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Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. And all the multitudes were amazed and said, "Could this be the Son of David?" Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, "This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons." But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: "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? 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."
- Matthew 12:22-32
Yesterday, we read what happened after some Pharisees had begun to plot against Jesus. When Jesus knew it, He withdrew from there. And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all. Yet He warned them not to make Him known, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: "Behold! My Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased! I will put My Spirit upon Him, and He will declare justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel nor cry out, nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets. A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench, till He sends forth justice to victory; and in His name Gentiles will trust."
Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. And all the multitudes were amazed and said, "Could this be the Son of David?" Healing the blind and mute are signs of the Messiah, messianic acts. The crowd understands this, and so begins to wonder if Jesus could be "the Son of David."
Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, "This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons." But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: "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? 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." My study bible points out here that the Pharisees are filled with envy and pride. They find in this miracle a pretext to attack Jesus, accusing Him of having Beelzebub as the source of His power. "Beelzebub/Ball," it notes, "was the prince perhaps of 'the dung heap' or 'the flies' -- a god worshiped by the Philistines (2 Kings 1:2-16), here he is called ruler of the demons. Demons do not fight against themselves, but are cast out by God's power through the Holy Spirit, whose action signals the present reality of the Kingdom."
"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." My study bible tells us, "Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is blasphemy against the divine activity of the Spirit - the accusation that Jesus healed the demoniac by demonic power rather than by the power of the Holy Spirit (see Mark 3:29-30). Every sin against the Son of Man can be forgiven, because the Jews do not yet know much about Him. But blasphemy against the Spirit, whose divine activity they know from the Old Testament, will not be forgiven. This blasphemy is willful hardness of heart. It attributes the saving action of the Spirit to Satan and refuses to accept God's forgiveness and mercy."
Once again, Jesus as Son of Man defers to God -- this time in the Person of God the Spirit. It is the Spirit that will be the judge, that creates judgment, in the sense that those who blaspheme the work of the Spirit are judged. This tells us something important and essential about the nature of God and the nature of the Spirit. Not only do these people, as my study bible points out, fully understand the work of the Spirit as they are experts on Scripture already and the spiritual history of Israel, but it is clear from this passage that human beings are capable of receiving an understanding about this work. The common people wonder, "Could this be the Son of David?" They at least pay attention to the effects of this ministry, and begin to ask themselves what it means. But the leadership, jealous for their places, are not doing this. Instead they continue to merely advance their own authoritative places, and they simply feel a threat from Christ. They claim to work for God themselves, but they fail to honor the work of God through Jesus' ministry. It's an important reminder of another teaching of Jesus that "whoever is not against us is for us." There is a kind of hidden theme within a theme here; even the demons work together. Who are they therefore working for, who deny the Spirit's presence in this healing? It comes down to a stark choice, here in today's reading. The Pharisees are either going to open up their eyes and ears and really look and accept what is happening, or they are going to be fighting something much bigger than they understand. Jesus compares the "Son of Man" to the Spirit, and even the Son of Man comes short of what it is these men are blaspheming. As Jesus' ministry continues, the inevitable conflict occurs because of their rejection of the Kingdom that has come near, the work of the Spirit. And this is what the conflict is all about. It's not about the Son of Man, but about humility before God, deference to the work of God in the world, to the presence of the Spirit. It's a mistake to see this conflict in terms of human beings, some believing one thing and others believing another. That is the point of view of these men who cannot give up their authority to recognize God in their midst, even the actions of the Holy Spirit at work. The real point of view here, if they should truly be healed by the presence of the Spirit, eyes and ears open, is to wake up to the spiritual work of God. This is the God who lives, who is. It is the work of the Spirit that is still moving among us, that is always present, that moves and works in our world, that comes when we call. The important thing, if we really want to be healed, is to be aware of this spiritual reality and what it asks of us -- especially in how it asks us to grow and to stretch, to open our eyes and ears, and to quit taking the easy way out and defending what should not be defended. I find that the process of growing in faith asks of me this kind of stretching and growth, to open up my eyes and ears, to heal what needs healing in humility before God. When we lose that living connection, when we forget that the Spirit is present now to us, in a moment of prayer, then we lose the thread, the real meaning and power behind the Son of Man. We've been given this tremendous gift. Let us not refuse it. Let us not refuse to acknowledge what's on offer because it takes us out of what we think we know.
