Encounters with Jesus #6

Right after that, as the blind men were leaving, a man who had been struck speechless by an evil spirit was brought to Jesus. As soon as Jesus threw the evil tormenting spirit out, the man talked away just as if he'd been talking all his life. The people were up on their feet applauding: "There's never been anything like this in Israel!"
The Pharisees were left sputtering, "Hocus-pocus. It's nothing but hocus-pocus. He's probably made a pact with the Devil." (Matt 9:32-34 MSG)

When you step out and reveal who God is [and how much He loves] in what you say and do, it will not always be understood or appreciated by everyone.

Here the relentless pace of this chapter in Matthew continues as we read about Jesus performing another miracle. On this occasion the people cannot help but applaud God declaring that not only had they never seen anything like this before but God had never been revealed [as being so close] like this in the whole of the country! Despite this obvious and amazing revelation of who God is through actions, others [who should have be trained enough to know better] get it all wrong and assume Jesus to be in a “…pact with the Devil.” It is almost too unbelievable to be true.

Once again the dynamic of Matthew’s writing does not give us much of a clue as to the Pharisees motivation for criticising Jesus in this manner. Had they genuinely misinterpret Jesus as being demonic? Or did they feel that Jesus was encroaching on their God-given role? Were they concerned about their occupation or the spiritual wellbeing of the people?
We could spend all day double-guessing their motivation, but while we can clearly see how damaging [to themselves and others] their words were, we must be careful not to dismiss this danger in our lives. We may think that since we are not ‘anti-Jesus’ we would not fall foul to the same mistake. How many times has God answered your prayers in a way you had not expected [or been ready for]? While you can now see God’s hand at work in it you can also remember at the time praying against God’s answer, assuming it to be ‘an attack of the enemy’ because it was so different from what you expected. You viewed it as the enemy trying to tempt you away from waiting for the ‘right’ answer [the one you want]. Sometimes we have been guilty of attributing God’s response to our prayers to actions of the Devil because it is not what we want to hear.

But, if it is not us who misunderstands God it can be others too. When you are on a ‘spiritual roll’, having a mountain top experience, your motives and experience may be questioned, and not always by those hostile to your cause but those who would want to join you but may be struggling themselves (perhaps even for the above reason). Even though everything you do God honouring and you speak only of salvation, you may well as many people who question your motives as those who will encourage you. Don’t let this dent your stride or limit your faith-filled enthusiasm: “Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you.” (John 15:20 NLT)

You may be slap-bang in the middle of the will of God, seeing God do amazing things all around you, and someone will criticise you saying that you are doing it all out of a selfish ambition. They may even say you are evil. How should you react?
What did Jesus do after being so brutally criticised? He just carried on and “…travelled through all the towns and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom.” (Matt 9:35 MSG) This [destructive, reputation ruining] criticism didn’t even cause Jesus to stumble! Stay close to God so that you can discern the difference between godly advice and destructive criticism.

Through out this series we have seen faith overcome experience, expectations, emotions, misguided duty, low self-esteem, and even being ‘ignored’ by God. And now we are taught how faith can overcome opposition, but this isn’t spectacular attention drawing finale; we are just told that Jesus carried on. Faith was in charge, not emotions, self-image or anything else. When we start to live by faith [only in God], God become unstoppable in our life. We begin to live as we have always wanted to live!

“That's why we live with such good cheer. You won't see us drooping our heads or dragging our feet! Cramped conditions here don't get us down. They only remind us of the spacious living conditions ahead. It's what we trust in but don't yet see that keeps us going. Do you suppose a few ruts in the road or rocks in the path are going to stop us? When the time comes, we'll be plenty ready to exchange exile for homecoming.” (2 Cor 5:6-8 MSG)

-Andrew Carey