Today’s chapter is Matthew 12

Tom writes:

Jesus healed a man who was both mute and blind. I must confess that I’ve never seen such a thing, and yet the guys who hung around Jesus saw it all the time. And that is why Jesus speaks so harshly about blaspheming the Spirit. While the Son of Man had something slightly veiled about him - he looked like a normal bloke and spoke in parables that obscured the truth - the Spirit exposed the Kingdom as readily as a naturist on a nudist beach. So while you could listen to a parable and go away wondering what it was all about, you could only walk away from a healed mute thinking that it was a work of God or a work of evil. And to consistently plump for the latter, even when the result of the healing is manifestly good, would be a deliberate act of disbelief; it would be a conscious choice to harden your heart. And to harden your heart against the Kingdom of Heaven is a blasphemous act that cannot be forgiven. What does this mean for us?

Well apart from warning not-yet-Christians about sweeping under the carpet the manifest evidence for God, it also presents a challenge to those of us who already follow Jesus; it warns us that the works of the Spirit are not like a fireworks show. The Holy Spirit doesn’t work to make us go “oooh” and “aaah” but to change us. Jesus demands that we respond to God’s work not just with a note of appreciation but with hearts and minds becoming more responsive to him; with a greater commitment to letting him convict us and mould us and let his Spirit define everything we are. This is the great call of discipleship; that the more Jesus shows us the more we choose to trust him and the more we choose to trust him the more we work to become like him. To refuse to walk this path ultimately leads you to blasphemy; it is claiming to worship God, but refusing to let him mould your life; you claim to love him and yet in practice you are hard towards him and all he wants to do. Sobering statements. But if we do dwell on them, we really will find the wisdom of God and the empowered life of walking in step with the Spirit.

Question for reflection

In what ways have you grown in your trust in Jesus in the last few weeks? What changes has that brought into your life?

Matthew 12 - Tuesday 20th August