Spring is coming to the mountains...Matthew 12:15-30...The Extreme Conclusion

 


Spring is coming to the mountains.  These are some of the first flowers to appear even before the snow has receded.  These are flowers in the burn scar that were protected by their time in the earth when the fire of 2020 raged above them.  Spring is also time for the elk and moose to seek out the new greens provided by nature.


Jesus knows that the religious leaders are out to destroy Him.  It is 2 years before He will hang upon a cross, the finality of their plan.  He continues on with His ministry in this section of the Scriptures and is surrounded by great multitudes who are going to give one response to His actions while the religious leaders give a totally different one.

As I was studying this passage and the next I saw a trilogy appearing.  In the passage with the healing of the man with the withered hand I saw an extreme plan, the destroying of Jesus.  In this passage with the assessments of who Jesus is, I saw an extreme conclusion, He is of the devil.  The next passage will provide an extreme consequence and that will be the unpardonable sin.  

Jesus goes from showing His great love and compassion with the healing of the man with the withered hand in the synagogue and also all who were following Him after that event to showing His holiness and justice in responding to the Pharisees' conclusion that He was just a man being used by Beelzebub to drive out demons.  Jesus is always both, loving and holy and even though one might be stressed more than the other at any given moment they play off of each other to give a clear motive behind all of His actions and words.  

This passage gives us a rare glimpse into "lawyer" Jesus.  He takes the religious leaders' conclusion and dismantles it.  He starts with a universal truth about nations falling because of divisions within.  He applies that universal truth to their assessment of what is going on to show then that destruction would be the end of it.  He then asks the religious leaders to make a comparison to what He is doing and their own people are doing.  He then exposes the double standard that they are holding that their people would be casting out demons by the Spirit of God but when He did it it was of the devil.  He then states that if He is casting out demons like their men were by the Spirit of God then the kingdom has come, actually the King of that kingdom is here and this was necessary to show it and accomplish it.  This is why He came.  He gives a practical example of the strong man and plundering his house.  First the strong man must be bound so the plunder can happen.  He allows them to make the connection that Satan is the strong man who is being bound by Him so that He can plunder those out of Satan's grasp.  He finalizes the argument with another universal truth.  You are either with Jesus or against Jesus.  You are either gathering with Him or scattering from Him.  There is no neutral in this world.  

The video below had to be re-recorded because of digital interference on Sunday so it is a Monday presentation in front of empty pews.  (I have done this before!). There is still a hum but it is bearable.  I stopped before the extreme consequence, the unpardonable sin, because I wanted us to see the invitation given, the love of God, prior to the just judgment of God, the unpardonable sin.  Jesus offers to the religious leaders with the extreme plan and the extreme conclusion an opportunity to join His team and not remain in the strong man's house.  

In our world, it is a radical position to follow Jesus with all of its consequences that could include hate and persecution from the world because of adhering to what He says.  The consequence of following Jesus could be the world saying and doing the same things to us as they did to Him.  Will you give your life for the One who gave His life for you?  There is no neutral with Jesus.

Adam





A simple man serving a great God and the local pastor of Stillwater Community Chapel (stillwater-chapel.org). We are in our 39th year of full time ministry. God directed us to this local body of believers on the Western Range of the Rockies to grow with them in mission and mindedness of Christ.

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