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"When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation."
While He was still talking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers stood outside, seeking to speak with Him. Then one said to Him, "Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You." But He answered and said to the one who told Him, "Who is My mother and who are My brothers?" And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, "Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother."
- Matthew 12:43-50
In Friday's reading, Jesus taught, "Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come." On Saturday, He continued: "Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from You." But He answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here."
"When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation." My study bible says, "When, by the mercy of God, the Israelites were delivered out of Egypt, they did not repent of their impure ways, and unclean spirits again took up residence in them (Deut. 31:20, 32:15-18; Ps. 106:34-39). The same happens here. Unless there is full-hearted repentance and the Holy Spirit dwells in a person, the expelled demon will return with many others and reoccupy its abode." In context, Jesus is talking to those who are demanding a sign from Him, a proof -- who fail to recognize all the signs already of His ministry, a sort of willful hard-heartedness that refuses to see. As we have commented in the earlier readings just prior to this passage, the emphasis is on our own capacity for recognition of the Spirit and the work of the Spirit. Here Jesus seems to emphasize the importance of our own effort and vigilance to know and love God. In this context, even a healing, an exorcism, if you will, doesn't retain its effect unless the desire of the person is also present, active, enlivened and seeking a cooperative relationship with the Holy Spirit. In Jesus' example, the problem, instead, grows worse.
While He was still talking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers stood outside, seeking to speak with Him. Then one said to Him, "Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You." But He answered and said to the one who told Him, "Who is My mother and who are My brothers?" And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, "Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother." My study bible explains, "Jesus' relatives have not yet understood His identity and mission. He points to a spiritual family based on obedience to the will of My Father. In Jewish usage 'brother' may also signify a stepbrother or other relative. Abram called his nephew Lot 'brother' (Gen. 14:14); Boaz spoke of his relative Elimelech as his 'brother' (Ruth 4:3); and Joab called Amasa, his first cousin (2 Sam. 17:25), 'brother' just before he killed him (2 Sam. 20:9)." In many branches of the Church, it's held that Jesus had relatives (perhaps extended family, perhaps children of Joseph by an earlier spouse), not blood brothers. My study bible notes that at the Cross, Jesus commits His mother to the care of His disciple John, which would have been a crime against tradition had she had another child to care for her. Here, Jesus isn't saying insulting or excluding His relatives. Rather, He's continuing with the same theme on which He's already speaking. He's extending His family to include all those who truly seek God, to know God, and in cooperative relationship to do God's will.
Jesus may seem to be making disparate statements here in addressing those who accuse Him of casting out demons by the ruler of the demons (see Friday's reading for the beginning of this speech). First He speaks of the division of kingdoms and how illogical it is to accuse Him of casting out demons by the power of demons. Then He alludes to His own power that they fail to recognize, at their peril, because the signs in His ministry mean the kingdom of God is present with them. He tells them that "He who is not with Me is against Me" and warns against the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. He cautions people regarding what they say, that every word demands an account -- and the root of all action and all speech is what is in the heart. (See Saturday's reading: "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.") Therefore He calls them "brood of vipers" who choose to love the malice they're creating and harboring. As they demand a sign, He becomes more vehement, comparing those who fail to recognize what is already on offer in His ministry unfavorably to those foreigners who have been part of Jewish spiritual history. These authorities in Scripture (the Pharisees who accuse Him) will be judged by those who did perceive the grace of God, having no culture and no spiritual history to draw upon as these Pharisees do, and He cites the "queen of the South" who recognized the wisdom of Solomon, and the Ninevites who repented at the preaching of the prophet Jonah. In today's reading, He compares these willfully malicious men (who seek to plot against Him) to someone healed of evil who fails to actively participate in his own healing, to practice vigilance and love of God -- and so winds up in a worse state than he started. He's telling them that they're heading down a road of a kind of destruction, and if they don't turn around, where they will find themselves will be worse -- even if He should offer proofs, a sign, a kind of forced healing despite their refusal to recognize what He's doing, and the presence of the work of the Spirit. But the reading takes us even further, into relationship, when Jesus emphasizes, on the other hand, those who are capable of responding to love with love. Let's remember that the initial incident that began all this series of dialogue, a kind of turning point in Jesus' ministry, was a healing on the Sabbath. These Pharisees viewed this as a direct challenge to their authority, and so began to plot against Him at that point. In this sense, the question of the Pharisees ("Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?") and Jesus' pronouncement of the law in that reading, "Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath," is the challenge that somehow we all take up. In that earlier reading, Jesus also challenged the authorities by saying, "But if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless." Everything that followed was an expansion of His response to these events, in the worsening relationship between Himself and the authorities who now actively seek to persecute Him. The power of the Gift that is on offer demands of us to make these choices too. What will we love? What do we treasure in our hearts? Are we capable of responding to the good, to that which asks us to expand beyond our cherished positions? This challenge can happen any time, any place, anywhere. But the key is not our perfection. It is rather our willingness to have a receptive heart to God who is love, who is good, who desires mercy and not sacrifice. The key is the relationship, in "His family" shaped by the presence of the Spirit, the work of the Kingdom and our capacity to participate in this reality. It is about a willing heart that makes all the difference. As so often surprisingly happens, it is what is in our hearts and minds that ties us back to the Father.
