Matthew 12.15-32

So I have to apologize, I totally messed up yesterday and just completely dropped the ball on writing your guy's devotion for Halloween. I am so so sorry, I have no idea how that happened. So we are going to cover two days of our study today. The reason this text was divided in the first place was because there are a number of details that huge books and articles have been devoted to explaining and debating what they mean. But this focus on these different details misses the whole picture of what Matthew is trying to do in this passage. It's like focusing on one tree and missing the picture and the beauty of the whole forrest. So let's read the whole passage to see what Matthew is trying to do.

¹⁵ Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. A large crowd followed him, and he healed all who were ill. ¹⁶ He warned them not to tell others about him. ¹⁷ This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
 ¹⁸ “Here is my servant whom I have chosen,
   the one I love, in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
   and he will proclaim justice to the nations. ¹⁹ He will not quarrel or cry out;
   no one will hear his voice in the streets. ²⁰ A bruised reed he will not break,
   and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out,
till he has brought justice through to victory.
 ²¹ In his name the nations will put their hope.”
 ²² Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. ²³ All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?” ²⁴ But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.”
 ²⁵ Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. ²⁶ If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? ²⁷ And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. ²⁸ But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
   ²⁹ “Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house.
   ³⁰ “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. ³¹ And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. ³² Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.


This passage is basically divided up into three different sections, and they all have to do with the Kingdom of God. Verses 15-21 is the prophecy of what the Kingdom is going to be like, vs. 22-29 is Jesus fulfilling the prophecy and the Pharisees not liking it, and vs. 30-32 is what happens to those who reject the kingdom. 


Let's look at verse 15-21: 


¹⁵ Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. A large crowd followed him, and he healed all who were ill. ¹⁶ He warned them not to tell others about him. ¹⁷ This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:

 ¹⁸ “Here is my servant whom I have chosen,
   the one I love, in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
   and he will proclaim justice to the nations. ¹⁹ He will not quarrel or cry out;
   no one will hear his voice in the streets. ²⁰ A bruised reed he will not break,
   and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out,
till he has brought justice through to victory.
 ²¹ In his name the nations will put their hope.”

This quotation is from Isaiah 42.1-4. This passage comes after a transition that occurs in the book of Isaiah. Chapters 1-39 are all about the judgment of God against those who have rejected God. Then in chapter 40, Isaiah begins with these words, "Comfort, comfort...". When God judges, it is always a fierce and right judgment, but there is always a message of hope and comfort. And this is what Isa. 42 is about. This passage is the comfort that the Messiah's kingdom will bring to the world. And it is summed up with this thought, he will right the wrongs of this world. 

The Messiah will take care of those who are oppressed physically, emotionally, financially, spiritually and any other oppression you can think of. He will take care of the social injustices in the world, that is what the kingdom of God does. 

And this is what Jesus does in the following passage, and the Pharisees don't like it. Let's read on:

²² Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. ²³ All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”

 ²⁴ But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.”

 ²⁵ Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. ²⁶ If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? ²⁷ And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. ²⁸ But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

   ²⁹ “Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house.

Jesus heals a demons possessed man who was blind and mute. These were not just physical illnesses that Jesus heals him from, but also social illnesses. A blind and mute man would have been a beggar, the muck of society. And the fact that he was demon possessed made him even more of a social outcast. Yet Jesus, as the kingdom of God was promised to do, he made the wrongs right. Jesus brings God's justice on earth by taking care of those who are in need, the oppressed, the social misfits. And the Pharisees say it is by the prince of demons that he was able to do this. 

The Pharisees were wanting to discredit Jesus because he was taking all their honor from them, and so they tried to shame him by saying his power came from Satan. Yet Jesus responds brilliantly!!!

He makes a very simple point that a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand, and everybody understands this, but then he really hits the Pharisees where it hurts. You see, there were those among them who had been driving out demons as well. And Jesus is saying, if the only explanation for me driving out demons is that it is by the prince of demons, then the same must be true for those among you who are driving out demons as well. 

They can't respond to this, Jesus has won the honor battle again. And then Jesus but if it is by the Spirit that he drives out the demons, then he literally says, "then the Kingdom of God has come upon you."

Jesus' work by the Spirit of driving out the demons is proof that the Kingdom, God's justice, has come upon them. 

Then Jesus says something that has been debated about for a long time. Here it is:

³⁰ “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. ³¹ And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. ³² Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

Can't you see how this could be a big deal? People have always wanted to know what this blasphemy against the Spirit really is, and I am urging you to not miss the forest for the trees. The whole point of this passage is that the kingdom has come here on earth through the work of Jesus. And so the simple translation is that those who reject God's kingdom will not be forgiven. If you reject Jesus' sacrifice for you, then you will not be forgiven, simple as that. 

So what can we learn from this passage?

I think the main point to see is this, the world is hurting and there are injustices all over the place. People have been abused, raped, oppressed and hurting. People are addicted, mixed up, lost and stubborn. And we are called to be God's kingdom by righting all the wrongs of the world. And those that reject this calling, this teaching, they will not be forgiven. 

So don't reject your call to be a part of the kingdom of God. There are no substitute players in God's kingdom. We are called to be in the game.