Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks

"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."

- Matthew 12:33-42

In yesterday's reading, we read of Jesus casting out a demon from a man who was blind and mute. The people marveled, so that they were asking, "Could this be the Son of David?" Some Pharisees accused Him of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub, "the ruler of the demons." Jesus replied, "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?" For understanding today's reading, it's worth quoting Him fully: "And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad. Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. 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."

"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." Here is the essence of a repeated teaching. In Matthew's Gospel, we are given repeated teaching on the essence of the inner life, the power of the individual choice and what we love in the heart. A "brood of vipers" would be a figurative allusion to children of what is evil, of the demonic. It's important to understand that Jesus is speaking directly to those who are accusing Him of evil deeds by demonic power. It is they who are not bearing good fruit. They are speaking evil. In the words that follow, there can be no clearer indication of the importance of "guarding the heart," taking care what we set our hearts upon and what we love, what we hold dear and what we cast off within ourselves. In the teachings in the Beatitudes, Jesus tells us so; in this reading, the ones who are accusing Him of working through demonic power and evil are the ones who fail to heed such counsel.

"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." When we take this teaching in its context, in conjunction with the words Jesus has said about what is in the heart and what is the treasure of the heart, then we understand Him better. What is spoken even as idle word is an indication of what is within the heart. Whatever we treasure in our hearts, good or bad, is that which comes out of our mouths -- especially in an "idle" time. Therefore we take what we love seriously, we take it to heart to think about what we love and what we treasure, to make good choices. Nothing is truly "idle" - we are to be aware of who we are, what we are, what we love and nurture within ourselves. Remember, this is in the context of those who have condemned Jesus' healing of the demon-possessed blind and mute man; Jesus has been accused of doing so through evil power. It is those words coming out of their mouths which He is addressing here. He has just condemned the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit: that is, calling the works of the Spirit evil. Therefore our own inner awareness of what we treasure is linked to our ability to discern spiritual truth, what is good, what is truly the Spirit at work in the world, the kingdom among us.

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from You." This becomes the next test, the next response of those who have accused Him of evil. "Let's see a sign." But they have already seen many signs. It's not a sincere request, but another obstacle to faith, out of a stony heart that does not want to see.

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." None of the people to whom Christ is speaking could possibly have understood what He meant, this allusion to His death and Resurrection. But His followers will remember. It will, in fact, be the work of the Spirit to bring to their understanding all that He has said and taught in His ministry.

"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." Once again, Jesus is emphasizing the power of discernment. Those who heard Jonah -- a foreign people at that -- repented and listened to Him, a prophet of Israel, sent by the God of Israel to preach repentance. The queen of the South is the queen of Sheba, another foreigner, who came "from the ends of the earth" to question Solomon and to listen to his wisdom, and she valued that wisdom, another gift of the Spirit in the world. Jesus alludes to Himself and His true identity when He openly tells them that, "indeed a a greater than Solomon is here." It tells us of the hints, in the people's question, "Could this be the Son of David?" and Jesus' referrals to Himself as Son of Man, and "greater than Solomon." We also hear of judgment, and this is even judgment by Gentiles who have found faith, know the work of the Spirit in the world -- those who listened to Jonah and repented, and she who listened to Solomon. By their capacities, as witnesses who through their own lives testified to the work of the Spirit, they will condemn those who cannot perceive in Judgment.

Witnessing becomes an important consideration in today's reading. When we cultivate the heart in a healthy manner, considering what we love, casting out the things that aren't really good for us, we nurture the things to which we choose to belong. When our inner lives become unimportant, even "idle words" may condemn, in the sense that they betray a heart that is stony and hardened, one that doesn't really care for the living word of the Spirit, the life of the true power of the Kingdom, given us in Pentecost in the image of fire -- something alive and powerful, a kind of living energy present to us behind and filling all things. The power of witnessing becomes testimony to a different kind of judgment than we usually can consider. This is the capacity within all human beings for the perception of spiritual life, the presence of the kingdom -- as witnessed by the Gentiles Jesus names who are well-known figures in the Old Testament, in the Jewish Scripture the scribes and Pharisees know as the official body of experts. Yet, they fail to know Him -- they fail to perceive the work of the Spirit in His works and signs. This tells us a very great deal about our own hearts and the condition of importance with which we also must view our inner lives, the things we seek to treasure, our awareness of the things we may need to discard from within ourselves. It's a question of what we treasure, what we truly love, and what we put first. I believe that those of us who call ourselves Christians are called to a responsibility of equal urgency as the scribes and Pharisees Jesus was speaking to all those centuries ago. We can't rest in a name, an identity, our religious practice or heritage; He's making it clear that it is the perception of the work and presence of the Spirit in the here and now that will really matter as we live our lives moment to moment. The living fire of Pentecost is with us and within us; the gifts of the Spirit are those great treasures we value as disciples, as set out in the Beatitudes. The choice is in what we treasure, what we come to love each day as we grow in spiritual experience, through His Way. How do you find your Way? What is the gift for you to treasure today, as did the people of Ninevah, and the queen of Sheba?