A Center of Controversy

SHORTLY after he is entertained at the home of Simon, Jesus begins a second preaching tour of Galilee. On his previous tour of the territory, he was accompanied by his first disciples, Peter, Andrew, James, and John. But now the 12 apostles, as well as certain women, accompany him. These include Mary Magdalene, Susanna, and Joanna, whose husband is an officer of King Herod.

As the pace of Jesus’ ministry intensifies, so does the controversy regarding his activity. A demon-possessed man, who is also blind and unable to speak, is brought to Jesus. When Jesus cures him, so that he is free of demon control and can both speak and see, the crowds are simply carried away. They begin to say: “May this not perhaps be the Son of David?”

Crowds gather in such numbers around the house where Jesus is staying that he and his disciples cannot even eat a meal. In addition to those who think that he may be the promised “Son of David,” there are scribes and Pharisees who have come all the way from Jerusalem to discredit him. When Jesus’ relatives hear about the commotion revolving around Jesus, they come to lay hold of him. For what reason?

Well, even Jesus’ own brothers do not as yet believe that he is God’s Son. Also, the public uproar and strife that he has created is totally uncharacteristic of the Jesus that they knew while he was growing up in Nazareth. Therefore, they believe that something is seriously wrong with Jesus mentally. “He has gone out of his mind,” they conclude, and they want to seize him and take him away.

Yet the evidence is clear that Jesus healed the demonized man. The scribes and Pharisees know that they cannot deny the actuality of this. So to discredit Jesus they tell the people: “This fellow does not expel the demons except by means of Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.”

Knowing their thinking, Jesus calls the scribes and Pharisees to him and says: “Every kingdom divided against itself comes to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. In the same way, if Satan expels Satan, he has become divided against himself; how, then, will his kingdom stand?”

What devastating logic! Since the Pharisees claim that persons from their own ranks have cast out demons, Jesus also asks: “If I expel the demons by means of Beelzebub, by means of whom do your sons expel them?” In other words, their charge against Jesus should just as well be applied to them as to him. Jesus then warns: “But if it is by means of God’s spirit that I expel the demons, the kingdom of God has really overtaken you.”

To illustrate that his casting out of demons is evidence of his power over Satan, Jesus says: “How can anyone invade the house of a strong man and seize his movable goods, unless first he binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. He that is not on my side is against me, and he that does not gather with me scatters.” The Pharisees clearly are against Jesus, demonstrating themselves to be Satan’s agents. They are scattering Israelites away from him.

Consequently, Jesus warns these satanic opposers that “the blasphemy against the spirit will not be forgiven.” He explains: “Whoever speaks a word against the Son of man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the holy spirit, it will not be forgiven him, no, not in this system of things nor in that to come.” Those scribes and Pharisees have committed that unforgivable sin by maliciously attributing to Satan what is plainly a miraculous operation of God’s holy spirit. Matthew 12:22-32; Mark 3:19-30; John 7:5.

Jesus Rebukes the Pharisees

IF IT is by Satan’s power that he expels demons, Jesus argues, then Satan is divided against himself. “Either you people make the tree fine and its fruit fine,” he continues, “or make the tree rotten and its fruit rotten; for by its fruit the tree is known.”

It is foolish to charge that the good fruit of casting out demons is a result of Jesus’ serving Satan. If the fruit is fine, the tree cannot be rotten. On the other hand, the Pharisees’ rotten fruitage of absurd accusations and groundless opposition to Jesus is proof that they themselves are rotten. “Offspring of vipers,” Jesus exclaims, “how can you speak good things, when you are wicked? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”

Since our words reflect the condition of our hearts, what we say provides a basis for judgment. “I tell you,” Jesus says, “that every unprofitable saying that men speak, they will render an account concerning it on Judgment Day; for by your words you will be declared righteous, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Despite all of Jesus’ powerful works, the scribes and Pharisees request: “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.” Although these particular men from Jerusalem may not personally have seen his miracles, irrefutable eyewitness evidence regarding them exists. So Jesus tells the Jewish leaders: “A wicked and adulterous generation keeps on seeking for a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah the prophet.”

Explaining what he means, Jesus continues: “Just as Jonah was in the belly of the huge fish three days and three nights, so the Son of man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.” After being swallowed by the fish, Jonah came out as if resurrected, so Jesus is foretelling that he will die and on the third day will be raised alive. Yet, the Jewish leaders, even when Jesus later is resurrected, reject “the sign of Jonah.”

Thus Jesus says that the men of Nineveh who repented at the preaching of Jonah will rise up in the judgment to condemn the Jews who reject Jesus. Similarly, he draws a parallel with the queen of Sheba, who came from the ends of the earth to hear Solomon’s wisdom and marveled at what she saw and heard. “But, look!” Jesus notes, “something more than Solomon is here.”

Jesus then gives the illustration of a man from whom an unclean spirit comes out. The man, however, does not fill the void with good things, so he becomes possessed by seven more wicked spirits. “That is how it will be also with this wicked generation,” Jesus says. The Israelite nation had been cleansed and had experienced reformations​—like the temporary departure of an unclean spirit. But the nation’s rejection of God’s prophets, culminating in its opposition to Christ himself, reveals its wicked condition to be much worse than at its beginning.

While Jesus is speaking, his mother and his brothers arrive and take a position at the edge of the crowd. So someone says: “Look! Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak to you.”

“Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Jesus asks. Extending his hand toward his disciples, he says: “Look! My mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.” In this way Jesus shows that regardless of how dear the ties are that bind him to his relatives, dearer still is his relationship with his disciples. Matthew 12:33-50; Mark 3:31-35; Luke 8:19-21.

Teaching With Illustrations

JESUS is apparently in Capernaum when he rebukes the Pharisees. Later the same day, he leaves the house and walks to the nearby Sea of Galilee, where crowds of people gather. There he boards a boat, pulls away, and begins teaching the people on the shore about the Kingdom of the heavens. He does so by means of a series of parables, or illustrations, each with a setting familiar to the people.

First, Jesus tells of a sower who sows seed. Some seed falls on the roadside and is eaten by birds. Other seed falls on soil with an underlying rock-mass. Since the roots lack depth, the new plants wither under the scorching sun. Still other seed falls among thorns, which choke the plants when they come up. Finally, some seed falls on good soil and produces a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold.

In another illustration, Jesus compares the Kingdom of God to a man who sows seed. As the days go by, while the man sleeps and when he is awake, the seed grows. The man does not know how. It grows all by itself and produces grain. When the grain ripens, the man harvests it.

Jesus tells a third illustration about a man who sows the right kind of seed, but “while men were sleeping,” an enemy comes and sows weeds in among the wheat. The man’s servants ask if they should pull out the weeds. But he replies: ‘No, you will uproot some of the wheat if you do. Let them both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the reapers to sort out the weeds and burn them and put the wheat in the barn.’

Continuing his speech to the crowds on the shore, Jesus provides two more illustrations. He explains that “the kingdom of the heavens” is like a mustard grain that a man plants. Though it is the tiniest of all seeds, he says, it grows into the largest of all vegetables. It becomes a tree to which birds come, finding shelter among its branches.

Some today object that there are tinier seeds than mustard seeds. But Jesus is not giving a lesson in botany. Of the seeds that Galileans of his day are familiar with, the mustard seed really is the tiniest. So they appreciate the matter of phenomenal growth that Jesus is illustrating.

Finally, Jesus compares “the kingdom of the heavens” to leaven that a woman takes and mixes into three large measures of flour. In time, he says, it permeates every part of the dough.

After giving these five illustrations, Jesus dismisses the crowds and returns to the house where he is staying. Soon his 12 apostles and others come to him there.

Benefiting From Jesus’ Illustrations

When the disciples come to Jesus after his speech to the crowds on the beach, they are curious about his new method of teaching. Oh, they have heard him use illustrations before, but never so extensively. So they inquire: “Why is it you speak to them by the use of illustrations?”

One reason he does so is to fulfill the prophet’s words: “I will open my mouth with illustrations, I will publish things hidden since the founding.” But there is more to it than this. His use of illustrations serves the purpose of helping to reveal the heart attitude of people.

Actually, most people are interested in Jesus simply as a masterful storyteller and miracle worker, not as one to be served as Lord and to be unselfishly followed. They do not want to be disturbed in their view of things or their way of life. They do not want the message to penetrate to that extent.

So Jesus says: “This is why I speak to them by the use of illustrations, because, looking, they look in vain, and hearing, they hear in vain, neither do they get the sense of it; and toward them the prophecy of Isaiah is having fulfillment, which says, ‘ . . . For the heart of this people has grown unreceptive.’”

“However,” Jesus goes on to say, “happy are your eyes because they behold, and your ears because they hear. For I truly say to you, Many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things you are beholding and did not see them, and to hear the things you are hearing and did not hear them.”

Yes, the 12 apostles and those with them have receptive hearts. Therefore Jesus says: “To you it is granted to understand the sacred secrets of the kingdom of the heavens, but to those people it is not granted.” Because of their desire for understanding, Jesus provides his disciples with an explanation of the illustration of the sower.

“The seed is the word of God,” Jesus says, and the soil is the heart. Of the seed sown on the hard roadside surface, he explains: “The Devil comes and takes the word away from their hearts in order that they may not believe and be saved.”

On the other hand, seed sown on soil with an underlying rock-mass refers to the hearts of people who receive the word with joy. However, because the word cannot take deep root in such hearts, these people fall away when a time of testing or persecution comes.

As for the seed that fell among the thorns, Jesus continues, this refers to people who have heard the word. These ones, however, are carried away by anxieties and riches and pleasures of this life, so they are completely choked and bring nothing to perfection.

Finally, as for the seed sown on fine soil, Jesus says, these are the ones who, after hearing the word with a fine and good heart, retain it and bear fruit with endurance.

How blessed are these disciples who have sought out Jesus to obtain an explanation of his teachings! Jesus intends that his illustrations be understood in order to impart truth to others. “A lamp is not brought to be put under a measuring basket or under a bed, is it?” he asks. No, “it is brought to be put upon a lampstand.” Thus Jesus adds: “Therefore, pay attention to how you listen.”

Blessed With More Instruction

After receiving Jesus’ explanation of the illustration of the sower, the disciples want to learn more. “Explain to us,” they request, “the illustration of the weeds in the field.”

How different the attitude of the disciples from that of the rest of the crowd on the beach! Those people lack an earnest desire to learn the meaning behind the illustrations, being satisfied with merely the outline of things set out in them. Contrasting that seaside audience with his inquisitive disciples who have come to him in the house, Jesus says:

“With the measure that you are measuring out, you will have it measured out to you, yes, you will have more added to you.” The disciples are measuring out to Jesus earnest interest and attention, and so they are blessed with receiving more instruction. Thus, in answer to his disciples’ inquiry, Jesus explains:

“The sower of the fine seed is the Son of man; the field is the world; as for the fine seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; but the weeds are the sons of the wicked one, and the enemy that sowed them is the Devil. The harvest is a conclusion of a system of things, and the reapers are angels.”

After identifying each feature of his illustration, Jesus describes the outcome. At the conclusion of the system of things, he says that the reapers, or angels, will separate weedlike imitation Christians from the true “sons of the kingdom.” Then “the sons of the wicked one” will be marked for destruction, but the sons of God’s Kingdom, “the righteous ones,” will shine brilliantly in the Kingdom of their Father.

Jesus next blesses his inquisitive disciples with three more illustrations. First, he says: “The kingdom of the heavens is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid; and for the joy he has he goes and sells what things he has and buys that field.”

“Again,” he continues, “the kingdom of the heavens is like a traveling merchant seeking fine pearls. Upon finding one pearl of high value, away he went and promptly sold all the things he had and bought it.”

Jesus himself is like the man who discovers a hidden treasure and like the merchant who finds a pearl of high value. He sold everything, as it were, giving up an honored position in heaven to become a lowly human. Then, as a man on earth, he suffers reproach and hateful persecution, proving worthy of becoming the Ruler of God’s Kingdom.

The challenge is placed before Jesus’ followers also to sell everything in order to obtain the grand reward of being either a coruler with Christ or an earthly Kingdom subject. Will we consider having a share in God’s Kingdom as something more valuable than anything else in life, as a priceless treasure or a precious pearl?

Finally, Jesus likens “the kingdom of the heavens” to a dragnet that gathers up fish of every kind. When the fish are separated, the unsuitable are thrown away but the good are kept. So, Jesus says, it will be in the conclusion of the system of things; the angels will separate the wicked from the righteous, reserving the wicked for annihilation.

Jesus himself begins this fishing project, calling his first disciples to be “fishers of men.” Under angelic surveillance, the fishing work continues down through the centuries. At last the time comes to haul in the “dragnet,” which symbolizes the organizations on earth professing to be Christian.

Although the unsuitable fish are cast into destruction, thankfully we can be counted among the ‘good fish’ that are kept. By exhibiting the same earnest desire as Jesus’ disciples did for more knowledge and understanding, we will be blessed not only with more instruction but with God’s blessing of eternal life. Matthew 13:1-52; Mark 4:1-34; Luke 8:4-18; Psalm 78:2; Isaiah 6:9, 10.