Interesting story we find with Jesus this time around. His mission has shifted into high gear, he is followed wherever he goes, the crowds have discovered him, the authorities are watching him. In the midst of all this chaos we see the beginning of the argument against him. The religious leaders will accuse him directly, his family will hint at it. In their eyes, Jesus is clearly not managing his life well. His family claims "He is out of his mind." The teachers of the law say, "He is possessed by Beelzebul!" Jesus is not playing by the same rules as everyone else and he must be stopped.
There are at least two things that strike me here about this moment.
First of all, when someone truly embraces the leading of the Spirit, they act in ways we are not accustomed to. And it frightens us. It is easier to assign evil and mysterious motives than it is to step back and wonder if they have found a different level of understanding. In my opinion this is our primary fear of the "pentecostal" crowd. Our frame of reference is experiential, not faith. We have never had it happen to us so we don't believe it. So when we come across these events, we tend to "demonize" those who are involved. Reading this story makes me realize how dangerous that is. Jesus rightly points out that you can't accuse him of being possessed when the very evidence of his mission is the destruction of the demons in which he is supposed to in league.
Secondly, the teachers of the law react by accusing him of the greatest sin they could think of. The argument Jesus presents is indisputable. They can't have it both ways. If he is destroying demons, then he is not one of them. If he is promoting the good will of God, then he has to be a part of His plan. But isn't this just like all of us? We jump at the most contemptible accusation we can come up with, even in the face of all the evidence? Theirs was not a carefully considered accusation, it was a reaction. Haven't we all seen this?
God, help us to understand the weakness of our nature in the temptation to accuse without discernment.
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