Editing Fast Fridays: 30 Minutes for God (section)

== Friday, Oct 18: what is our allegiance? ==
* '''The Demand for a Sign ('''[https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/12?38 Mt 12:38])
* '''The Return of the Unclean Spirit''' ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/12?43 Mt 12:43] and [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/11:24 Lk 11:24])

As news of the works and wonders of Jesus spread, the pharisees and scribes felt threatened, and challenged and tried to discredit him. They demanded “a sign,” to which Jesus replied with a brutal reference to Jonah and the judgement of Nineveh (gentiles!) and the parable of “The Return of the Unclean Spirit.”

Do we build our faith on visible signs, then, with or without them, clear our consciences and move on? And even for those of us who believe without seeing (Jn 20:24), do we really complete our “clean houses” with God, or do we let demons fill any empty spaces?

It strikes me that Matthew put "Return of the Unclean Spirit" just after the "Demand for a sign" in order to emphasize that rote and literal obedience to Mosaic Law misses the point.  We might today call it, following the "letter" of the law, but not its "spirit."
----We looked over Matthew 12 and realized that the second passage, Jesus is likely still talking to the pharisees, although we really don't know, and he's talking to us, anyway.  But what strikes me if we take these these passages together is that Jesus uses the "Return of the Unclean Spirit" to let the pharisees know what is going on with them and their souls. 

They sweep themselves clean, set everything in order, thinking that by following the Law they are with God and in God's favor. Jesus warns them, though, first with the "Demand for a Sign" that the signs are all around them, he doesn't need, and, indeed, will not, show them signs, because they've been given those signs all along, which is why he tells them that "An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign" that has already been given, pointing to the prophet Jonah who saved Assyrians (! a most pagan and violent empire) after three days and nights in a whale. But, Jesus tells them, you haven't listened to Jonah, and now you have "something greater than Jonah here... something greater than Solomon here." 

Moving into the "Return of the Unclean Spirit," Jesus warns them -- and us -- that if you don't fill the space you have cleaned of an evil spirit, it will be filled by "seven other spirits more evil" and "the last condition of that person is worse than the first." It's scary to think about, because he's saying that they would have been better off without the Law than with it but not filled with and by God. 

From there we discussed how our society today thinks itself clean and pure, you know, "I'm a good person,"yet, in not seeking God, we are filled by worser spirits than those we supposedly fought off by "being a good person."