“If I throw out demons by the power of God, then God’s kingdom has already overtaken you.” –Jesus (in Luke 11:20)
I’ve written 54 devotionals on Luke so far in 2026. I chose Luke to focus on this year for my Reading Jesus podcast because it’s my favorite gospel and the book I thought I knew the best. But I’ve been genuinely astonished by how the presence of evil shows up in the story:
- Before Jesus even begins his public ministry, Satan appears in person to mess with his head (Lk 4:1-13)
- The first miracle of Jesus recorded by Luke is an exorcism (Lk 4:33-37).
- The same language of “rebuke” that Luke uses when Jesus casts out demons he also uses for calming deadly storms and healing sicknesses—suggesting all these phenomena are symptoms of evil’s presence in the world (Lk 4:39; 8:24).
- The first miracle recorded in Gentile territory is the legion of demons exercised from a man in the region of Gerasenes (Lk 8:26-39).
- When Jesus sends out 12 representatives, he gives them authority to cast out demons (Lk 9:1-2).
- The disciples’ failure to exorcise a demon that is torturing a child provokes one of the strongest rebukes of Jesus’ ministry (Lk 9:37-43)
- Jesus defends the rights of those not in the ‘in-group’ of disciples to cast out demons in his name (Lk 9:49-50)
- When Jesus sends out 72 representatives, it’s the submission of the demons that they come back marveling over. And Jesus responds to their report with the most open joy we see in his whole ministry (Lk 10:17-24).
All this takes place in just the first ten chapters of Luke, and the list isn’t even exhaustive.
Many people—especially in western settings—tend to talk about what Jesus does for the world in one of two ways. One is in judicial terms: Jesus canceled our judgment, took our punishment, paid our debt. The other is in therapeutic terms: Jesus healed our wounds, ended scapegoating, showed us what love really is.
All of this might well be part of Jesus’ story. But it also overlooks what might well be the most dominant biblical throughline.
The world isn’t just wounded or broken; it’s under occupation. Things aren’t just messed up by accident; there are forces of resistance arrayed against God’s designs. They seek to destroy what God builds. To divide what God reconciles. To kill what God enlivens. To desecrate what God beautifies. They twist truth and sow lies. They take captive minds and bodies. They steal names and distort identities. They torment and isolate and addict and strip bare.
According to Luke, Jesus came to dethrone evil. To ravage hell. To drive Satan out of every place he’s falsely claimed. Jesus’ cross turned the tide of battle. The cross broke Satan’s scepter. It tore the doors of his dungeons. It delivered his eviction notice. It insured his final loss.
But the war isn’t quite over yet. All the ground hasn’t yet been taken back. This is why Jesus entrusts his disciples—first 12 and then 72—with a share of his authority over evil. The victory Jesus earns must be carried to souls and minds and bodies and systems where false flags have been planted.
When the 72 return to Jesus after their first sending and describe how demons fled from them, Jesus responds by sharing a prophetic vision. He says, “I saw Satan fall like lightning” (Lk 10:18). This appears to be a vision of the final end of evil. In the experiences of these disciples, Jesus sees a sign that Satan’s end is near. Jesus affirms to these followers—72 for the 72 nations listed in Genesis—that he’s given them authority to tread on snakes and crunch their heads. The mythic serpent will be crushed under the sandals of farmers and housewives who act in Jesus’ name.
So why does any of this matter practically for us?
There is a battle still unfolding for hearts and minds and bodies. It is written all over the world. Our neighbors aren’t crazy or stupid or terrible people; they’re hostages, captive to lies. Our systems aren’t just poorly designed; they are actively God-resistant. Our conflicts aren’t just hard to solve; they’re being fed by unseen fuel. We’re not just angry or hopeless or anxious or depressed; we’re people under assault. It’s not just dark out sometimes; the sun is being eclipsed.
Jesus-followers have a responsibility for the world and for our neighbors. We’ve been given spiritual shields for resistance, so that we don’t get played. More than that, we’ve been entrusted with authority for casting evil out in Jesus’ name. If we don’t exercise that authority, Jesus’ victory maybe be delayed on ground that he’s ready to claim.
This is what I find myself thinking about on this Holy Week. Shortly before his death, Jesus said: “’Now is the time for the judgment of the world. Now this world’s ruler will be thrown out. When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to me.’ (He said this to show how he was going to die” (Jn 12:32-33). This is how Jesus describes the significance of his own death. It’s an exorcism, a judgment against evil, an announcement of its eviction.
The world needs this exorcism now more than ever. Contempt, greed, division, deception, indifference, and so much more seem to be claiming ground. But we don’t live in the time before the cross. The serpent has taken a mortal blow now. He knows his doom is written. The problem is we don’t know it. And when we don’t know, we don’t stand up against him.
There’s authority in Jesus’ name to deny the serpent his false claims. There’s authority to enforce his eviction. This isn’t an action we can take without risk. But it is an action we can take without fear. Because evil can no longer hold what it claims. The bars are off the dungeon. Whatever goes down is coming back up.
I find myself on this Good Friday wanting to recommit to the Jesus-empowered ministry of exorcism:
Satan, you don’t get this ground the church stands on. In Jesus’ name, we deny you authority here. We refuse contempt and othering. We refuse cruelty and inhumanity. We refuse the lure of greed and its distractions. We refuse despair and helplessness. We refuse to fall asleep.
We’ll pray for our neighbors. We’ll pray for the church. We’ll live something truer than the lies. We’ll push back on the darkness. We’ll plant peace and goodness and beauty in gardens that evil can’t claim. We’ll tread fearlessly on top of snakes’ heads and remind hell that Jesus reigns.
