Note: This series is written as a first-person narrative in order to present Jesus in the context he walked with the unknown disciple that narrates presenting my thoughts and sparking more thoughts with his questions. Enjoy.
In one of the towns we were invited to a house and a crowd soon gathered. They wanted to see Jesus so badly that we couldn’t even eat. It was crazy as Jesus taught.
In the clamor, I thought I overheard someone say something about getting Jesus’ family.
“Let us through!”
I looked, thinking his family couldn’t be here already. It wasn’t them, it was some men leading another in.
“He’s blind, mute, and stricken by a demon.”
Jesus cast out the demon and healed him. We watched as his eyes cleared up and he began to speak. All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”
The teachers and Pharisees in the crowd shouted, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.”
So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak 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.”
They looked shocked. One muttered, “He has an impure spirit.”
Jesus continued, “And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
“Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house.
“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.”
You could have heard a pin drop.
Jesus wasn’t done, continuing, “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Whoa.
There was a disturbance at the door, but I was riveted at what the Pharisees had to say next.
Matthew 12:22-37
Mark 3:20-30
A Ronin's Journey 