Matt. 12:22-37 – By What Power/A Kingdom Divided

I am still astonished that in the midst of miracles the Pharisees continue see Jesus only as a troublemaker. What kind of world was it that the wonder of miraculous heal could be coldly dismissed? I know that they were actually reacting to the crowd’s open question about who this Jesus might be. But it’s amazing their persistence, and as stated before, it should be a lesson to us all at the hardness of an unbelieving heart to not be moved even when the miracles of God are plainly seen.

It’s an interesting tactic that the Pharisees would prepose that Jesus is able to do this through the cooperation of the devils themselves. There is a certain logic to this, were these “healings” only a temporary vacating on the part of the demons. But this is not temporary “relocation,” but a sign that God is coming to claim dominion again upon his creation, a sign that “the kingdom of God has come upon you.” (Mt. 12:28). This is no cooperative trick, but the forceful overpowering of the former “Lord of the House.”

Jesus then draws a line in the sand with his “No for me/but against me” statement. This is significant to me because of my own tendencies towards wanting to see Jesus in a less judgmental, all-inclusive frame of reference. But in fact, even in this case, what he’s pointing out is that all blasphemy can be forgiven, even speaking against himself. But if one speaks against the works of the Holy Spirit, that is unforgivable. But I have a sense that the root of this difficulty is that by speaking against the work of the Holy Spirit they are throwing themselves wholly outside the revelation of God and making themselves unredeemable because they are speaking out against the signs that the Kingdom of God is among them. It’s not really the act but the position they put themselves in because of their verbal opposition to the workings of God, by the Holy Spirit, in their midst.

The passage concludes with repeated statements that a person can be known by the good (or evil) that comes from their lives. The warning is that every idle word will condemn or acquit such as one, and no doubt speaking against the works of God done through the Holy Spirit will not be ignored. JBB 07/03/2004