“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Mat 12:33-37)
Before Barcelona vs. Real Madrid, before Murdoch vs. Maxwell, before Liverpool vs. Manchester United, before Sindy vs. Barbie, before Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi-Cola, before He-Man vs. Skeletor there was Jesus vs. Pharisees. It’s almost as though no matter what Jesus would do, there was always a barrage of criticism and resistance from the Pharisess. These homies were looking for ways to trip Jesus up and bad-mouth the guy. Talk about being jealous of another man’s success, but it wasn’t just success it was success in humility done with the unmistakeable stamp of divine approval. Now if you’re the purveyors of the spiritual and divinely authoritative for the community and someone trumps you by showing how God really means it with signs and wonders to boot then it could undermine your own position. No wonder the feud between the two could only end with one of them being crucified.
In this engagement, though, it’s as though the accusations of the Pharisees unleashes something in Jesus that gives him license to let rip at the sheer evil of his accusers. In mentioning about the abundance of the heart, though, there was something very convicting about how Jesus combines acts, intentions and words.
It should be convicting because when you survey media, entertainment, conversations it is apparent that the abundance of our hearts isn’t filled with that much good. Why else do you explain the popularity and mega-bucks to be found in that which isn’t good – gratuitous sex and violence, gossip and malevolent intrigue, the bad news that sells. Why is that? Why is that so popular? What does it say about the abundance of the heart?
I was thinking as well about the content of the blogs. What would that say to the onlooker browsing through? Would it suggest someone who is madly and deeply in love with Jesus? Would it suggest someone who has the interests of the church and the growth and development of people in the image of Christ?
Just wondering.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
dmcd
Life With CD 