Matthew 12:22-37

This month's Series is on The Gospel According to Matthew. The previous post covered Matthew 12:9-21. Here is the summary:

Matthew chapter 12 began with Jesus teaching the religious leaders of His time about the Sabbath. That teaching exposed the hypocrisy of the Pharisees.

The very next teaching also covered the Sabbath and again involved the Pharisees. We saw that the Pharisees chose to respond to the first teaching by attempting to trap Jesus with the good work Jesus did. The Pharisees attempted to use Jesus' virtue against Him.

So, we have our answer to questions about how religious leaders of Jesus' time responded to correction. The Pharisees responded to correction by becoming WORSE. What Jesus had meant as help to the Pharisees ACTUALLY resulted in the Pharisees becoming WORSE. These religious leaders did NOT confess and repent. They chose to attack Jesus.

In fact, the result of these religious leaders being AGAIN given the opportunity to confess and repent was that they stated their will they intentionally looked for an opportunity to DESTROY Jesus.

In two short stories, the Pharisees' goal had gone from questioning to accusing to destroying Jesus. It was NOT Jesus' fault that the religious leaders of His time chose to become worse in response to having been corrected. These people were prideful.

We saw in the previous chapter (Matthew 11) that Jesus said people of His time WERE WORSE than people before His time because people of the past would have confessed and repented in response to Jesus' Words and works. Now, this was CONFIRMED when Jesus had seen that helping these people made them WORSE.

Considering everything Jesus NOW KNEW, would it be Right and Just for Jesus if He had continued to help these people?


MATTHEW 12:22-37
"22 Then was brought unto him one possessed with a demon, blind and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the dumb man spake and saw.
23 And all the multitudes were amazed, and said, Can this be the son of David?"

(Notice, Jesus did NOT go looking for this opportunity...it came to Him. Jesus performed successful Offensive Spiritual Warfare. The people OPENLY asked if Jesus was the Christ. This ramped up the conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees. )

"24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This man doth not cast out demons, but by Beelzebub the prince of the demons."

(The Pharisees attempted to discredit Jesus by attributing His successful Offensive Spiritual Warfare to the enemy.)

"25 And knowing their thoughts he said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:
26 and if Satan casteth out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then shall his kingdom stand?"

(Jesus KNEW their THOUGHTS. His first sentence was a fact combined with an IF/THEN Question!)

"27 And if I by Beelzebub cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore shall they be your judges."

(Jesus BUILT on the first Question by asking another Question (to show a contradiction) and then reached a conclusion. The conclusion was based on an IF/THEN and resulted in hypocrisy if the Pharisees continued to believe Jesus was the enemy.)

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

(Next, Jesus was contrastive with an IF/THEN. The beginning of His argument presented the case that He was casting demons out by the enemy...which would make the Pharisees the enemy because they also cast out demons. Jesus now presented the case that He was working for God.)

"29 Or how can one enter into the house of the strong man, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.
30 He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth."

(Jesus stated with a Question and conclusion that the people who were against Him (in this case) would be in danger of being against God. Jesus then gave the WHY...)

"31 Therefore I say unto you, Every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven.
32 And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in that which is to come."

(Jesus showed that blasphemy of the Holy Spirit occured when someone attributed something good that the Holy Spirit had done as something done by the enemy. The problem was all of this had been presented as two possible cases through IF/THEN's. The way this was done allowed Jesus to make His point WITHOUT personally condemning anyone. However, this discussion was grey. Jesus needed to make it Black and White...)

"33 Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by its fruit."

(Jesus did His version of "go HOT or COLD"...and He used causality as HIS PROOF of truth!)

"34 Ye offspring of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."

(Notice, Jesus did NOT condemn these people because He did this through a Question...and then gave His reason WHY.)

"35 The good man out of his good treasure bringeth forth good things: and the evil man out of his evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.
36 And I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned."

(Jesus showed the importance of WORDS. EVERYONE will have to pay at Judgment Day for their idle Words. This is the Reward Judgment.)

(The phrasing of verse 35 can be seen from the standpoint of the trees in the conscious brain as well as the Unaware Brain (through the heart). From the information stored in these areas, the Words result...and the Words are important because they show WHAT is inside the person.)


SUMMARY
Matthew chapter 12 covered Jesus teaching the religious leaders of His time.

We saw in the previous chapter (Matthew 11) that Jesus said people of His time WERE WORSE than people before His time because people of the past would have confessed and repented in response to Jesus' Words and works. Now, this was CONFIRMED when Jesus had seen that helping these people continually made them WORSE.

In the third of these three stories, we saw the Pharisees PUBLICLY stated their will that Jesus was the enemy! Jesus implied that people who credited the work of the Holy Spirit TO THE ENEMY were guilty of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit...which was a sin that could NOT be forgiven. Were the Pharisees spiritually at "the point of no return"?

In three short stories, the Pharisees' goal had gone from questioning Jesus to accusing Jesus to destroying Jesus to possibly committing an unforgiveable sin! It was NOT Jesus' fault that the religious leaders of His time chose to become worse in response to having been corrected. These people were prideful.

Considering everything Jesus NOW KNEW, was it even possible for Jesus to continue to help these religious leaders?

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