Grace and Space

Lk 11:15-26
By the finger of God: To declare that Jesus drives out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, is to call him a magician. Jesus gives two responses to this accusation.
First, Jesus declares the accusation to be illogical. Division leads to destruction. Satan would not cast himself out!
Second, the accusation is inconsistent. There are other Jewish exorcists, who are active at the same time as Jesus. These perform exorcisms without being identified with Beelzebul. Therefore, to identify Jesus with him and not the other exorcists is inconsistent logic.
Jesus’ miraculous exorcism does not mean that Jesus is a magician; it does mean that his power is different from that of other Jewish exorcists. For Luke, what the exorcism does mean is that “the kingdom of God has come” (v 20). Jesus is the stronger man, who has attacked the fully armed Satan and taken away his armor, upon which he relied, and distributed the spoils (cf vv 21-22). By the “finger of God” (v 20) Jesus declares the kingdom of God to be present and Satan defeated.