Jesus and Beelzebul (Mt. 12:22-32)

Then they brought to him a demoniac who was blind and mute. He cured the mute person so that he could speak and see. 23 All the crowd was astounded, and said, “Could this perhaps be the Son of David?” 24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “This man drives out demons only by the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons.” 25 But he knew what they were thinking and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste, and no town or house divided against itself will stand. 26 And if Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself; how, then, will his kingdom stand? 27 And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own people drive them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 How can anyone enter a strong man’s house and steal his property, unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house. 30 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. 31 Therefore, I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

Matthew has two versions of this story – Mt. 9:32-34 (a mute demoniac) and Mt. 12:22-24 (a blind and mute demoniac) and in both cases, the Pharisees make false accusations against Jesus.  Jesus healed a blind and dumb demoniac, and the crowd was amazed and began to wonder if he may be the Messiah that was to come from the line of David (2 Sam. 7:12-17).  The religious leaders acknowledged the miracle but attributed it to Satan working through Jesus.  This was the second time they accused Jesus of driving out demons using the power of Satan (v. 24; Mt. 9:34).  Jesus shows how absurd their accusation is by saying to them that if Satan is working against Satan his house is divided and cannot stand (v. 25).  If Jesus was casting our demons by the Spirit of God then the Kingdom of God had arrived.  The Pharisees also performed exorcisms (Acts 19:13-17) but could not miraculously heal anyone.  Jesus asked them by whose power they perform their exorcisms.  In verse 29. Jesus is ‘tying up’ Satan and releasing those people he had in captivity to sin.  

Miracles could be worked for good or for evil so one must test the spirit (1 Thess. 5:21).  After Jesus’ resurrection the Church did not put much emphasis on miracles as theological proof of Jesus’ divinity, and still does not do so today.  Since the Pharisees rejected Jesus, they saw him and everything he did in a negative light.  Words spoken against Jesus can be forgiven.  If Jesus’ works are through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Pharisees are committing the unforgivable sin of ascribing the power of Satan to God’s Holy Spirit which is unforgivable through eternity.  

Almighty God, listen to our prayers, and as our faith in the risen Lord is deepened may our hope in the resurrection be strengthened. This we pray through Christ our Lord.  Amen!

__________________________________

References
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.

                Orchard, Bernard, et al. A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture. Feb. 1953.