Today, I am reading and commenting on Matthew 10-12.

I want to start by commenting on John the Baptist sending his disciples to ask Jesus if He was the “one to come”, or if they should expect someone else.  I find this interesting because when Jesus asked John to baptize Him John had replied that he should be baptized by Jesus.  So, at that point John had been convinced that Jesus was the Messiah, yet now he had doubts.  This passage should give us confidence that when we have doubts it does not mean that we have lost faith.  I, also, find Jesus’ answer instructive.  He does NOT say, “Yes, I am the One to come.”  Instead, He tells John’s disciples to report to John what he had done.  Then He says, “Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”  Suggesting that many will struggle with reconciling Jesus’ teaching with their preconceived ideas about who God is, that they will fail to see how God uses what looks like powerlessness to reveal His power.  Something Jesus highlights a few verses later when He tells us that God hid His “things” from the wise and learned while revealing them to children.

I did not intend to write that much about John the Baptist sending His disciples because I felt like I should write about Jesus’ comment on the unforgivable sin.  Jesus says that all kinds of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.  He says this in the context of some of the Pharisees saying that He drove out demons by the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons.  So, what Jesus seems to be saying is that if we give credit to Satan, to evil beings, for what God has done we have committed a sin which cannot be forgiven.  I am struggling with explaining the meaning of this clearly.  Satan does not drive out demons.  Satan does not do good.  I think about the story from “Schindler’s List”.  Oscar Schindler initially did what he did in order to benefit himself, but as he did good things in order to benefit himself, he started to do good things because they were good.  Until in the end, he regretted not doing more.  Satan does not give us power to do good, because God’s Spirit can use the good we do in order to bring us to Him.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

I have created a Patreon page for those who would like to support me in writing these blog posts every day: https://patreon.com/AttilaSoldus