Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things?

 "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

Yesterday we read that one was brought to Christ 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."

 "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!"   Here Jesus evokes the same thoughts spoken earlier by John the Baptist, also referring to the judgment to come.  In chapter 3, John called the Pharisees and Sadducees who came to him for baptism, "Brood of vipers!"    He commanded them, "Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance," and warned that "even now the ax is laid to the root of the  trees."  He told them, "Every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."   Brood means "children."  To be called brood of vipers is to suggest their deception and malice.  In contradistinction to their accusation that Jesus casts out demons by the power of the ruler of demons (see yesterday's reading, above),  brood of vipers also indicates that these religious leaders are under the direction of Satan.

"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."  In Scripture, my study bible says, the heart refers to the center of consciousness, the seat of the intellect and the will, and the place from which spiritual life proceeds.  It says that when God's grace permeates the heart, it masters the body and guides all actions and thoughts.  On the other hand, however, when malice and evil capture the heart, one becomes full of darkness and spiritual confusion.   Although these men think nothing of using their power as religious leaders to make any accusation they choose, Jesus warns them that for every idle word men may speak there will be required an account of it in the day of judgment.  In the strongest terms possible, Jesus teaches us that our words matter.

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from You."   Jesus has already provided many signs of the presence of the Kingdom.  But the Pharisees, my study bible tells us, show their wickedness by demanding yet another sign as "proof" of His identity.   Jesus doesn't cater to those who demand a sign out of wicked intent.  In His response, He indicates that the only sign to them will be His Passion and Resurrection.

 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."  By calling them adulterous, Jesus is using the language of the Old Testament prophets for Israel when Israel was unfaithful to God (Jeremiah 2; Hosea 2:2-13).  Once again, there's an irony here, as it is the Pharisees who've just suggested that Jesus casts out demons by the power of Beelzebub.  In the Old Testament, it was Elijah who scathingly condemned King Ahaziah for seeking the word of Beelzebub rather than the God of Israel (2 Kings 1:2-16).  Jesus cites examples of foreigners from the Old Testament who revered the word and works of the God of Israel, saying that in the judgment they will rise up in condemnation of this generation of Israel's leadership (see Jonah 3, 1 Kings 10:1-13).

Jesus teaches us that our words are important.  They mean something.  Often we hear "idle words" all around us that are full of venom, suggesting to us that brood of vipers isn't a concept so very far away at all from what we know.  We see around us, and experience it vividly through social media of all types, a kind of sea of disruption and disregard.  Divisiveness seems to permeate society more greatly than in the past.  As old types of cohesive forces shrink, the things that divide us become stronger.  In the United States, studies have shown a greater and greater polarization based on political outlook, and more specifically, political party, over the past several decades.  While racial and ethnic divides, religious affiliations, and other traditional forms of "belonging" are less strong than in the past, a deeper prejudice and suspicion of those in "the other party" has grown.  We are increasingly likely to live in areas segregated by political affiliation, and we see outright hostility toward "the political other" in many ways.  There are other forms of expression of deepening hostility that are equally troubling, particularly when they take on forms of bullying, which can happen over any issue when one person becomes a target and is deliberately isolated from others.  When we think of Christ's teaching here, that we will give an account of "every idle word" in judgment, it should pull us up short and cause us to pay attention.  If "by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned," then how much more should we pay attention to what we say, and take our own words more seriously than we do?  Jesus is speaking to the men who condemn Him, who blaspheme the work of the Holy Spirit, but how can we shrug off condemning and judgmental words that come out of our own mouths?  How can we not look around and see slander and heartbreak as a result of casual words that are full of hate or malice?  If this becomes the substance of our social conversation, Jesus' words warn us, then what are we inviting into our society?  It's not an accident that in yesterday's reading, Jesus' words to the Pharisees warn, "He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad."  In the Greek, the emphasis on gathers and scatters is prominent.  To gather is "synagon," to scatter is "skorpizei."  Both words are spiritually suggestive.  One suggests the "synagogue" where people gather to worship the God of Israel.  The other suggests "scorpion" (and is related linguistically because of the nature of its "piercing" tail), an animal used often as metaphor for a devil.  "Diabolos," the word for devil in Greek, means to slander or backbite.  But it's compounded from words that mean to "cast through" -- to sever relationships.   These words suggest to us what evil is and does:  it traduces people and destroys relationships with slander and malice.  In this reading from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus compares hostile, abusive language to the statute against murder.  Idle words, those used carelessly and thoughtlessly, and that do tremendous harm, are not simply things to dismiss.   They work against the goals of the good, against what "gathers."  Jesus' words in today's reading are anything but "idle."  He gives us warning on the strongest possible terms, that if we don't watch what we do and say, even in a supposedly meaningless internet conversation, let's say, then we may find ourselves as those cast out -- regardless of what other affiliations we may claim for ourselves.  Let us consider the power of words and what they indicate about the heart.  It's never too late to start to pay attention, to give an account sooner rather than later.