Daily Devo w/ Pastor Eric October 22, 2021
The “Runaway Train” of Anger
Matthew 12:22-30, NLT - Then a demon-possessed
man, who was blind and couldn’t speak, was brought to Jesus. He healed the man
so that he could both speak and see. The
crowd was amazed and asked, “Could it be that Jesus is the Son of David, the
Messiah?”
But when the Pharisees heard about the miracle, they
said, “No wonder he can cast out demons. He gets his power from Satan, the
prince of demons.”
Jesus knew their thoughts and replied, “Any kingdom
divided by civil war is doomed. A town or family splintered by feuding will
fall apart. And if Satan is casting out
Satan, he is divided and fighting against himself. His own kingdom will not
survive. And if I am empowered by Satan,
what about your own exorcists? They cast out demons, too, so they will condemn
you for what you have said. But if I am
casting out demons by the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God has arrived
among you. For who is powerful enough to
enter the house of a strong man and plunder his goods? Only someone even
stronger—someone who could tie him up and then plunder his house.
“Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who
isn’t working with me is actually working against me.
Today’s passage is part of a larger section that extends to
verse 12:37, but we are going to take two days to talk about it because there
is much to see. In this first part, we
see yet another demon-possessed man exorcised and healed by Jesus. I’d invite you to read the text above one
more time remembering what has been happening.
Since Matthew 3 when Jesus was baptized, there is a growing division between
the religious leaders (pharisees) and Jesus.
Earlier in chapter 12, we see that this conflict has reached a point where
the Pharisees are plotting to kill Jesus.
A real and explosive resentment is growing in their heart for Jesus.
Think about a time when you have
been in similar situations. Something
happened between you and another person that has caused hurt and resentment to
begin building in your heart. Then, that
person persists in doing things that stir up even more resentment. Over time, you begin to see everything they
do in a negative light. The offender
might even be doing things that others you know do and you feel no offense, but
when this wretched offender does it, you are incensed. The resentment in you can become an
unstoppable runaway train. This is what
is happening for the Pharisees. Their
resentment for Jesus has them seeing everything He does in a negative light,
even exorcising and healing a poor tortured man. Their animosity for Jesus has reached a point
where they see this compassionate act as one done by the power of evil. Read the text above again and see if you can see
this runaway train. I’ll wait until you
get back 😊
Can you
feel the pharisees’ white-hot anger? To
the extent that we can, we can gain some deep insight into Jesus’s
response. Anger can blind people to
things that are obvious to others. Jesus
is trying to point this out to the Pharisees.
The others present for this miracle are so moved by the exorcism that
they begin asking, “Could it be that Jesus is the Son of David, the
Messiah?” It is obvious to most present that they have witnessed something
done in the power of God, not Satan. But
the pharisees are so consumed by acrimony towards Jesus, they honestly are
convinced they are seeing the work of the Devil. Jesus asks a poignant, but common-sense
question to expose the ridiculous nature of what the Pharisees were thinking; “…if
I am empowered by Satan, what about your own exorcists?” Jesus’s question assumes that the pharisees
had seen exorcisms before and never attributed such miracles to anyone but God.
Jesus’s query is an invitation to the Pharisees to “sober up” and see the
obvious that everyone else present sees and they themselves could see if they
were only thinking clearly; “the Kingdom of God has arrived among you.”
We
will talk more about this next time, but for today, I want us to see the danger
of runaway anger and resentment. It causes
us to see things that are clearly not reality.
It causes us to see others motives as evil when nothing could be further
from the truth. And as will see next
time, it puts us in danger of getting to a place where we are so cut off from
God that nothing can be done. Anger itself
is not always a bad thing, but nurturing resentments towards others (and God) is
toxic to our souls. Jesus not only wants
the pharisees to see this; He wants us to see it as well.
Question: Do you harbor any resentments towards others that
cause you to see all that they do in a negative light?
Prayer: Lord, help us
to see the places in our hearts where unhealthy resentments are residing. Empower us to refuse to continue to nurture
such resentments. Heal our hearts and
deliver our souls. Amen.
Prayer Focus: Pray
for the healing of the multitude of divisions in our country.
Song: There is a Balm
in Gilead
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