Lectio Divina: Jesus and Beelzebul

Matthew 12:22-37 New International Version (NIV)
Jesus and Beelzebul
22 Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. 23 All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”

24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.”

25 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? 27 And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

29 “Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house.

30 “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. 31 And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

33 “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. 34 You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. 35 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. 36 But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. 37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”

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Okay, I've been missing the Lectio Divina that I was doing for awhile, so I'm trying to bring that back. So how I start is by literally just flipping around the Bible. Not a very methodical way of doing things, but honestly, that is how I always read the Bible. I'll read a few passages, reflect on it. Sometimes I'll find something right away. Sometimes, I'll keep flipping, reading, and reflecting until something strikes me.

This whole passage is just mind-blowing. I hate this word "unpack" but that's exactly what I'm going to do ("Unpack" is such a triggering word from Common Core standards. Ugh).

First, can I just point out that no one in this passage is questioning the validity of demons and demon possession? Like it's so obvious and no big deal that it's just glossed over. Me? I'm like, "Okay, is that real? And how does that work? What does it mean to be possessed by demons? How do you know?" That opened a whole can of questions for me. That part is actually kind of freaky for me. What if I get possessed by a demon? Like, would you know? I may be the only one freaking out about that.

Anyway, the more important matter going on in this passage is that Pharisees are questioning Jesus and trying in vain to catch him doing something wrong. This comes up A LOT in the Bible. And I actually looked up what Pharisee means in the dictionary: a member of an ancient Jewish sect, distinguished by strict observance of the traditional and written law, and commonly held to have pretensions to superior sanctity. But there's an additional definition: a self-righteous person; a hypocrite. I thought that last definition was funny, especially since that's how the Pharisees are portrayed in the Bible. Even without knowing the definitions, it is obvious that the Pharisees are obsessed with following the rules, to the point of absurdity. And it is obvious, at least to me, that they have lost sight of why those rules exist in the first place.

However, Jesus handles the Pharisees in such a calm, logical matter. He obviously knows all the same rules as the Pharisees do and he uses their logic against them. It is actually quite beautiful.

The Pharisees start by saying how Jesus is apparently the prince of demons, since that could be the only way that he is able to drive out the demons.

And Jesus's reply is this: “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.  If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

So what he is saying is that he couldn't possibly be Satan because why would Satan work against himself? He would only make himself weaker by doing so. Then, (and this is the best part) Jesus says, "And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out?" Okay, I don't think people appreciate the snark in this. The more I read Jesus's replies, the more I realize how snarky he gets, and it's amazing. I love it. Jesus is saying (by using the Pharisees's logic against them) that if he is able to drive out demons by the power of Satan, then that means your people (i.e. the Jewish religious leaders) would also be driving demons out by the power of Satan. And Jesus knows that the Pharisees could never agree to that logical conclusion; therefore, Jesus is also not using the power of Satan. The Pharisees have no reply to that!

I think this is a beautiful way to deal with adversarial people in my life. Jesus doesn't get mad or emotional. But he does stand up for himself. He keeps calm and uses logic to make his point. I hope that I could do the same in such a situation. You don't have to be combative to stick up for yourself.

The last thing I have to comment on from this passage is the very last two sentences: But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. 37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.

Those last two sentences are very powerful, and here, Jesus is not just speaking to the Pharisees, but to everyone. Words are powerful. What you say really matters, to the point where you will be judged based on your words. Here, he doesn't even mention actions (though he does talk about the fruit of the tree earlier which could be a reference to actions). But he ends with words. Be true in what you say. No empty words. I think we all need to keep this in mind as we go about our days. I know I need to.