of men and the wisdom of Christ. The scribes came down from Jerusalem to see for themselves what Jesus was doing, and instantly, and no doubt confidently, declared him possessed by the devil. Well, They must know, the people might have said. That's the end of that. Someone in the crowd or a disciple reports this to Jesus and, perhaps to the scribes' amazement, he calls them to him. What follows in this gospel scene is something that happens in our lives - or at least should happen - every day: Jesus dismantles their logic to replace it with his wisdom. After all, we resemble the scribes rather more than we would like to admit.
Scribes' logic infiltrates its way into our thinking every day, if we are not careful. It lurks in every all-too-human calculation that we blunder into: about God, about others or about ourselves. When it is well below our consciousness, it probably comes from our existing wounds and hurts, the kinds of things that shape our lives often without our realising it. When, however, our hearts are too attached to something or someone, then, our "scribes' logic" can become even more self serving and complicated, reaching out to justify our behaviour to ourselves: resentment against someone, fear or human respect, some ambition we hardly admit. It is all part and parcel of being a fallen human being in need of redemption and cure; it marks the lives of the saints, as well as the lives of great sinners. In every thought and action that does not belong to God, we unwittingly build a house of cards that aims to prove us right, just like the scribes justifying their hostility to Jesus by claiming he had a devil.
This is precisely where they need Jesus to unpick their scribes' thinking and to cure the damage. In this gospel scene, Jesus easily knocks down their tottering logic: why, he asks in essence, would Satan banish the chaos he had established? But curing the wounds that led to this poor logic is trickier. In the case of the scribes in fact, Jesus resorts to a warning about sinning against the Holy Spirit. We can read into this his judgment on them that they should have known better; that they were in fact ignoring their excellent knowledge of the Law and Prophets which pointed firmly towards Jesus as the Messiah. God forbid we should hear such a reproach from Jesus - you should have known better - but sometimes don't we need to?
How does Jesus cure us of our scribe's logic? Well, he loves us all individually and treats us as individuals too. The cure will always be tailor-made, just for us! This is one of the reasons we have to read the gospels every day: to open our own hearts and minds to his healing touch so grace can illuminate the circumstances known to God and us alone. That is the formation the Father offers us in the joys and sorrows of every day. By saying our fiat to such joys and sorrows, by saying yes and thank you with Mary our Mother, we are allowing the Blessed Trinity to reshape us, to heal us; ultimately to make us more in the image of Jesus.
Jesus, destroy the scribe's logic in my heart, and replace it with the wisdom of your love to make my heart like yours.
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