The Son of Man’s Spiritual Power—Matthew 12:22-37

This is a mysterious passage. To modern American ears, comments about “Beelzebul, the prince of demons” and “blasphemy against the Spirit” can sound pretty foreign. But the point of it all is simple enough. Jesus made God’s saving power known, and everyone who sees it will answer to God for how he responds.

You could compare what Jesus does to a letter written by Albert Einstein to President Franklin Roosevelt. Einstein wrote to Roosevelt to tell him about a discovery that had been made, in Germany, of something called fission. Before this time, people thought that it was impossible to break an atom in two. But a physicist in Germany had succeeded in splitting a uranium atom in two, releasing a small amount of energy. Einstein wrote to Roosevelt to tell him that this discovery revealed the possibility of creating a weapon far more powerful than any made before, the atomic bomb.

Suddenly, Roosevelt had an enormous decision in front of him. Einstein had revealed to Roosevelt a power existing in nature that could have enormous consequences for the world. Roosevelt could decide to enter the race to build the atomic bomb or not. Whatever decision he made, the effects on the world he lived in would be enormous. The one thing he couldn’t do was go back to the ignorance he was in before. He had to deal with the reality of atomic energy.

Jesus, in his miracles, revealed a power infinitely greater than the power of atomic energy, but also a merciful power: the Spirit of God at work to save people from their grief and sin. The people in this passage had to reckon with what they saw: they couldn’t avoid it. And the Bible puts us in something of the same position. We too have to reckon with the reality of God’s saving power. Like Roosevelt, we can’t go back to the ignorance we were in before. We’ll answer -- to God -- for how we respond.

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. And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?”

Like Jesus’ other miracles, his healing of this man, whose inability to see and speak was caused by a demon, is not only an end in itself -- to show mercy to this particular man -- but also a sign of the power and mercy of the kingdom of heaven. It is like a billboard that says, in large letters, “Join the kingdom of heaven! Here no one is blind, and everyone can see the goodness of God. Here no one is mute, and everyone sings God’s praises.” It was a message for the crowds of Galilee, and it is a message for you too. Call out to Jesus, and he will heal your wounds: beginning at once by taking away the guilt of sin, and finishing by making your whole body, soul and spirit well at his return.

The crowds guessed at this. “Can this be the Son of David,” they asked, not meaning, merely, “Is this a descendant of David?” but “Is this the Son of David promised in Scripture, who will reign forever and make everything right?”

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

Unable to deny the reality of what has happened, the Pharisees grasp at any explanation that will discredit Jesus. If God is not with him -- as they are convinced he is not -- then it must be Satan who gives him power. You also have to reckon with this question. If God is not with Jesus, what explains the Bible’s account of his miracles and his teaching? Indeed, what explains the Bible’s promises that you can see fulfilled around you where love, joy and peace well up in the hearts of those who know Jesus Christ?

Jesus’ answer to the Pharisees is extensive and complex. We can think of it as five separate points: (1) The Pharisees’ implausible accusation only obscures the important question they must answer. (2) Jesus’ exorcisms make sense as part of his greater spiritual battle. (3) In this battle, everyone has to take sides. (4) These Pharisees are in danger (at least) of dooming themselves by choosing the wrong side. (5) The words they have spoken reveal their hearts, as words normally do.

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. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Jesus’ first point is perhaps his most complex. The Pharisees’ claim runs against common sense: Why would Satan cast out demons, his own servants? But Jesus doesn’t just dismiss the idea -- he first plays with it a little bit. If, in fact, Satan is divided against himself, his kingdom is going to fall: while Jesus doesn’t affirm the condition, he certainly believes the conclusion. But if a successful exorcism is a sign of service to Satan, doesn’t the charge fall equally on the “sons” of the Pharisees (a term referring to fellow Pharisees or people in their camp who practice exorcism)? If these Pharisees keep throwing this accusation around, they will find even their colleagues turning against them. Their own house starts to look a bit like a house divided.

And why worry about Satan anyway? If he is fighting himself, he will take himself down. But if he is not fighting himself -- if in fact it is the power of God that is at work through Jesus -- then the Pharisees have a much bigger problem to worry about. They need to look the evidence in the face and take the question seriously: Is this the kingdom of God at work?

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.

There is nothing inconsistent about the Son of David, the Messiah, casting out demons. Casting out demons fits in perfectly with what Jesus has come to do. His mission is to enter the house of the “strong man” (Satan) and “plunder his goods” (rescue the souls he has enslaved). His exorcisms are a sign of conflict with the devil, and successful conflict at that, not allegiance to him.

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

For people who understand Jesus’ mission, there are only two possible responses. There is no neutrality. At another time, Jesus put this positively: “The one who is not against us is for us” (Mark 9:40). But the Pharisees need to see the negative side of the coin. If in fact Jesus is working for God against the devil, and they see his work with their own eyes, and they don’t support it, then they are working for the devil against God.

Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 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.

This mysterious statement presses upon the Pharisees the seriousness of the step they are taking. Jesus’ miracles reveal the saving power of the Holy Spirit who descended on Jesus at his baptism. The Pharisees are at least close to calling the Holy Spirit Satan. There is hope for people who commit all kinds of sins against God, but that hope becomes reality only through faith in God’s saving power. To see that saving power at work and call it Satanic is to reject the only hope God offers.

But why will blasphemy against the Son of Man be forgiven? It seems likely that the point is that Jesus’ humanity hides God’s glorious presence, whereas the Spirit’s power makes that presence known. As sinful as it was to speak against the Son of Man, people could rightly plead ignorance of his divinity if they hadn’t seen the signs of it. But those who had seen the miracles and heard his Spirit-empowered preaching had no such excuse.

Jesus’ warning is obviously meant to challenge those who hate the Gospel, not to cast into despair those who are looking for salvation. If you seek forgiveness from God through Christ, you can be sure that you haven’t committed the unforgivable sin of full and final rejection of his Spirit’s power.

“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. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Jesus’ final point addresses a possible objection from the Pharisees to his stern warnings: “We were just talking! We were just speculating!” No, Jesus says, you weren’t just talking, you were revealing your hearts. Words, like deeds, reveal the heart. The Pharisees, and all of us, will answer to God for what we say.

And where do you and I stand in all of this? Have we seen God’s saving power at work, the signs of the kingdom of God, the evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit? The answer will be different for each one of us. But one thing is sure: Jesus has now revealed God’s saving power far more than he did when he healed that demon-oppressed man. He revealed it by offering himself on the cross as a sacrifice in the place of his sinful people. And he revealed it by rising again from the dead on the third day. God’s word confirms this for us, and God’s word is every bit as authoritative as his miracles.

And so, if you have learned the Gospel, what the Bible teaches about God’s saving power in Jesus, then you have to answer the same questions as the Pharisees: Has the kingdom of God come upon me? Am I for Jesus or against him?

Pastor Nate Jeffries