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

 

 "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 an 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 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, neither 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.  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."  Jesus here uses a title for the Pharisees whom He addresses, "Brood of vipers."  This is a title for them that was earlier used by John the Baptist (Matthew 3:7).  Brood means "offspring," and vipers are an allusion to demonic forces, in addition to the description of one who may be venomous in attacking others.  To be "viperous" is defined as one who is spitefully vituperative or venomous.  In Scripture, my study Bible explains, the heart refers to the center of consciousness, the seat of the intellect and the will, and also the place from which spiritual life proceeds.  It notes that when God's grace permeates the heart, it masters the body and guides all actions and thought.  But on the contrary, when malice and evil capture the heart, a person becomes full of darkness and spiritual confusion.  Here Jesus' pronouncements upon these Pharisees and their every idle word refers to their claim (in yesterday's reading, above) that Jesus cast out demons by the power of Beelzebub, understood as the ruler of the demons.

 

 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 an 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 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."  My study Bible comments that after so many signs, the Pharisees show their wickedness by demanding yet another.  Jesus does not cater to those who demand a sign out of malicious or wicked intent.  The only sign to them, as He indicates here, will be His Passion and Resurrection.  My study Bible also refers to a commentary by St. Ambrose, who writes that unrighteous people, if they do not recognize Jesus as the Christ, will never understand His words nor recognize His miracles.  Adulterous generation was the term the prophets used for Israel, when Israel was unfaithful to God (Jeremiah 3; Hosea 2:2-13).  

Jesus makes it more clear in today's reading that the failure to discern what is holy rests with the beholder, the one who fails to receive and understand.  Jesus' frequent iterations of "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" testify to the same idea (Matthew 11:15,13:9, 13:43).  But in this case in today's reading, Jesus is not speaking to the average person.  These are scribes and Pharisees, experts in the Law, in the Scriptures, and in their interpretation, who spend all their time debating such questions.  How can they miss the indications that Jesus is the Christ?  They are too busy protecting their positions of authority and power.  So, they demand a sign, although there have already been so many signs performed by Jesus.  But in the minds of these men, they are the ones who are authoritative, and it is in their power to rule on what is what.  Jesus has defied them, and so they come up with ways to challenge what He does, including declaring that He works with demonic forces to perform His works, such as the exorcism of the blind and mute man in yesterday's reading (see above).  Jesus goes right to the "heart" of the matter, so to speak, and pronounces that the evil things people do come from an evil heart, an internal kind of disorder which reflects an unwillingness to repent; that is, to seek to know the good and to do the work of rejecting impulses or habits that keep us from a deeper participation in God's life for us.  Jesus notes a tie between what is in the heart, and the words that come out of our mouths, for better or worse, good or evil:  "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouths speaks."   The scribes and Pharisees dig in even more deeply by responding to Christ's chastisement with a demand for a proof from Him.  This results in a judgment of condemnation by Christ.  Jesus cites those figures of the Old Testament who recognized the God of Israel although they were not Hebrews:  the men of Nineveh who repented at Jonah's preaching (Jonah 3:4-6) and the Queen of the South who recognized the wisdom of Solomon and honored it (1 Kings 10:1-13).  These will in fact rise at the judgment to condemn these religious leaders of the Jews, who have abandoned their duties to the people and failed to recognize God's work among them, the "greater than Solomon" who is here in front of them.  All of these things teach us that each of us have a spiritual responsibility to God whether we want to acknowledge that or not.  But of those who already have a particular spiritual knowledge or understanding, a greater responsibility is demanded.  This is the reason for Christ's particular harsh words for these religious leaders.  So we must consider our own spiritual movement forward in faith, and take quite seriously what we learn on the way.  For we will be responsible for what we know, and we will receive challenges to move more deeply into our faith. At a time when many do not take matters of faith seriously, we should consider the warnings of Christ here, for that is what they are.  They are made so that all people know the truth, and so that all consider repentance, and left to us -- to posterity.  Let us be those who can take them seriously, and guide our lives to a good outcome in faith.  Christ reminds us that the treasure of our heart -- good or evil -- is up to us.