As can be seen, the main task of many representatives of the Pharisaic brotherhood, if not all of them, became to explain the miracles and healings performed by Jesus in such a way as not to recognize Him as a true Servant of God. Everything was brought into play...
As can be seen, the main task of many representatives of the Pharisaic brotherhood, if not all of them, became to explain the miracles and healings performed by Jesus in such a way as not to recognize Him as a true Servant of God. Everything was brought into play, including utterly absurd explanations, as though Jesus, in healing, resorted to the help of some dark powers. It was not hard for Jesus to answer such accusations by emphasizing their obvious absurdity. But the issue was, of course, not the accusations themselves. The issue was the position of the accusers, and Jesus, of course, understood this perfectly. It is no accident that He said: "Whoever does not gather with Me scatters."
The issue, in essence, was not concrete accusations but the Kingdom. Jesus says directly to His accusers: if I cast out unclean spirits by the power of the breath of God, then the Kingdom has reached you, and now your further fate depends only on you; it will not be possible to remain neutral here. The moment of choice has arrived, the one some modern philosophers call existential: there is no escaping it, and it will determine the whole further life of a person. There is one Messiah, and one Kingdom.
This is not a theological or religious question, nor even a worldview question, but a spiritual and practical one. One can accept the Kingdom and live by its life, but then one must also accept the One who brought it into the world, and not define the possibility of such acceptance or rejection by any religious or theological criteria. Everything is simple: it is enough to see whether the Kingdom is here or not. And if it is here, to accept it as a fact, without trying to force it into any existing framework. Then the lives of those who accept it become part of the Kingdom: they "gather with Jesus."
If, however, despite everything, a person rejects the Kingdom, that rejection becomes the choice that determines his life, and not simply a theological or religious position he has chosen. Then the Kingdom is not for him, and he is not for the Kingdom. And then, according to the Savior's words, "whoever does not gather with Me scatters."
12
12:22 A demoniac, blind and dumb - Many undoubtedly supposed these defects to be merely natural. But the Spirit of God saw otherwise, and gives the true account both of the disorder and the cure. How many disorders, seemingly natural, may even now be owing to the same cause? Luk 11:14.
12:23 Is not this the son of David - That is, the Messiah.
12:24 Mar 3:22.
12:25 Jesus knowing their thoughts - It seems they had as yet only said it in their hearts.
12:26 How shall his kingdom be established - Does not that subtle spirit know thin is not the way to establish his kingdom?
12:27 By whom do your children - That is, disciples, cast them out - It seems, some of them really did this; although the sons of Sceva could not. Therefore shall they be your judge - Ask them, if Satan will cast out Satan: let even them be judges in this matter.And they shall convict you of obstinacy and partiality, who impute that in me to Beelzebub, which in them you impute to God.Beside, how can I rob him of his subjects, till I have conquered him? The kingdom of God is come upon you - Unawares; before you expected: so the word implies.
12:29 How can one enter into the strong one's house, unless he first bind the strong one - So Christ coming into the world, which was then eminently the strong one's, Satan's house, first bound him, and then took his spoils.
12:30 He that is not with me is against me - For there are no neuters in this war. Every one must be either with Christ or against him; either a loyal subject or a rebel. And there are none upon earth, who neither promote nor obstruct his kingdom. For he that does not gather souls to God, scatters them from him.
12:31 The blasphemy against the Spirit - How much stir has been made about this? How many sermons, yea, volumes, have been written concerning it? And yet there is nothing plainer in all the Bible.It is neither more nor less than the ascribing those miracles to the power of the devil, which Christ wrought by the power of the Holy Ghost. Mar 3:28; Luk 12:10.
12:32 Whosoever speaketh against the Son of man - In any other respects: It shall be forgiven him - Upon his true repentance: But whosoever speaketh thus against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven, neither in this world nor in the world to come - This was a proverbial expression among the Jews, for a thingthat would never be done. It here means farther, He shall not escape the punishment of it, either in this world, or in the world to come. The judgment of God shall overtake him, both here and hereafter.
12:33 Either make the tree good and its fruit good: or make the tree corrupt and its fruit corrupt - That is, you must allow, they are both good, or both bad. - For if the fruit is good, so is the tree; if the fruit is evil, so is the tree also. For the tree is known by its fruit - As if he had said, Ye may therefore know me by my fruits. By my converting sinners to God, you may know that God hath sent me. Mat 7:16; Luk 6:43.
12:34 In another kind likewise, the tree is known by its fruit - Namely, the heart by the conversation.
12:36 Ye may perhaps think, God does not so much regard your words.But I say to you - That not for blasphemous and profane words only, but for every idle word which men shall speak - For want of seriousness or caution; for every discourse which is not conducive to the glory of God, they shall give account in the day of judgment.
12:37 For by thy words (as well as thy tempers and works) thou shalt then be either acquitted or condemned. Your words as well as actions shall he produced in evidence for or against you, to prove whether you was a true believer or not. And according to that evidence you will either be acquitted or condemned in the great day.