We Gather or we Scatter

Matthew 9:32-34

Have you ever been a witness to a great event?  Maybe you were in the ball park when the Astros won a game, only kidding, but you could have been at a ball park when Roger Maris broke Babe Ruth’s home run record, or you may have been invited to a special event at the White House, or you might have been to a Billy Graham Crusade where thousands ask Jesus Christ to forgive their sin and left there forgiven.   It matters not the event for as you are leaving the occasion, it’s what has happen not what is about to take place that you are consumed with.  But it is not the case with Matthew’s account of the two men who were blind, who are now leaving with sight, very good sight, someone brings a man who Matthew describes in this manner.  “As they were going away, behold, a demon-oppressed man who was mute was brought to him. And when the demon had been cast out, the mute man spoke. And the crowds marveled, saying, “Never was anything like this seen in Israel.” But the Pharisees said, “He casts out demons by the prince of demons.”

Never forget the Pharisees are the teachers of the Law, the leaders of the Jewish religion, and the ones with the authority to put you out of the Temple, and they said, “He casts out demons by the prince of demons.”  For some reason unknown to us, the Holy Spirit did not choose to address Jesus’ reply in Matthew 9:34, but in Matthew 12:22-30, where Jesus has healed a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute and once more the people are astonished and the Pharisees say Jesus is doing so by Beelzebub, the prince of demons.  This is Jesus’ reply to the Pharisees; “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”

So it seems that Jesus has drawn a line and each of us are on one side or the other, we   gather or we scatter.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice