Matthew 12:38-45 NIV
Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”
He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here. The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now something greater than Solomon is here.
“When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The confrontation between Jesus and His opponents continues. The Pharisees, a strict sect within Judaism, asked Jesus for a sign. What was their motive? Previously they placed a deformed man before Jesus in the synagogue on the Sabbath.
Matthew 12:10b NIV
Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”
We can safely assume that their motives are similar when asking for a sign. They want to discredit Jesus. Perhaps they are demanding He prove Himself as the Messiah. But He had already performed many miracles that are proof enough. The Pharisees are just trying to pick a fight. They are blind to Jesus' true identity. They do not understand that God is among them in Jesus.
Jesus scolds them saying that they are wicked for demanding a sign to prove His authority as messiah. The only sign the blind will be given is the death and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus speaks in parables by saying the sign of Jonah will be given and nothing else.
Jonah was a prophet sent to warn Nineveh of God's impending wrath. Jonah didn't want to go, so he fled by ship. God sent a storm and the sailors feared for their lives. Jonah asked them to throw him overboard for he knew he was the reason for the storm. Once tossed in the sea a great fish swallowed him whole. He prayed to God and was freed after 3 days. A fantastic story to be sure, but no more fanatic than dead men rising from the grave.
The Ninevites repented at the preaching of Jonah, but the religious leadership of Israel is not repenting. They are not embracing the gospel. They are an adulterous generation, meaning their hearts do not truly belong to God. Jesus will later chastise them for many specific idolatries. Here is one example.
Matthew 23:5-7 NIV
“Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.
Their hearts belong to their positions of influence and the respect they enjoy, not as much to God. I dare say that pastors today face similar seductions. We can forget to serve God and instead serve the agenda that gets us noticed, promoted, and applauded. The same goes for many kinds of jobs.
Jesus said something greater than Jonah is here, meaning Himself and the kingdom of heaven. Jesus pointed to the Queen of Sheba who traveled from a great distance to witness the wisdom and majesty of Israel's King Solomon. Some say she came from modern day Somalia, but others say Arabia. No one really knows. The point is that she paid homage to Solomon and his God, but this generation before Jesus is not paying homage, not giving heed, to the Son of David (that is Jesus Christ) who is greater than Solomon.
Then Jesus seems to take a left turn. It's a bit difficult to connect this next section with the rest of the chapter. It almost feels like Matthew took a teaching of the Lord and plopped it in here for reasons unclear to me.
The passage has to do with the behavior of demons. In Matthew 12 Jesus drove out a demon from a deaf mute. So there's that connection. At the end of this teaching on demons, Jesus applies the teaching to this wicked generation, meaning the Pharisees and teachers of the law who oppose Him. There's the second connection. How might we read this teaching in light of these?
If the metaphor of the demon possessed deaf mute (Mat 12:22-24) is about the inability of the Pharisees to hear Jesus as the One sent by God to free Israel, if it's about their inability to give Him the honor and glory due Him, then perhaps Jesus' presence among them gives them opportunity to be freed like the deaf mute. But they are not freed, therefore they remain under the spell of their idolatrous hearts.
Jesus says that an exorcised demon will go about arid places looking for a new home. Doesn't that sound like Israel's history? I'm just guessing here, and it's a new thought for me, but might Jesus be pointing to the exodus from Egypt? After all the Hebrew slaves also worshipped the gods of Egypt. Removing idols from their hearts was a difficult and centuries long process. You may remember while Israel wandered in the desert, an arid place, they wanted to go back to Egypt. They also committed idolatry more than once. They fashioned a golden calf to mimic how other countries depicted their gods. Might Jesus be saying that though Israel was freed by God through Moses and the law, their idolatrous hearts have turned the law into a death trap? The law was intended to give life, but it became death. Might Jesus be saying that the spiritual condition of Israel's religious leadership is worse than it was in the days of Moses, or perhaps in the days following the exile from Babylon?
I've always read this teaching about demons to apply specifically to addiction. When set free by God from an addictive substance or activity, if the addict does not remain clean but returns to her or his addiction, then it's much harder to get free again. The hold the addiction has its even more tremendous. Perhaps Israel's idolatrous tendencies is like an addiction. And since Israel is a prime example of all humanity that means my heart and your heart is prone to idolatry.
Idolatry, in essence, is exchanging the glory of the creator for some created thing. Any thing, any activity, any person, any idea we place above God is an idol. The litmus test to see if you have a idol in your life is the example of Abraham who offered up his only son Isaac as a sacrifice in obedience to God.
Though it pained him greatly, though he could not understand why the Lord would ask him to do such a thing, Abraham was completely obedient. He bound his son and raised the knife, but God stopped him. Is there any thing, or any one, or any activity that you wouldn't surrender if the Lord commanded you to do so?
I know I could not abandon my children or my wife. I would have great difficulty letting go of rock music or Hollywood films. These are idols in my life. I often turn to movies and music, instead of prayer, for quick comfort, or at least a brief refuge from reality. However, I am fully aware that these do not answer my deepest need. I am made for communion with God. Not even my wife, my closest companion, can fulfill my need for God. If I expected to receive from our relationship what only God can give, I'd be an idolatrous fool and placing a burden upon her she cannot bear.
How about you? What idols does your heart tend to turn to? May you have your hearing restored and your ability to speak God's praise returned to you. And when the Lord sets you free, May you be given grace to remain in Him and free from your idols. May we always realize that something greater is here, Jesus Christ our Lord! May He forever be praised.
Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”
He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here. The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now something greater than Solomon is here.
“When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The confrontation between Jesus and His opponents continues. The Pharisees, a strict sect within Judaism, asked Jesus for a sign. What was their motive? Previously they placed a deformed man before Jesus in the synagogue on the Sabbath.
Matthew 12:10b NIV
Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”
We can safely assume that their motives are similar when asking for a sign. They want to discredit Jesus. Perhaps they are demanding He prove Himself as the Messiah. But He had already performed many miracles that are proof enough. The Pharisees are just trying to pick a fight. They are blind to Jesus' true identity. They do not understand that God is among them in Jesus.
Jesus scolds them saying that they are wicked for demanding a sign to prove His authority as messiah. The only sign the blind will be given is the death and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus speaks in parables by saying the sign of Jonah will be given and nothing else.
Jonah was a prophet sent to warn Nineveh of God's impending wrath. Jonah didn't want to go, so he fled by ship. God sent a storm and the sailors feared for their lives. Jonah asked them to throw him overboard for he knew he was the reason for the storm. Once tossed in the sea a great fish swallowed him whole. He prayed to God and was freed after 3 days. A fantastic story to be sure, but no more fanatic than dead men rising from the grave.
The Ninevites repented at the preaching of Jonah, but the religious leadership of Israel is not repenting. They are not embracing the gospel. They are an adulterous generation, meaning their hearts do not truly belong to God. Jesus will later chastise them for many specific idolatries. Here is one example.
Matthew 23:5-7 NIV
“Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.
Their hearts belong to their positions of influence and the respect they enjoy, not as much to God. I dare say that pastors today face similar seductions. We can forget to serve God and instead serve the agenda that gets us noticed, promoted, and applauded. The same goes for many kinds of jobs.
Jesus said something greater than Jonah is here, meaning Himself and the kingdom of heaven. Jesus pointed to the Queen of Sheba who traveled from a great distance to witness the wisdom and majesty of Israel's King Solomon. Some say she came from modern day Somalia, but others say Arabia. No one really knows. The point is that she paid homage to Solomon and his God, but this generation before Jesus is not paying homage, not giving heed, to the Son of David (that is Jesus Christ) who is greater than Solomon.
Then Jesus seems to take a left turn. It's a bit difficult to connect this next section with the rest of the chapter. It almost feels like Matthew took a teaching of the Lord and plopped it in here for reasons unclear to me.
The passage has to do with the behavior of demons. In Matthew 12 Jesus drove out a demon from a deaf mute. So there's that connection. At the end of this teaching on demons, Jesus applies the teaching to this wicked generation, meaning the Pharisees and teachers of the law who oppose Him. There's the second connection. How might we read this teaching in light of these?
If the metaphor of the demon possessed deaf mute (Mat 12:22-24) is about the inability of the Pharisees to hear Jesus as the One sent by God to free Israel, if it's about their inability to give Him the honor and glory due Him, then perhaps Jesus' presence among them gives them opportunity to be freed like the deaf mute. But they are not freed, therefore they remain under the spell of their idolatrous hearts.
Jesus says that an exorcised demon will go about arid places looking for a new home. Doesn't that sound like Israel's history? I'm just guessing here, and it's a new thought for me, but might Jesus be pointing to the exodus from Egypt? After all the Hebrew slaves also worshipped the gods of Egypt. Removing idols from their hearts was a difficult and centuries long process. You may remember while Israel wandered in the desert, an arid place, they wanted to go back to Egypt. They also committed idolatry more than once. They fashioned a golden calf to mimic how other countries depicted their gods. Might Jesus be saying that though Israel was freed by God through Moses and the law, their idolatrous hearts have turned the law into a death trap? The law was intended to give life, but it became death. Might Jesus be saying that the spiritual condition of Israel's religious leadership is worse than it was in the days of Moses, or perhaps in the days following the exile from Babylon?
I've always read this teaching about demons to apply specifically to addiction. When set free by God from an addictive substance or activity, if the addict does not remain clean but returns to her or his addiction, then it's much harder to get free again. The hold the addiction has its even more tremendous. Perhaps Israel's idolatrous tendencies is like an addiction. And since Israel is a prime example of all humanity that means my heart and your heart is prone to idolatry.
Idolatry, in essence, is exchanging the glory of the creator for some created thing. Any thing, any activity, any person, any idea we place above God is an idol. The litmus test to see if you have a idol in your life is the example of Abraham who offered up his only son Isaac as a sacrifice in obedience to God.
Though it pained him greatly, though he could not understand why the Lord would ask him to do such a thing, Abraham was completely obedient. He bound his son and raised the knife, but God stopped him. Is there any thing, or any one, or any activity that you wouldn't surrender if the Lord commanded you to do so?
I know I could not abandon my children or my wife. I would have great difficulty letting go of rock music or Hollywood films. These are idols in my life. I often turn to movies and music, instead of prayer, for quick comfort, or at least a brief refuge from reality. However, I am fully aware that these do not answer my deepest need. I am made for communion with God. Not even my wife, my closest companion, can fulfill my need for God. If I expected to receive from our relationship what only God can give, I'd be an idolatrous fool and placing a burden upon her she cannot bear.
How about you? What idols does your heart tend to turn to? May you have your hearing restored and your ability to speak God's praise returned to you. And when the Lord sets you free, May you be given grace to remain in Him and free from your idols. May we always realize that something greater is here, Jesus Christ our Lord! May He forever be praised.
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