Daily Readings and Thought for January 7th. “THIS MAN IS BLASPHEMING”
Our readings in Matthew demonstrate the power of human nature to deny the evidence. Jesus did a number of remarkable miracles and “when the crowds saw it, they were afraid (struck with fear and awe AMPLIFIED VERSION) and they glorified God … “[9 v.8]. But many of the religious leaders, seeing their authority and prestige threatened “said to themselves, this man is blaspheming” [v.3].
As the miracles multiplied and the crowds said, “never was anything like this seen in Israel”, those religious leaders became more urgent in their efforts to discredit him. They said, “He casts out demons by the prince of demons” [v.33-34] – for they had embraced the demoniac ideas of the Greeks; it is interesting that there is no reference to demons in the Old Testament. Even if such spirits and an evil leader existed, which they didn’t, their allegations defied all logical reasoning as Jesus told them (see Luke 11 v.15-23).
Their position and authority dominated their minds, they were unable to face the reality of the situation. We need to think whether such a mindset could happen to us. Their mindset reached its peak when they discussed putting the resurrected Lazarus to death as, because of him, even greater numbers were believing in Jesus and undermining their standing.(John 12 v.10-11). This example of the extreme limits to which humans will go to maintain a belief and support a cause made us think of the present obsession to believe that the world and everything in it, evolved of its own accord, that all that exists is the result of an endless series of “chance” happenings.
The recent discovery of the remarkable properties of DNA is certain evidence to those who think clearly and logically of a master-designer, but all the comments by “learned” people, show their determination to see all life as one super-colossal accident! Part of the reason for this determination, we suspect, arises from the poor image of the Church. People turn away from Christianity as the answer as a result. How great the need for all people to get back to reading the Bible. We must all ask ourselves what we are doing to set the example!
