Matthew 12:30
"Anyone who is not with me is against me, and anyone who does not gather with me scatters."
This response came after the pharisees were accusing Jesus of being satan himself because Jesus had just healed a demon-possessed blind man.
(Pharisees — were the middle class business people, zealous for rituals and religious purity - they were legalistic. Jesus rebuked them for using human tradition to nullify scripture.)
The Pharisees were also looking for reasons to condemn Jesus.
When Jesus healed people they rebuked him for working on the Sabbath.
When Jesus ate grain from the field while walking through, they rebuked him for working on the Sabbath.
When Jesus healed a demon-possessed man, they said only satan himself can drive out demons.
Their accusations were unfounded, they were simply spitting out division and hate towards Jesus because they felt threatened by him and they wanted to find a justified reason to kill him.
The scripture I quoted in this post comes from the section titled “A HOUSE DIVIDED” Jesus had just healed a man that was demon-possessed, blind and unable to speak. The crowd was astounded by his healing but the Pharisees were mad: they claimed that Jesus was satan himself… in response Jesus said “If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?” This shut down their whole philosophy — if satan is casting out his own demons, he’s destroying his own efforts… their concept was inconsistent and pointless.
“If I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” (You would think the religious leaders that the pharisees were would actually be excited about that…. )
“Anyone who is not with me is against me, and anyone who does not gather with me scatters.”
Jesus is saying there is no neutral ground. We either believe in him or we don’t - like the Pharisees. They didn’t believe in him, and they actively tried to disqualify all the good works that Christ did simply because they felt threatened by his presence.
Jesus is saying there is no neutral ground. We either believe in him or we don’t - like the Pharisees. They didn’t believe in him, and they actively tried to disqualify all the good works that Christ did simply because they felt threatened by his presence.
There is no neutral corner for people to stand in. If we were playing a game of dodgeball and the players could choose their side, no one can just walk off the court and say I don’t know what side to choose, so I choose nothing. Jesus is saying we are on his team or else we are on the other team. There is no bench to sit on if we don’t want to make a decision. We must step up and take responsibility for the choice we make. If we choose not to believe that doesn’t take away who he is — it simply removes us from “his side” But we must remember that WE HAD THE CHOICE. For those that make no decision as to whether they believe or don’t believe — they have made the decision: they have separated themselves. If you are not gathering then you’re scattering: divided and separated from Christ.
It is our choice.
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