Matthew 12:31-45 – Disciples, Demons, Housetops, and Eternity, Part 2. b.

With a taste similar to wet cardboard and consistency to match, I’ve never understood how fortune cookies have persisted so long in the food industry. I suppose their longevity could be attributed to the small piece of paper upon which are written words of wisdom or some lucky lottery numbers, but even so, I’m still flummoxed. Whatever the reason for their continued existence, I still don’t like fortune cookies.

Another thing I dislike, and even more so than fortune cookies, is the fortune-cookie mentality that pervades our reading of the Bible. I was never able to answer the question so frequently asked in the Christian world, “What is your favorite verse?”, and I never saw the reason for writing a verse reference on my hand, t-shirt, or shoes. I think Christians stole that idea from the eastern world that inscribes symbols and glyphs on items for protection, but that doesn’t really seem appropriate. The fact of the matter is that other than possibly some verses in Proverbs, rarely are there any stand-alone verses in the Bible; they are all smaller parts of larger conversations.

These next words of Jesus might not top the list of fortune-cookie verses, they have often fallen prey to such thinking. In response to the Pharisees who had claimed Jesus was casting out demons by the power of Beelzebul, Jesus said,

31 Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

Matthew 12:31-32

This verse, often coupled with those words written by John, “There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that” (I John 5:16), can quickly lead to a discussion about the unforgivable sin. However, the conclusions many people draw with regard to such sin are fortune-cookie conclusions and rarely related to the context of the passages. I sometimes suspect people haven’t really been reading their Bible when they define the unforgivable sin as something like suicide, rooting for the Steelers, or some other nonsense.

Remember, Jesus had just told the Pharisees the power behind his works wasn’t the devil. Does it make sense that Jesus would now want to talk about suicide or some other random topic? I think not. Even John’s words follow a conversation about being open to the work of the Holy Spirit, the one who brings life. In that context, the only “death” that can be considered is that sort of death coming as a result of rejecting the Spirit as the source of life. In both passages, John and Jesus state that the sin leading to death, the unforgivable sin, is rejecting the work of the Spirit either by attributing to the Spirit works that are not his or attributing to others the works that are of the Spirit. When the Pharisees claimed that the work of the Spirit had come from the power of the devil they were blaspheming. The power to cast out demons comes through the Holy Spirit, not Satan.

But we must not fall prey to thinking that blasphemy is a sin from Bible times alone. I realize what I’m about to write might make a few people cringe, but I’d ask that you at least consider these words before dismissing them out of hand. Whenever we attribute to “the forces of nature” that which was done by the power of the Spirit, we blaspheme. The Bible tells us in Genesis 1:2, Proverbs 8:22-32, and Colossians 1:15-17 that the world came into its existence through the power of God — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Yet, there are some well-meaning (I suppose), worldly-wise “believers” who are dead set on appeasing the world, and as such, they take God’s glory and attribute it to the random forces of nature: evolution. This is blasphemy. This universe did not come into existence by its own power, by some random chance, or by some m-force of gravity. The Father, through the work of his Son and his Spirit, created all that is — the visible from the invisible — it’s that simple, and to say otherwise is blasphemy.

But modern blasphemy isn’t only relegated to the realm of creation. We often thank our own good luck, our own power, or our own intellect when we find a parking space, survey the money in our bank account, or tout the great works we have done for society, but that is all Bunkum, Balderdash, and Blasphemy! The moment we ascribe the Spirit’s work to some other power, be it demons, as the Pharisees have, the m-force of gravity, as Hawking has, or our own wit and wisdom, as we have, we blaspheme. In our singular focus on this material world, we chose to neglect the Spirit. I suspect this is one of the major reasons why God told Moses,

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

If we love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and strength, then God and his laws should be constantly in our minds, in our hearts, and on our tongues. This doesn’t mean we don’t discuss sports, video games, or the most recent reality show (politics) from time to time, but when those conversations monopolize our minds, hearts, and tongues, relegating anything to do with God to an hour on Sunday, we quickly and easily forget the Spirit. It doesn’t take very long before we stop having any thoughts or conversations about God, his love, mercy, and grace. I realize there might be much to discuss with regard to modern physics, modern video games, and modern reality shows, but in the end, their depth is finite. In contrast, however, David writes the following regarding the depths of an infinite God,

12 Walk about Zion, go around her,
number her towers,
13  consider well her ramparts,
go through her citadels,
that you may tell the next generation
14  that this is God,
our God forever and ever.
He will guide us forever.

Psalm 48:12-14

David paints a picture of God as a formidable structure with innumerable towers and citadels, all surrounded by massive walls. For those in love with the city — in love with God — an entire life does not provide sufficient time to explore, even once, this holy castle with its many rooms and sublime treasures!

But there are many, I call them wolves, who claim this castle is fiction or the result of some sort of wish-fulfillment. These are the ones who claim God’s glory for themselves. They write God out of all the history books, science books, business books, psychology and sociology books, law manuals, and any other books that might come to mind. In a word, such people are blasphemers.

The sheep, however, those simple creatures following The Shepherd, ignore the wolves and spend their time exploring the infinite fortress of the Lord considering his grace, mercy, and love. These sheep know they must immerse themselves in the truth so they are able to pass on what they have learned to the next generation of sheep. And these sheep are like their shepherd — humble, vigilant, and single-minded — and when they encounter wolves they listen, they speak the truth, and then they move on when rejected by the wolves. For the sheep know they are not equipped to handle the wolves, only the shepherd is.

In the event the Pharisees didn’t understand what he had already said, Jesus added these words,

33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit.

Matthew 12:33

A wolf is a wolf, whether cloaked in sheepskin or displaying its natural pelt, but wolves usually want to be known as good trees even though their fruit was bad. Jesus tells the wolf to declare its true colors or to change who they are, but Jesus has no patience for those who pretend to be one thing but are really another. He continued and said,

34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.

Matthew 12:34-35

The Pharisees tried to disguise themselves but they couldn’t cover up what was in their heart. Those evil Pharisees dressed up in religious clothing and walked through the towns repeating prayers and performing religious ceremonies for the world to see. I sometimes wonder if they knew they were hypocrites. Did they wake up each day knowing the right thing to do but at some point choose to go against it or had they been creeping toward evil for so long that they no longer knew the difference?

I sometimes wonder if I know my hypocrisy. Do I wake up each day knowing the right thing to do but at some point choose to go against it or have I been creeping toward evil for so long that I no longer know the difference? When I look in the mirror, I mean, really look in the mirror, would I see a Pharisee staring back at me? Have I covered myself in sheep’s wool or is that really my skin? Most days I don’t know the answer to that question, but I do know that Jesus’s next words are frightening. He said,

36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, 37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Matthew 12:36-37

The act of blasphemy is primarily an act of the tongue; words may originate in the mind but the tongue brings them to life. Even though most of us have been told that “words can never hurt me,” such a sentiment declaws words of their true strength. The first page of the Bible introduces us to the power of words as it is with words that God brings everything into existence (Gen. 1). The next page of the Bible reveals that the temptation to disregard God’s words was the beginning of the fall (Gen. 3:1). Later, to put things back on the right track, God spoke the words of the holy law to Moses (Ex. 20) in which he forbade words spoken against himself (Deut. 5:11). God also commanded that proper words be spoken about him and his laws (Deut. 6:4-6). Then, as Israel continued to reject God’s words, God spoke words of warning through the prophets to the people of Israel because they didn’t follow his word. Then God gave the gift of salvation through his son, The Word become flesh (John 1) so that we might renew our relationship with God and meet him face-to-face and converse once again as we did in the garden. Words, those things about which we rarely think, are more powerful than we can possibly imagine. Words set our eternal destiny: our words either affirm Jesus and the work of the Spirit, or we are condemned.

Yet, even after hearing all the words Jesus had to say and knowing all the words in the Old Testament, the Pharisees had the audacity to make a request. They said,

38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.”

Matthew 12:38

Doesn’t it seem odd that after just seeing a sign they attributed to Satan, the Pharisees would want to see another one? Sometimes I just don’t understand these Pharisees: they ask for what they already have and seek what is easily found. The creator of the universe stood in front of them and reformed man’s rotten image into that which it was originally created to be. Yet, they wanted something more. It’s a good thing we aren’t like that — easily dissatisfied and constantly looking for something new — because then we would be standing condemned next to the Pharisees as Jesus responded to their oddly contradictory request,

39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For just 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. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. 42 The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

Matthew 12:39-42

Even though Jesus showed signs indicating that he had power over nature, disease, demons, and sin, faith requires that we take God at his word and not so quickly forget Satan’s first temptation when he asked, “Did God actually say…?” Adam and Eve, living in the midst of a newly created world and conversing with God in the Garden of Eden, still chose to follow the speaking snake and doubt the word of God.

Jesus chose to provide the example of Nineveh, an Assyrian city that greatly troubled ancient Israel, because, they required no sign and repented at the preaching of the word by Jonah. The Assyrians certainly couldn’t in any way be considered religious, yet they repented when only the word was preached. The Pharisees, on the other hand, knew God’s word and even saw God’s salvation that had come to Israel, yet they rejected him. They were so focused on judging others for minor infractions that they were unable to see God’s salvation that had come to them for all infractions.

Jesus concluded by saying,

43 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.”

Matthew 12:43-45

It’s possible that each Pharisee began as a genuine person seeking God’s truth and defending God’s kingdom, but something happened. Whether they followed a bad example from their elders or they developed a flawed sense of self-righteousness, they eventually went bad. They no longer trusted in the God of the Scriptures; they wanted a god created in their own image. They may have begun their religious careers by sweeping their souls clean of greed and avarice, but without being open to the indwelling presence of the Spirit, the empty spaces once housing their sinful inclination became the home for many more evil and unclean spirits. Born as sinners, they became, in a very real way, sin itself. Their faith became beliefs, their beliefs became twisted, and they became blasphemers.

I think one lesson, among many, we can learn from the Pharisees is that we should be very careful with how we allow our beliefs to form and grow. It may seem odd to say, but beliefs can quickly overpower our faith. For years I taught Apologetics as a discipline of the intellect and taught how to understand others’ beliefs, how to interact with them, and how to present and defend our own beliefs. But I fear my 17 years of teaching were misguided. You see, the poster-child verse of Apologetics is I Peter 3:15 which says,

But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,

I Peter 3:15

I had been interpreting this verse to mean that we need to provide solid reasons for our Christian beliefs, but that isn’t what the verse says. Peter says we are “to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you,” not a reason for your beliefs. Hope is not the same as belief. Beliefs may be able to be simply codified in a dispassionate outline, but hope requires trust and produces contentment. Furthermore, beliefs do not change our behavior, only hope does. Hope is what allows us to give ourselves over to the only reasonable, yet invisible, source of salvation. Hope releases our anxiety when we are confronted by situations beyond our control. Hope frees us from the cost of our sins. Hope untethers us from the fear of our looming and imminent death. When Peter tells us to make a defense, it isn’t for our beliefs, it is a defense for why we still have hope in this horrible world of ours.

Hope is a fantasy in the world where the Spirit has been removed through blasphemous rational and empirical explanations. In such a world with no Spirit, there is no true life and there is no hope; we are merely dust awaiting the inevitable sweep of time’s broom. This dismal view, however, is the actual fantasy. The real world, the one that exists, is the world where the Spirit of the Father urges us to place our hope in the saving work of Jesus. With hope, we await that moment when the Father runs down the road to greet us after a lifetime of our sin. This hope is the message Jesus told his disciples to proclaim from the housetops. And only hope enables us to endure the temporal pains and discomfort inflicted by the wolves and Pharisees of this world.

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