Matthew 12:22-30 – Disciples, Demons, Housetops, and Eternity, Part 2. a.

Last week’s blog concluded with a brief discussion of these words found in Matthew’s Gospel,

Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all 16 and ordered them not to make him known. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah:
18  “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen,
my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased.
I will put my Spirit upon him,
and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.
19  He will not quarrel or cry aloud,
nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets;
20  a bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not quench,
until he brings justice to victory;
21  and in his name the Gentiles will hope.”

Matthew 12:15-21

Matthew used Isaiah’s words to indicate that the message of the kingdom was beginning to shift away from Israel and to the Gentiles. But Matthew also used these words from Isaiah as a way to show Jesus’s disciples the gentle nature required for preaching the kingdom. Matthew, in quoting Isaiah’s words, “He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets,” is describing how the gentle and humble servant of the Father, Jesus, did not come to earth for his own glory, but the glory of the Father. Jesus emptied himself and took the form of a servant to accomplish the will of his Father (Phil. 2:7-8). This is why, after Jesus healed others he told them “not to make him known.” Jesus was not seeking to hide from others, rather he was deflecting the glory from himself to the Father.

G.K. Chesterton, in his book Orthodoxy, wrote this about Jesus, “I say it with reverence; there was in that shattering personality a thread that must be called shyness.” We might not think of God as being shy, but I believe Chesterton makes a good point. Jesus did not speak to and heal the masses because he was arrogant or proud; Jesus taught and performed miracles because the Father’s will required it. But when his public work was over for the day, Jesus seemed to prefer solitude or the company of his small group of disciples he was training to carry the message of the kingdom to the world.

Matthew emphasizes this point when he recorded the next episode in Jesus’s life. Notice that Matthew focuses on the crowd’s response to the healing when he wrote,

22 Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. 23 And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?”

Matthew 12:22-23

Imagine you are a doctor who has opened the eyes of a blind man or freed the tongue of a mute person. What level of praise do you think they would pour upon you upon first seeing or speaking? I would imagine the temptation to accept the glory for the work you did would be overwhelming. Then imagine you didn’t just help one person, but over a number of years, you helped countless people. I can’t imagine any normal person would be able to resist the constant urge to give into pride.

As Jesus continued to cure more people of their ailments, rumors circulated that he was the son of David, the long-awaited Messiah. And they were right: he was. But they expected a conquering king rather than a meek lamb. We often forget the fact that Jesus was fully human and was tempted in every way just as we are (Heb. 4:15). Is it too far of a reach to think that Jesus may have been tempted at other times in his life than just those 40 days in the wilderness? If so, I think this would have been a prime time for Jesus to be tempted to, upon hearing so many accolades, give in and let the crowds crown him as king. But, just as he did in the wilderness, Jesus battled the praise-filled temptations and continued submitting to the will of the Father on earth just as he had done in heaven.

This may be one of many reasons why Jesus sought out solitude as much as he did. Sure, Jesus wanted to maintain his relationship with the Father, but Jesus was also human, and it is the nature of all humans to want to be more than we are, at least in the eyes of others. But in the way Jesus responded to the accolades of the crowds, he provided the perfect example for the disciples when, at a later date, similar accolades would be heaped upon them (Acts 3, esp. v 12). Jesus did not announce his greatness, rather he humbly redirected the praise of others to the Father. But humility does not always guarantee a welcome reception. Matthew writes,

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

Matthew 12:24

Not only did the Pharisees reject Jesus and his teachings, but they also claimed Jesus was working under the guidance of Beelzebul; known better to us under his other alias, Satan. Even for the most ardent skeptic, this seems like harsh criticism to level against a man who has been raising the dead, giving sight to the blind, and opening the mouth of the mute. But when your heart is hardened against God’s kingdom, even God himself, there is no lower limit to the sort of criticism you will spew against those fulfilling the will of the Father. The words of the Pharisees, however, weren’t the root problem, they were only the fruit. Deep within their puffed-out chests sat their hardened hearts — the true problem. Yet Jesus, before personally addressing their hardened hearts, engages with the impersonal logic of their words. Matthew writes,

25 Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. 26 And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?

Matthew 12:25-26

In their attack upon the foundations of God’s eternal kingdom, the hard-hearted Pharisees — the wolves — plumb the depths of reality-defying bad logic. It makes no sense, Jesus claims, for Satan to work against himself. Satan is the author of lies and destruction; he is not in the business of healing physical illnesses or forgiving sins. After pointing out the nonsensical nature of their claim, Jesus moves to something that hits a bit closer to home. He said,

27 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.

Matthew 12:27

Evidently, some upstanding members of the Jewish religious elite cast out demons but were not persecuted as Jesus was. This sort of double standard is oddly consistent with hardened hearts operating under the guidance of worldly wisdom.

Recently I saw a video of a man interviewing a woman about the definition of the word “woman.” The woman was telling a man that he was not allowed to define the term “woman” because he wasn’t a woman. After some additional mind-numbing discussion, the man asked the woman for her definition of a “cat.” The woman paused for a moment before walking away. I’d like to think the woman realized the flaw in her argument — defining a thing does not require being a thing — but I’m not so hopeful. While I believe the politics behind this interchange could make for an interesting discussion, I’d rather focus on the woman’s implied double standard that while she can define a cat without being one, men can’t define the meaning of the word “woman” without being one. I realize videos can be staged or edited in such a way to obscure the reality of the situation, but this woman’s response seems to be representative of the mindset of those who have become hardened to the realities of this world. Like the Pharisees, when the truth is revealed, the hardened heart either combats the truth with flawed logic or just walks away awaiting another day when they might try to win the battle with worldly wisdom.

But Jesus, as he continues to provide an example for his disciples, doesn’t allow the Pharisees to walk away and escape their conundrum. He continues,

28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Matthew 12:28

Jesus wants the Pharisees to know they are playing a dangerous game. The Pharisees are justified in their criticism of Jesus if he is working under the power of Satan, but if Jesus casts out demons by the power of the Spirit, then their criticism is a rejection of the very kingdom of God for which they have been looking, and thus, a rejection of God himself. In this, these Pharisees are precursors of many we encounter in our present world.

I think it would be safe to say that nearly everyone on earth would like peace on earth, evil to disappear, and a path of redemption for their failings. But many people, sadly, don’t want the savior necessary for such longings. We want peace, goodness, and redemption, but we want to find them in creation; we don’t want to receive them from the creator. But until we are willing to humble ourselves and go to him on bended knee, seeing him as he is not as we want him to be, we will continue to walk in the footsteps of the Pharisees who worshipped a fiction of their own fabrication and rejected the true kingdom of heaven.

Jesus continued to emphasize this point when he said,

29 Or how can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house.

Matthew 12:29

Satan seeks to destroy in any way possible, except, that is, by methods consistent with the kingdom of heaven. Satan doesn’t cast out demons, he sends them; he doesn’t heal the sick, he entraps them; he doesn’t forgive sins, he tempts. But Jesus bound the strong man (Satan) when he cast out demons, so he could plunder his house and free the harassed and helpless sheep who had been enslaved by the many chains of Satan.

Paul, some years later, would write, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12). Preaching the kingdom, doing the work of the kingdom, and being a disciple of Jesus is all work of a spiritual nature. Disciples do not follow Jesus merely to serve and minister to the physical needs of the world; disciples are footsoldiers engaged in a war of spiritual dimensions.

Running through the cracks and along the edges of every broken piece of the created realm is the rebellion incited by Satan in the Garden so many years ago. But when we see brokenness, we often only focus on the physical maladies and ignore their root cause. Now, I have no intention of telling anyone they should stop going to the doctor, give up taking medicine, or neglect eating an apple a day; diligence in maintaining our bodies relies upon making the proper physical choices. To help us in this area, God has even gifted certain people with skills in healing through medicine and medical practices — and for those people and their work, we should give glory to God. But this doesn’t mean that our illnesses are purely bio-mechanical. Jesus, Matthew, and Paul all seem to be telling us that, as disciples of Jesus, every time we preach the kingdom and alleviate pain and suffering, we are entering into a battle of spiritual dimensions.

It is into this sort of world that Jesus sends his disciples. Not only will they find hard-hearted Pharisees seeking to do them harm, but Satan is lurking around the corner too. To clarify this, Jesus said,

30 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

Matthew 12:30

One way of earning your stripes in Satan’s army is to elevate Jesus as a good moral teacher but not accept him as the Son of God, and certainly not accept him as God himself. Those who are on Jesus’s side know that life is about more than just doing the right thing and living your best life now. True life in the kingdom begins with an acknowledgment of the king who creates, heals, gathers, forgives, and renews; any other starting point comes from Satan and sets itself against the God who loves and cares for us. Certainly, Satan fits this category, but so do the Pharisees, and there are many others who are neither demons nor Pharisees who are set against Jesus and his ways. Evil doesn’t always wear a black cape or carry a red pitchfork.

It may seem as though Jesus is being a bit demanding of his disciple, but Jesus’s next words may seem even more challenging. They are words that have caused much confusion and debate over the years, but given the length of this present post and the space I feel is needed to process these next words, I have chosen to defer that discussion to next week.

Jesus wants his disciples, ancient and modern, to know that when they go into the world to fulfill the will of the Father by preaching the gospel of his kingdom they will be treated much like he had been. Jesus had not been spared the anger and malice of the wolves, and neither will they. Yet, while the wolves may threaten to destroy them, a wolf’s bite can only go so deep. Jesus’s instructions to his disciples and his life help us know that the Father will always protect his sheep from true destruction and one day he will usher his sheep into his eternal kingdom where the wolf will no longer be free to roam.

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