But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment

 

 "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!  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 begins by once again speaking of the heart, and how the depths of the heart bring out what is there through speech.  This is why we, as followers of Christ, practice the guarding of our hearts, and seek to know ourselves in this sense.  We bring all things to Christ for our own healing, thus seeking to make the tree good.  Jesus uses the title brood of vipers for the Pharisees, echoing John the Baptist (Matthew 3:7).  My study Bible says this title indicates their deception and malice, and their being under the influence of Satan -- just as they accuse Jesus of casting out demons by the ruler of the demons (see yesterday's reading, above).  My study Bible explains that the heart in Scripture refers to the center of consciousness, the seat of the intellect and the will, and the place from which spiritual life proceeds.  It comments that when God's grace permeates the heart, it masters the body and guides all actions and thoughts.  On the other hand, it notes, when malice and evil capture the heart, a person becomes full of darkness and spiritual confusion.  

 

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."  After so many signs, my study Bible notes, the Pharisees show their wickedness by demanding yet another.  Jesus does not cater to those who demand a sign out of wicked intent.  The only sign for them will be Christ's Passion and Resurrection; this is the sign of the prophet Jonah Jesus refers to.  He mentions the men of Nineveh who repented at Jonah's preaching (see Jonah 3), and the queen of the South is the queen of Sheba (see 1 Kings 10:1-13, 2 Chronicles 9:1-12).  Adulterous generation is an echo of the illustration used for Israel by the prophets when Israel was unfaithful to God (Jeremiah 3; Hosea 2:2-13).  

 

Our words are important, and Christ seems to teach and affirm this in ways which are significant throughout His teachings.  For example, when He preaches in the Sermon on the Mount, He likens name-calling to the statute against murder.  See Matthew 5:21-26.  He also suggests the importance of our words -- or really the powerful use of words in sticking to the minimum we need -- a little farther along in the Sermon on the Mount, when He speaks of swearing oaths (Mathew 5:33-37).  There He teaches us, "But let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No.' For whatever is more than these is from the evil one."  A simple integrity seems straightforward enough, yet how hard is it for us to adhere to this in the heat of a moment, or in times of fear or stress?  But in today's reading, He takes this emphasis on our words to deeper and more profound levels.  He says, "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."  What does one find in the abundance of your heart?  My heart?  Anyone's heart?  This is a great, and apparently grave question.  For Jesus teaches that we will indeed by judged by those words, and He doesn't speak lightly regarding this judgment.  Even every "idle word" counts.  He says, "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."  Good and evil, justified and condemned:  these are very strong words, indeed.  And yet, the One who teaches us that our words matter so deeply, the One who has fashioned His teachings with such words that they withstand 2,000 years of history to speak to us so clearly -- certainly knows what He is saying, for He Himself is the judge.  He Himself is the only One who really knows the hearts of people (Acts 1:24; 1 Kings 8:39).  If we take His words seriously, then we should begin to take our words more seriously than we usually seem to do.  Particularly if we're talking about "conversation" on the internet, where it's so easy to express an opinion, to "flame" someone with language we might not normally reserve for in-person encounters, we should think about what Jesus has said here.  He, again, isn't just the Judge; He is the Logos Himself, the Word.  He knows the power of words, and He, as Lord, spoke the world into existence at creation (Genesis 1:3).  It's a powerful thing to ponder just what kind of words we may use if we consider that it is also Jesus who taught us that the Holy Spirit Himself would give us words for testimony in times of trial and persecution before the powerful.  Jesus told the apostles in preparing for their first mission, "But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you" (Matthew 10:19-20).  Consider that it is the Logos, the Christ, who teaches us that the Spirit who proceeds from our Father will speak in us and give us words -- well, that's quite a staggering achievement to grant any human being.  We might call it truly a manifestation of God in and of itself on such an occasion.  Words are so important that Christ gives such testimony primary importance for the apostles as they go out into the world.  We live in a time when the world is encircled and enmeshed within telecommunications almost instantaneously transmitting one word to another across continents and oceans.  And yet, how we do need to take His words seriously!  How we could thrive with a sense of integrity that He asks of us!  How life could be meaningful and profound if we paid attention to what we said with the knowledge that it reveals whatever is in the heart, and that we will be judged by it.  Let us give thought to the power of words, the power He Himself teaches us all about, and exemplifies as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread?

 

 Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven.  He answered and said to them, "When it is evening you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red'; and in the morning, 'It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.'  Hypocrites!  You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.  A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah."  And He left them and departed. 

Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.  Then Jesus said to them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees."  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have taken no bread."  But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread?  Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up?  Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up?  How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? -- but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees."  Then they understood that He did not tell the to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees. 

 

- Matthew 16:1-12 

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus departed from the Gentile region of Tyre and Sidon, skirted the Sea of Galilee, and went up on the mountain and sat down there.  Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus' feet, and He healed them.  So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel. Now Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, "I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat.  And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way."  Then His disciples said to Him, "Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?"  Jesus said to them, "How many loaves do you have?"  And they said, "Seven, and a few little fish."  So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.  And He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitude.  So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left.  Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.  And He sent away the multitude, got into the boat, and came to the region of Magdala.

 

Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven.  He answered and said to them, "When it is evening you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red'; and in the morning, 'It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.'  Hypocrites!  You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times."  A sign from heaven, my study Bible tells us, means a spectacular display of power.  It notes that the time of the Messiah among the Jews was expected to be accompanied by signs, but these hypocrites have not recognized the signs already being performed in their midst because their hearts were hardened, and they ignored the works happening all around them.  In yesterday's reading (above), we're told that "the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel."

A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah."  And He left them and departed.  An adulterous generation is the term used by many prophets as they urged people -- especially the unfaithful leaders and false prophets of Israel's past -- to turn back to God.  Here Jesus uses it for His own generation, especially in these religious leaders.  My study Bible comments that Jesus refuses to prove Himself in a spectacular way.  A sign is never given to those whose motive is to test God.  See also Matthew 4:5-7, Christ being tempted by the devil to engage in a spectacular act to prove He is the Son of God.  The sign of the prophet Jonah is what my study Bible calls a veiled prediction of Christ's death and Resurrection, the three days in the tomb analogous to Jonah's time in the belly of the great fish (Matthew 12:40); this will be the ultimate sign that Jesus is the Christ. 

Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.  Then Jesus said to them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees."  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have taken no bread."  But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread?  Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up?  Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up?  How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? -- but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees."  Then they understood that He did not tell the to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.  My study Bible explains that the leaven of the Pharisees is their doctrine and their hypocrisy (Luke 12:1).  It says the reason the disciples are painfully slow to understand Jesus is that they have such little faith; they would not fully grasp Christ's teachings until Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was given. 

Today's reading is interesting in that it gives us a picture of what it is not to grasp a concept that is seemingly obvious to all.  Even Christ expresses a sort of astonishment that the disciples don't understand what He is talking about.  Here the analogy of "leaven" (in the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees) is their doctrine and their hypocritical way of living.  Jesus uses the word leaven in an important way -- and one not absent from the Bible as a whole -- to indicate something that can taint a whole culture, a whole people or group of people, a wrong perspective and wrong way of thinking, and one that is harmful and destructive or evil.  Why do they fail to understand what He is talking about?  He explains it Himself when He calls the disciples you of little faith.  It is the "little faith" that is at work here, preventing them from understanding Him and His words.  The result is a kind of quizzing by Christ that marks one of those rather humorous (in my way of thinking) episodes of the Bible, as He urges them to recall the miraculous multiplication of bread on two extraordinary occasions, so that they understand He was not chiding then for not taking bread!  Much of the language of the Bible is couched or veiled in similar metaphors, especially in the example of Christ's parables, so that without faith we are also not going to have understanding.  One wonders if it is the case that even our explanations, our writings (such as in this blog), our commonly available commentaries and preaching, also make up the slack, in some sense, for "little faith."  On the other hand, spiritual deafness and blindness is not limited to one generation, but we also may find that all around us, wherein if even the most exalted mysteries were laid bare or made plain, so many would not grasp their significance and reality anyway.  There's a well-known saying that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder."  In a sense, it conveys a similar meaning.  How can we see the beauty in what Christ is offering unless we first have faith that opens our eyes to it?  There is an important "subjective" component to our understanding that roots itself in us, and opens our eyes to Christ's teachings and gifts for us.  For Christ, that important component is faith, trust in Him.  This opens our hearts to the realities that God brings to us, but it has this unmistakable need for an interior component to be realized, that of faith.  We may wonder how does one create faith, then, through preaching or exhortation, if so much depends on the interior state of a person.  But that mysterious reality of faith begins so deeply within us and from a source we can't name that it eludes any sort of intellectual reasoning alone -- and so much depends upon grace, for we are not alone, even in what we consider this interior dialogue wherein we find our faith.  All of this is a mysterious and subtle process; so often we find our faith is happening despite our reasoning, intention, or even experience.  In some way, our hearts have to be open to these teachings, even if we are unaware of it.  There is a different way to perceive that modern life does not offer as part of its understanding of the mind, but the Church has always known.  It is in this fullness of who we are as created by God to be "like" our Creator that Christ invests His preaching, teaching, and the entirety of the Incarnation as a gift to us all.  In our wholeness let us find the truth of the beauty He offers us, and our spiritual eyes and ears to grasp and know.

 

 

 

 

Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times

 Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven.  He answered and said to them, "When it is evening you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red'; and in the morning, 'It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.'  Hypocrites!  You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.  A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah."  And He left them and departed.

Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.  Then Jesus said to them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees."  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have taken no bread."  But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread?  Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up?  Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up?  How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?  -- but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees."  Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

- Matthew 16:1-12

Yesterday, we read that Jesus departed from the region of Tyre and Sidon (where He healed the daughter of a Canaanite woman), skirted the Sea of Galilee, and went up on the mountain and sat down there.  Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus' feet, and He healed them.  So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.  Now Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, "I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat.  And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way."  Then His disciples aid to Him, "Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?"  Jesus said to them, "How many loaves do you have?"  And they said, "Seven, and a few little fish."  So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.  And He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitude.  So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left.  Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.  And He sent away the multitude, got into the boat, and came to the region of Magdala.

 Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven.  Once again the Pharisees come to Him in the mood to test (see also Saturday's reading in which they questioned a violation of the tradition of the elders), but this time there are also Sadducees with them.  The Sadducees were members of what was an aristocratic landowning class of the region around Jerusalem, while the Pharisees strictly studied and interpreted the minutiae of the Law; both groups were part of the religious leadership of the Council.  A sign from heaven is a demand for some spectacular display of power, meant to be 'convincing proof' that Christ is truly Messiah.  My study bible tells us that the time of the Messiah among the Jews was expected to be accompanied by signs, but these hypocrites cannot recognize the signs already being performed.  Their hearts are hardened, they ignore the works happening around them and the things that have created what is by now a very well-known ministry.

He answered and said to them, "When it is evening you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red'; and in the morning, 'It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.'  Hypocrites!  You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.  A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah."  And He left them and departed.  They cannot discern the signs of the times. Luke's Gospel will later report Jesus weeping over Jerusalem before He makes His Triumphal Entry (the beginning of Holy Week), saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes"  (see Luke 19:41-44).  These men 'do not know the things that make for their peace'; they are 'hidden from their eyes.'   To be adulterous, in this context, is to be disloyal -- to break covenant.  My study bible says that Jesus refuses to prove Himself in a spectacular way, because a sign is never given to those whose motive is to test God (see 4:5-7).   The sign of the prophet Jonah is a "hidden" prediction of Christ's death and Resurrection (12:40), the ultimate sign that Jesus is the Christ.

Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.  Then Jesus said to them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees."  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have taken no bread."  But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread?  Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up?  Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up?  How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?  -- but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees."  Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.  In one parable we've been given in Matthew, "leaven" is used positively, to denote the action of the Kingdom of heaven (see this reading).  But overall in the Scriptures, leaven is used negatively, as Jesus uses it here as He calls their way of thinking as displayed in the gratuitous demand for a sign, the leaven of the Pharisees.  My study bible says that the leaven of the Pharisees is their doctrine and their hypocrisy (see Luke 12:1).   It adds that the reason the disciples are painfully slow to understand is that they have such little faith; they would not fully grasp Jesus' teachings until Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was given. 

The Pharisees and Sadducees here engage in a kind of hypocrisy:  they are the leadership of Israel who rule the temple and religious affairs.  The Pharisees are the experts in Scripture.  And yet they fail to discern what is before them in the presence and ministry of Christ, and go so far as to demand a sign from Him so that He proves Himself to them.  It's as if they would examine God.  But God reveals what God reveals and how God wishes to reveal God's work and God's presence -- and they should know that as well.  Their doctrine is hypocrisy, a kind of overweening cynicism for anything would lead to questioning of their own place of authority.  Ultimately, their 'own authority' serves as their ultimate value.  As individuals, we know (and the New Testament reports) there are many among them who are believers and true faithful.  The book of Acts of the Apostles also teaches us about the wisdom, courage, and leadership of the widely-respected Gamaliel (Acts 5:33-42), and also gives us St. Paul's reference to Gamaliel as his early teacher (Acts 22:3).  But as a body they suffer from those individuals in leadership who wish to be rid of Christ.  He's too much trouble for them.  The people are stirred by Him.  Here, He's openly questioning their "doctrines" to His disciples; He is scathing in His own assessment of their hearts and minds and ways of thinking.  He has already called the Pharisees the blind leaders of the blind.  The interesting thing here is that Jesus calls His own disciples "ye of little faith."  We've already been given to know that there are things the disciples don't understand; even Jesus seems surprised and impatient at their lack of comprehension here.  But we're clearly to distinguish between the lack of understanding (and the "little faith") of the disciples, and the leaven of the Pharisees.   Even as Jesus told the parables of chapter 13, He explained afterward in private to His disciples.  So clearly there is a discernment between the "little faith" of the disciples and those without eyes to see and ears to hear.   The doctrine of hypocrisy truly stands in the way of spiritual growth and healing, or the perception of the work of God in their midst.  The Pharisees display a kind of cynicism that makes it impossible to perceive the presence of love and goodness, spiritual beauty.  They have pared down their doctrine to apply only to what is sanctioned by them and by the traditions that they as a body have developed around the Law.  Legalistic interpretations of God's love will do this, and so the Church has historically been against forms of "legalism" as doctrine.  How does one have insight into the workings of God's love with such a perspective that allows no leniency and no growth, no new revelation?  The vast creativity of the Holy Spirit is always revealing to us what we do not yet "know" for certain, ways in which we are to be stretched and to grow and to give up old ways of thinking.  Jesus truly used the analogy of "new wineskins" to illustrate God's work through His ministry, which needs space and room to grow and expand into things not before seen nor understood, even though prophecy has revealed what is only understood later -- such as God's revelation and promise to Abraham that "in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed" (Genesis 22:18).  The workings of God are works of love, and need a heartfelt response of love in order to be perceived -- even in order to give us a "little faith" or to be drawn into the mysteries of God.  These are not things to be coveted and measured, nor to be stored up like some sort of private cache of goods.  Competition doesn't enter into it.  But without the spiritual eyes and ears of the heart, one would never understand this.  Let us beware of the leaven of hypocrisy and a false sort of cynicism.  Remember the response of love.