When the Religious Leaders can't see...
| And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, "He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons." So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables: "How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. In fact, no one can enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house. I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin." He said this because they were saying, "He has an evil spirit." (Mark3:22-30) |
They have also travelled, coming 160km from Jerusalem to confront Jesus.
It is a bitter pill.
They should have recognised that He was the fulfillment of prophecy.
They should have been struck by the wisdom of His teachings.
They should have realised the significance of His healings and exorcisms
They should have been amazed at His miracles.
Instead they come with the childish tactic of attributing His power to demons.
Today people still "demonise" those they are threatened by or don't agree with.
"They're evil - I just know it!"
Jesus calmly and with almost childlike simplicity explains the foolishness of their argument.
- Why and how would Satan drive out Satan?
- Why come all the way from Jerusalem if your enemy is busy fighting himself?
Why not just stand back and watch the divided house fall?
Because, if Jesus is indeed Satan's lackey, then the lackey by healing and driving out demons is destroying Satan's work! - And when it comes to demon possession, only someone stronger than the demonic forces can do that!
But this is foolish to the point that it is downright insulting.
It is blasphemous because it does not recognise the true power at work - the Power of the Holy Spirit.
This is dangerous behaviour, dangerous enough for Jesus to warn about an unforgivable sin - and we'll dig into this tomorrow...
For today, let's consider the heartache of rejection Jesus experienced, both from his family and the religious people who should have been the first to recognise Him.
