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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 that when Jesus knew that the Pharisees were plotting against Him, He withdrew. 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?" 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." To heal the blind and mute is a sign of the Messiah. This is why the people ask, "Could this be the Son of David?" The Pharisees at this point are looking for reasons to condemn Jesus. Beelzebub -- or Baal -- was the prince of "the dung heap", or lord of "the flies" (derisory terms used by the Jews for this god worshiped by the Philistines; see 2 Kings 1:2-16). Here the Pharisees refer to Baal as the ruler of the demons. Jesus answers with direct logic and knowledge of warring kingdoms: the demons fighting against one another couldn't be strong. Furthermore, if He casts out demons by demons, then by whom do Jewish exorcists under their religious authority (for there was such a tradition) cast out demons? He puts it very bluntly: they must consider what they are saying. If He casts out demons, contrary to their assertions, by the Spirit of God, then surely the kingdom of God is present. He is the stronger man. Those who are not with Him are against Him, and those who don't gather with Him scatter abroad. My study bible says that the impossibility of demons fighting against themselves illustrates the irrational pride and envy of the Pharisees in their opposition to Jesus.
"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." Here's the "real deal," so to speak. The work of the Spirit in the world -- as they know full well -- is God's work in the world. What Jesus condemns is blasphemy against the divine activity of the Spirit, a blasphemy against what my study bible calls "pure goodness." A sin against the Son of Man is more easily forgiven because they don't know much about Christ. But the Spirit's divine activity is known from Old Testament Scripture, in which they are the official experts. That type of blasphemy won't be forgiven, says my study bible, because it comes from a willful hardness of heart and a refusal to accept God's mercy. In the tradition of the Church, blasphemy against the Spirit is not an "unforgivable sin," nor does Jesus ever call it "unforgivable." St. Chrysostom teaches that it would be forgivable if one repented of it. This declaration by Jesus is made knowing that those who blaspheme the Spirit are calling divine goodness "evil," and that they are deliberately choosing to do so for their own reasons. They are past repentance.
Why would people deliberately blaspheme the Holy Spirit? It's rather ironic, to say the least, that it is Jesus who will be brought up and "convicted" on charges of blasphemy. A different charge will be made in order to bring Him to Pilate and have Him put to death, but that is simply because Pilate wasn't a religious authority, and blasphemy charges would have meant nothing to him. Jesus is a popular figure, and so it was necessary for His death to have been an act by the Roman state. But we can ask ourselves why these religious authorities would do such a thing if they truly understood that the Spirit was at work in Christ. Perhaps they thought that the sanctity of their positions, and their places within the establishment group of the temple leadership, ensured them. Perhaps the Gospel is simply trying to allow us to see -- as so much in the Old Testament Scripture does as well -- that a position in life, even one of religious authority, doesn't preclude us from sin and terrible error. It really serves to enforce the fact that it is the circumcised heart and humility toward God that is the best and only protection that we're on the right track. Jesus' criticism of the Pharisees is that they've made such an idol out of their own traditions built up around the Law that they criticize Him for doing good -- for fulfilling the aims of the Law in the first place. But none of this would be happening if it weren't for envy, at least this is the position of the Gospels. Pilate, veteran of politics, will see that. But it must be a dire warning to us that envy can blind us to the true reality of something we should know better about. Envy can trip us up in matters of the greatest importance. It is a kind of archetypal sin; after all, it's the one ascribed to Satan. Jesus' popularity with the people is very strong, as was John the Baptist's. And now the signs He's producing are those associated with the coming of the Messiah. That is a threat to the positions of these men who criticize and find fault, and Jesus does nothing to diminish the growing split between His work and the anger of these men. He tells them the truth, a truth He knows they won't believe. So as we're heading into the time of His ministry in which He accepts this growing split, we note Jesus' mission and strategy: He has attempted to avoid direct confrontation with the leadership, but He does not back down from doing the good works He's sent to do. He doesn't stop teaching, even about the presence of the kingdom of God in their midst. He doesn't stop defending the work of the Spirit. He is our Suffering Servant, One who's humble and meek and lowly of heart, who is compassionate, but who will not stop His mission for any reason. He's humble enough to accept what is happening, and His signs are for use only to build up the faithful. Let us remember His focus, through all things.
