Healing of the possessed and censure of the Pharisees.

(Mat. 12:22-37; Mark 3:20-30; Luke 11:14-23).

The Lord heals the possessed individual, in whom muteness and blindness accompanied the demon’s presence, and all the people marvel at this miracle. Wishing to eliminate among the people all discussions about Jesus being Christ (ie. Messiah), the Pharisees began to spread rumours that He drives out demons with the power of Beelzebub — prince of demons — that He Himself has the unclean spirit (Mark 3:30), even calling Him Beelzebub (Mat. 10:25). The Lord responded to this with a questioning supposition as to, would satan begin to destroy his own kingdom? “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation” (Mat 12:25; Luke 11:17; Mark 3:24).In the devil’s kingdom, there should be unity in authority and action, and consequently satan is incapable of acting against himself. “And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out?” said the Lord (Mat. 12:27; Luke 11:19). Here, the word sons is understood to mean the Apostles (having received power from Christ to drive out demons), disciples of the Pharisees that practiced exorcism, and that individual to which the Apostles referred to Christ as driving out demons in His name, while not being with Him (Mark 9:38; Luke 9:49).

“Therefore they (sons) shall be your judges” (Mat. 12:27; Luke 11:19) ie. they will be convicted on Judgment Day for their premeditated lies. “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit if God, surely the Kingdom of God has come upon you” (Mat. 12:28; Luke 11:20); here the Lord means that the Kingdom of God has arrived, instead of the kingdom of satan, who is fleeing from the world, being pursued by Christ: in driving out demons, the Lord proves that He has “bound” the “strongest” — satan. The Lord then adds the following thought: “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me, scatters abroad” (mat. 12:30; Luke 11:23).In Christ’s Kingdom: he who is not with Him, is hostile toward Him because he brings division into “one” house under one authority. It is a different matter when a person is not in Christ’s Kingdom, as yet has not been summoned there; then, so long as he is not against Christ, is not in league with the world that is hostile toward Christ. Such a person already partly belongs to Christ: he can become as one with Him and enter His Kingdom. But he, who is not with Christ in His struggle with satan in gathering all the people into God’s Kingdom, is against Him — inasmuch as anybody, who in hearing and understanding Christ’s teachings, does not join Him, that person is already His enemy, particularly he who goes against Him.

The deduction from this follows: “Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come" (Mat. 12:31-32; Mark 3:28-29). God’s mercy is eternal, and there is no sin that could vanquish it: but anyone that stubbornly rejects this very mercy, who stubbornly opposes the very redeeming grace of God, for him there is no mercy and his sin remains unforgiven — such a person perishes. This type of intentional opposition to the saving grace of God, which is the grace of the Holy Spirit, the Lord calls blasphemy against the Spirit. This was clearly expressed by the Pharisees, who had the insolence to call the almighty works of God as works of the devil. Why is it that there is no forgiveness for this sin “either in this age, or the age to come?” That’s because, if a person rejects the evident actions of the Holy Spirit’s redeeming grace, he would not be able to evoke any feelings of repentance, without which there is no salvation. If a person blasphemes against Christ, seeing Him in a humbled state, that sin will be forgiven inasmuch as it is a simple, palpable error, easily washed away through repentance.

This was not the case with the stubborn opposition from the Pharisees against the actions of God’s redeeming grace, and which was far removed from penitence. He explains the Pharisees’ slander against the Lord’s works as being hatred in their hearts: “Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak of good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (mat. 12:34). The Lord threatens the Pharisees that they will have to answer for every idle word at Judgment Day, because their catchphrases show a surfeit in them of an evil and impious will.