Reading Matthew 12:43-45: On Casting Out Evil, and Bringing In Goodness

Reading Matthew 12:43-45: Here the Savior gives an interesting, and somewhat obscure discussion of the casting out of evil spirits.  The idea here is that the casting out of an evil spirit may only be a temporary measure, depending on what the person does after the evil spirit is cast out.  The concept is discussed from the point of view of the evil spirit, rather than the person out of whom the evil spirit is cast:  ‘When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and finding none.  Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.  Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.’ 

The key word here, I think is ‘empty’, which is scholazonta in Greek, also translated as ‘unoccupied’.  The way I read this scripture, we have a person who has rid themselves of an evil spirit in some way, and perhaps of some of those things that go along with evil spirits – deception, self-deception, a life of sin and a life of suffering because of sin, etc.  In this way, they have rid themselves of something bad – that is, they have succeeded, at least temporarily, of getting bad things out of their lives.  But, they have left their ‘house’ – that is, their soul, ‘empty’ or ‘unoccupied’. It has been cleaned out, yes, but it is also empty.  With the term ‘unoccupied’, we could argue that the soul is perhaps even idle.  That is, the person has not yet filled their soul with good things – they have not replaced bad things with good things. 

This seems to me to be a idea of central importance.  Human beings, by our nature, need purpose.  I think we do have a deep need to be engaged in something that we believe to be good.  If we neglect to bring good things into our lives, it is hard to sustain that kind of apathy and indifference – something, eventually, will need to take root in us.  An empty soul is easy to fill with negativity, vice, and false ideas.  On the other hand, if we are actively filling our cups, filling our lamps, filling our souls with truth and light, it is harder for evil influences to come into our lives.  Or, at least, we will have the spiritual and intellectual resources that we need to counter evil and withstand it when we are confronted with it.  I think this is one reason why it’s so important to immerse our children and youth in the scriptures, both at home and in church settings, like seminary, youth activities, youth conferences etc.  We need to show them how to fill their lamps – that is, how to live a life that encapsulates the regular filling of our lamps.  The take away is that the gospel of Jesus Christ is not a passive affair on our part. It requires effort for goodness. Living the gospel is a matter of actively, and habitually, bringing good things into our lives, not just avoiding evil things.