Although the crowds were amazed at what Jesus had done, the Pharisees concluded that it is by the prince of demons that Jesus was driving out demons. Isn’t it always amazing how the same thing can generate divergent and opposing reactions? Isn’t it amazing how we are sometimes quick to dismiss something good done by someone else for the simple reason that he/she doesn’t belong to our camp? As Jesus made his rounds through the towns and villages, he encountered people who were suffering from all kinds of diseases, and as part of his proclamation of the Good News, he was moved to cure and heal their infirmities. While one would be led to believe that everybody would be delighted with what Jesus was doing, unfortunately, this was not the case. Not everybody was happy. For the most part, those who disapproved Jesus’ healing miracles cited the manner in which Jesus performed them: they had either been done in unpermitted places (inside the synagogues or the temple), on holy days (Sabbath), or the healings had been accompanied by some blasphemous utterances (your sins are forgiven). In today’s Gospel reading, however, the Pharisees’ disapproval of Jesus was not caused by any of the above reasons.
Due to the perceived differences that existed between Jesus and the religious leaders, the latter had simply become intolerant of Jesus. There was hardly anything that Jesus would do or say that wouldn’t be criticized by the religious leaders. Unfortunately, their intolerance blinded them so much so that they failed to think about the recipients of Jesus’ miracles, something that Jesus bemoaned. Their obsession with maintaining the status quo made them to forget about their responsibility as shepherds of the people. As men raised by God to shepherd God’s people, the religious leaders should have been at the forefront of celebrating the liberative acts of God that were being done through Jesus Christ. On the contrary, they chose to focus their attention of how different Jesus was from them. This is the reason why in the healing account of which we have heard, they chose to discredit and to play down what Jesus had done by claiming he had done it through the powers of the prince of demons. Their hatred of Jesus could not allow them to give credit where it was due.