Every person who has to endure political advertisements at this time of year can resonate with these words of Socrates: “When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser.”
Elbert Hubbard, an American writer and philosopher, sarcastically mocked the way people resort to name-calling when their logic runs dry: “If you cannot answer a man’s argument, all is not lost; you can still call him vile names.”
Jesus healed a demonized man to the amazement of the crowd (Matthew 12:22-23), but the religious leaders had to find a way to diminish Jesus’ reputation in the face of this miracle.
But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons, that this man casts out the demons” (Matthew 12:24).
I can’t conceive of how hard someone’s heart must be not to rejoice over a man who, once bound by demons and unable to hear or speak, is now able to do both. Rather than rejoice—and unable to counter an obvious miracle—the Pharisees claimed Jesus performed this deed through the power of the devil.
Kingdom Logic
Jesus didn’t respond with an attack on the character of His opponents. Instead, He revealed the poverty of their words.
He knew what they were thinking and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how, then, will his kingdom stand? If I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own exorcists cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges” (Matthew 12:25-27).
If you stop for a moment and examine political attack ads, their weakness will quickly become evident. These advertisements don’t want us to think, any more than the Pharisees wanted the crowd in Jesus’ day to use good reasoning. Both are designed to elicit an emotional response.
Jesus invited the crowd to use their minds and not their feelings. The assertion of the Pharisees is weak on two points: Satan certainly is not interested in casting out demons. In addition, Jewish exorcists regularly cast out demons—should they be categorized in the same group as Jesus?
The Spirit’s Role
Jesus made it clear that the Holy Spirit was the power behind His deeds of power.
“But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man? Then indeed the house can be plundered. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters” (Matthew 12:28-30).
Both John the Baptist and Jesus announced the presence of the kingdom of God. Healing and deliverance from demonic powers were evidence of a greater power than that of the strong man. The Holy Spirit was the active agent of God’s kingdom through Jesus.
The same Holy Spirit that empowered Jesus is in followers of Jesus today. By all means, we should surrender to His leadership and expect to see His power working through our lives.
We cheat ourselves out of God’s best for our lives if we don’t obey Paul’s counsel: “Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18).
How are we filled with the Holy Spirit? One speaker said that people who are drunk with wine are activated, captivated, and motivated by wine. To be filled with the Spirit is to have the Holy Spirit free to work like that in our lives.
Let’s determine to be those who surrender to the leadership of the Holy Spirit and join Jesus in gathering people to Himself.
Blasphemy Against the Spirit
We have four more months of listening to political advertisements on television, and I’m already weary of hearing one attack after another on candidates for office. I hope candidates can forgive one another once the mudslinging stops.
There is one kind of attack that is extremely dangerous: the claim that the work of the Holy Spirit is actually that of the devil.
“Therefore I tell you, people will be forgiven for every sin and blasphemy, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 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).
One of my friends in Louisiana was schizophrenic. In his distressed state, he often blasphemed the Lord. On many occasions, he told me that he was afraid he had committed the unpardonable sin.
What I said to him and other people like him involves two thoughts. First, if you are worried that you have committed the unpardonable sin, you haven’t. People who commit this sin have no awareness of the wrong they have done.
Second, the unpardonable sin is very specific. It involves ascribing to Satan the power that works through the Holy Spirit.
Beyond learning some valuable lessons from this episode in Jesus’ life, let’s all be encouraged to renew our dependence on and surrender to the Holy Spirit.
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross, Bruce Kirby, and I discussed this passage on YouTube today.
Real Voices 