Wednesday, 18 March Responding to the Messiah. Matthew 12:1–45
Please note the new title heading above. We are no longer Seeking the Messiah; now we are Responding to the Messiah.
Matthew has made Jesus’ true nature and mission plain. Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, establishing his Kingdom – healing the sick, casting out demons, and forgiving sins – all the while delivering a robust teaching of wisdom based on the word of God.
This whole chapter focusses on the difference between following a religion and following Jesus. Jesus has very little to do with religion.
How did yourespond to the story of Jesus healing the man’s withered hand in v13? I imagine your reaction was akin to mine – praise and thanksgiving. But look at the sharp contrast which Matthew places in front of us when he gives the reaction of the Pharisees in v14: But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him (NRSV). It is even stronger in the NIV: But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.
This really is outrageous at any level. Jesus healed a man’s hand on the Sabbath, inside the synagogue, and the religious leaders wanted to murder him. Organised religion rejected Jesus’ mercy, compassion and power, and opted for extreme violence.
The contrast is drawn sharply again just a few verses later. The crowds identified Jesus as the son of David, i.e. the Messiah. But the Pharisees claimed (again) that the only power that Jesus has is the power of Beelzebub.
This name, Beelzebub, was originally that of a Philistine deity, used by Jews to mock the falsehood of idolatry. It has been translated as the Lord of the Flies, which some may recognise as the title of a novel they read in school. In that novel, the fly and maggot-covered body of a dead airman became an object of worship as most of the schoolboys marooned on the deserted island sank deeper and deeper into horror and violence.
It is this false identification of Jesus, the son of God, with demonic powers that causes Jesus to introduce a concept which has often puzzled Christians – the unforgivable sin (vv30–4). It need not be puzzling; it is quite straightforward, really.
God does not demand our understanding or even acceptance of him when we first encounter his power. He shows us great patience and longsuffering. But at the point where, having considered the matter, we conclude that the Christian faith is a lie, that Jesus is not God, we are closing ourselves off to forgiveness.
The sin is not unforgivable merely because of its wickedness. All wickedness is forgivable.
This sin is unforgivable, because the person who believes this has closed off their access to God. While ever we are seeking God in truth, we are open to his response to us.
Agnosticism is not unforgivable. But when we reject Jesus, denying his divinity, we have closed off all access to God. There is only one way to approach God, and that is through Jesus. He was crystal-clear about this. I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No-one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6).
This is clearly a serious matter. Jesus is quite blunt about it: Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters (v30). We are now firmly in the sphere of Responding to the Messiah, not merely seeking him anymore.
There are only two ways for intelligent people to think about Christianity. Either it is TRUE or it is NOT TRUE. It can't logically be both; it has to be only one or the other.
If it is NOT true, it is clearly NOT IMPORTANT. It must be a waste of time. Perhaps even a distraction from whatever is the real thing. We should just get rid of it.
But if it is true, then it must be VERY IMPORTANT – because of the big issues that it deals with: Is God real? Who am I? What is right and wrong? Is there a meaning to life? What happens after death? Because of what it deals with, if Christianity is true it must be VERY IMPORTANT.
But wait! Here’s the really important bit! The one thing that we must not let anyone get away with saying about Christianity is that it is MODERATELY IMPORTANT. Do you see the point? Our faith is either TRUE or FALSE. And because of what it deals with, if it’s true, it must be veryimportant. It cannot ever be merely moderately important.
You don't need to be able to read Greek to figure this out. Even a child can get this: There is simply no logic to the Moderately Important option. That option is only open to people who haven't bothered to think.
And yet – this is how millions of people treat it. They sort of half-believe it, but don't bother to respond. Or worse, some parents don't bother insisting that their children come to church, where they will learn about this VERY IMPORTANT thing.
We insist that children learn the rules of grammar and how to solve quadratic equations; but then too often we tell them they can make up their own mind about whether the Christian faith is true. What madness is that? You can decide if electricity will kill you?
To do that is to completely misunderstand Christianity. Our choice is not whether to believe Christianity or not. We don't tell students that they can make up their mind whether to accept the theory of gravity for themselves, or, as learner drivers, to accept the Traffic Code if they choose to. We tell them that these are facts; they can either submit to them or rebel against them, taking the consequences if they choose not to submit.
Jesus was giving people the opportunity to Respond to the Messiah – on the basis of his miracles. There was hard evidence put in front of them. It was not a matter of a leap in the dark. As someone has said, we don’t ever break God’s laws; we only break ourselves on them. Our only choice is whether to accept the rule of Christ or to reject him.
The Christian faith is not something we believe in – like Santa Claus. It is Someone before whom we bow and ask forgiveness. And then stand up for in the face of the world, the flesh and the devil – that is to say, in the face of ridicule, temptation and persecution
Prayer: My God! How badly we have so often muddled up your teaching! We’ve been so gentle that we’ve allowed people to think that following Jesus was like choosing pepper sauce or not. Help me, please, to see the eternal seriousness of my witness to my family and my social world. Help me to respond to you, Jesus Christ, as you expect me to. Amen.
