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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
On Saturday, we read that after a confrontation with the Pharisees over healing on the Sabbath, the Pharisees began to plot against Jesus. But 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?" The healing of a blind and mute man was not just a stupendous event, it was prophesied as a sign of the Messiah. Therefore the multitudes ask, "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." Beelzebub or Baal was a god worshiped by the Philistines (see (2 Kings 1:2-16). This form of the name may have been a deliberate mispronunciation by the Jews to mean prince "of the dung heap" or lord of the "the flies." Here, he is called ruler of the demons. Jesus responds by pointing out the lack of sense in the accusation against Him: Would Satan cast out Satan? How then would his kingdom stand? Moreover, since there were exorcists in Jewish tradition, Jesus asks, by what power do they cast out demons? Therefore they are witnesses against the Pharisees' accusation. Here is a great caution to them: If he casts out demons by the Spirit of God, then they must conclude that surely the kingdom of God has come among them. Only a stronger man (Christ, the Son, with the power of the Holy Spirit) could first bind the strong man (Beelzebub). My study bible says that the impossibility of demons fighting against themselves illustrates the Pharisees irrational pride and envy in their opposition to Jesus.
"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." Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is blasphemy against the divine activity of the Spirit -- a blasphemy against pure goodness, says my study bible. A sin against the Son of Man is more easily forgiven because the Jews did not know much about Christ, it explains. But the divine activity of the Spirit is already known, particularly to the Pharisees, from the Old Testament Scriptures. Therefore blasphemy against the work of the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven because it comes from a willful hardness of heart and refusal to accept God's mercy. My study bible goes on to state that "the Fathers are clear that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is not an 'unforgivable sin'; nor does Jesus ever call this sin 'unforgivable.' St. John Chrysostom teaches that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit would be forgivable if a person were to repent of it. Jesus makes this declaration knowing that those who blaspheme the Spirit are calling pure, divine goodness 'evil,' and are beyond repentance by their own choice."
Here Jesus names the work of the Holy Spirit, countering the accusation that He works by the power of the demons, or "Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons." What we have to see, first of all, is that this warning issued to these men is made from love and mercy. They still have time to repent. Their accusation is vile, made from the motives of envy and pride of their places in the religious life of the people. But it goes beyond merely that, and into blasphemy, not because they accuse Him, but because they blaspheme the work of the Holy Spirit. It is the signs themselves, the healing which they attribute to evil spiritual forces, that tell the truth and bear witness to the work of the Spirit, which they refuse to recognize. It is, as my study bible says, a deliberate kind of hardness of heart to attribute such signs to the work of evil. Thereby it becomes blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. It's a good warning, and an important one. It goes back to a sort of failure of gratitude, this inability or refusal to accept and acknowledge the work of God in one's midst, the great spiritual blessing of this gift of mercy and grace. Such a refusal can only be made from self-centered motives, and in fact an inappropriate fear of God, a fear of losing materially and so a refusal to gain spiritually. But in this the leadership fails to lead the people; these are the religious authorities, experts in Scripture and the Law, but in the blind preoccupation with their own places threatened by Christ's "mighty works," they do their worst rather than upholding their true responsibility as religious leaders. What we need to understand is that the mistakes of these men also may be our own mistakes in our lives, and that this warning stands for everyone -- but especially for those who think they "know better" or have been exposed to the love and mercy of God. It is exceptionally important that we understand love to understand Jesus and what He is teaching here. We may look at the saints of the Church to understand they weren't always our definition of "perfect." Jesus' words about the criticisms of both He and John the Baptist apply here: John they said was too ascetic, and He's labeled in an opposite way: a winebibber and glutton. But "wisdom is justified by her children." If love is at work in the power of the Holy Spirit, then a receptiveness to mercy -- the opposite of hard-heartedness -- is what it takes to know it. To degrade and portray such work as evil is blasphemy. Let us look for the power of the Spirit at work in our lives. The Holy Spirit may be present in the "works" of people around us as well. Let us look to our own judgment, and remember the words of these men, and pray for our own receptivity to the goodness of God at work in our world, the kingdom present among us. Perhaps what is called evil may just be our fear of recognizing the need for change.
