12:6 - "...something greater than the temple is here." Beautiful! Something greater than temples and churches and cathedrals and minters and ministries is here with us now...the kingdom of heaven brought by Jesus Christ. These things can be a part of His way, but His way is soooooo much bigger. Ministry should be going on everywhere. We are called to walk in his footsteps and reflect His image in ever corner of our lives. With the Spirit inside you, the way that you live your life can be greater than the temple or the church building - you are the church.
12:11 - Excuses, excuses! Again the Pharisees are trying to find any possible means of derailing Jesus ministry, which they are only doing because they don't want to change the way they live. They are looking for any possible excuse to discredit Jesus, "Uhhh...he heals on the Sabbath...yeah, that's it...he's evil because he miraculously heals a man's withered hand on the day...(words quietly trail off as they realize how stupid they sound)." How often do we look for any possible excuse to latch onto so that we don't have to change our lives?
12:29 - I love this verse! I think it is talking about how Jesus came down and whipped Satan so that he could plunder Satan's house - the fallen world. We are worth fighting for! We are the plunder that Jesus defeated the prince of lies to attain. May I live a life worthy of being a treasure worth fighting for.
12:31 - I have always taken blasphemy of the Holy Spirit to mean - believing something godly is satanic (i.e. - the Pharisees accusing the son of God of serving Satan). I think it is unforgivable, because of the state someones heart has to be in to say something like that. If you understand who God is...and you see the Holy Spirit at work, and then you can still call it evil - your heart is in a place that is irredeemable. These Pharisees where men who knew the word of God backwards and forwards - they probably had all the Messianic prophecies memorized - yet when the son of God was standing before them, all they saw was a threat to their way of life. The saw the power of the Holy Spirit...the power of the Kingdom of God in all it's glory and they called it evil. What does it say later on in this chapter, "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks," hmmm...sound familiar? I saw a website where atheists were encouraging young people to make a Youtube video blaspheming the Holy Spirit to show that they didn't believe in God. I believe there is still hope for these kids. They don't know what they are talking about. They don't know the Spirit that they are supposedly blaspheming against. I think they can still be saved. The people I fear for, are the ones who have come in contact with the true way of Christ...the people who have experienced the Spirit of God moving in this world and can then call it evil.
12:36 - Ouch. Every careless word - that is not going to be a fun day. Carelessness with our minds and our mouths basically means that we could care less about honoring God with the bodies that He has given to us...the body, soul and mind that He holds together in existence. God please forgive me for the way I have misused what you have given me, and give me the strength to honor you with my mouth and life.
12:43-45 - This always seemed like a freaky and confusing passage to me when I was growing up, but I think I know what it means. It is not sufficient for you to clean your house (i.e. your heart, your life, etc.) through your own power...then you will just have a clean space that can easily be taken over again. You have to allow Jesus Christ to scour you clean and take residence in your heart. That's a home security system! That is how you keep from returning to your sinful ways even more wildly than before. The Pharisees where all about self-cleaning...but the emptiness inside them left room for pride and temptation and evil. Jesus calls them white-walled tombs later, because they focus so much on looking clean, but they are filled with death. How do you focus on being filled with Christ?
3 comments:
Great take on the evil leaving and coming back with 7 more – I have always struggled with those verses as well. Should have focused on the word “unoccupied” – if you clean your life, then it is still vacant / empty – lots of room for lots of bad stuff. But if you fill it with Jesus and the God’s Spirit...
Could never really get my thoughts down on this one, so I will just quote the Message on the unforgivable sin - "There's nothing done or said that can't be forgiven. But if you deliberately persist in your slanders against God's Spirit, you are repudiating the very One who forgives.” Not knowing (see accidental) is one thing – on purpose and repeating is quite another.
Last thought and one that sticks with me (30) - "This is war, and there is no neutral ground. If you're not on my side, you're the enemy; if you're not helping, you're making things worse.” Pick and choose – right or wrong – Christ or nothing.
j
good point james. i would, if i already hadn't chosen, to be on Jesus' side. well i am going to read todays chapter, so talk to you tomorrow!
That is so big! To not only clear out the bad stuff in life, but then to replace it! Too many times have I tried to empty my life, only to have it filled again by the same struggles. It is when I finally let Jesus in my life and allowed him to take over from the evil that had left that I truly started to notice a difference.
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