April 2

Text: Matthew 12:25-28

And knowing their thoughts He said to them, "Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself shall not stand.  And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then shall his kingdom stand?  And if I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Consequently they shall be your judges.  But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” (NASB)

Unfortunately, most of us have endured the consequences of non-answer answers.  Most of us know when someone is obscuring the issue by appearing to answer a question.  The “supposed” answer evades the question.  The “supposed” answer sounds fine, but it fails to deal with the real issue.

The “supposed” answer to Jesus’ power to cast out demons sounded good on the surface.  When the Pharisees said his power came from Satan, the unthinking quickly said, “That makes sense.”  (Spin doctors existed over 2000 years ago!)

However, the Pharisees’ answer had problems.  Jesus noted that when you oppose yourself that you destroy yourself.  Were they so naïve as to think Satan knowingly did anything to destroy himself?  We refer to such unproductive efforts as “working against yourself.” 

Jesus further asked, “When your sons cast out demons, whose power do they use?”  He stated that if God enabled him to do what he did, then God was at work accomplishing his promise—right then.  They needed to wake up to what was happening instead of trying to detract from God’s work.  They hurt themselves when they evaded the obvious.

Suggestion for reflection: When do we hurt ourselves by evading the obvious?  (Read Acts 19:13-16.)