The best way to understand the discussion between Jesus and the Pharisees is to realize that it is connected with what has previously transpired.
Jesus and the religious authorities have been arguing. Jesus healed and delivered people from demons, but the authorities were adamantly opposed to him. For some strange reason, they now ask for a sign to authenticate his words and deeds.
They said to him, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you” (Matthew 12.38).
Jesus knew that if they didn’t believe blind people seeing, deaf people hearing, and folks oppressed by demons being released from bondage, they certainly wouldn’t believe another sign.
He said, “An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
“For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth.
“The people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and indeed something greater than Jonah is here!” (Matthew 12.39-41).
Jesus probably left the religious authorities scratching their heads over his allusion to Jonah. Jonah was a reluctant prophet who was very effective in Nineveh, the capital city of their hated enemies.
To get there, Jonah was swallowed by a great fish and spent three days in its belly. The image of the Son of Man comes from the book of Daniel (7.13-14) and is a dramatic picture of the coming Messiah.
They must have wondered, how could it be that the Son of Man, the Messiah, would experience what happened to Jonah.
Another troubling aspect of Jesus’ message was the idea that the people of the evil city, Nineveh, would rise and pronounce judgment on the chosen people of God.
The “frosting on the cake” of offensive words was that Jesus was greater than Jonah. Without a doubt, Jesus’ response stirred the anger and hatred of the religious authorities.
A Story About an Unclean Spirit
One of my favorite preachers often reminded his audience that Jesus never beat a dead horse. You only use a whip on a horse that is alive to make it run faster in a race.
In the same way, Jesus did not engage in confrontation with the Pharisees because he liked a good fight. He knew there was potential in them, he loved them, and he used his words to spur them on to the purpose for which God had created them.
He is the same as us, and he uses the story of the unclean spirit to remind us of our place with God.
“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it wanders through waterless regions looking for a resting place, but it finds none.
“Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ When it returns, it finds it empty, swept, and put in order.
“Then it goes and brings along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So will it be also with this evil generation” (Matthew 12.43-46).
The Pharisees had witnessed many exorcisms by Jesus. People with tremendous maladies were set free from the influence of evil spirits.
What the Pharisees had not done in response to these miracles was to become Jesus’ disciples and fill their lives with devotion to him.
The demon called their world “home.” Our lives should never be “home” for demons.
Jesus has set us free, but we must not allow our lives to be empty, but be filled with love, discipleship, and devotion to the Lord.
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross and I discussed this passage on YouTube today. It is on the Bob Spradling channel.
Real Voices 