Tasting Words, Testing Hearts

ALL – Psalm 16:1-11
ALL – Proverbs 3:27-32
OT – Genesis 37:1-38:30
NT – Matthew 12:22-45

Jesus had just cast demons out of a man, demons that had been preventing the man from talking or seeing. Now the man was completely healed.

Most of the crowd was, rightly, amazed. They said things like, “Maybe Jesus is the Messiah” (Matthew 12:23, The Living Bible). But some people in the crowd hated Jesus’ ministry and, assuming that He couldn’t possibly be associated with God, said that Jesus was associated with Satan, instead. They said demons were listening to Jesus because Jesus represented their demon-king.

Some responded with good words. Some responded with bad words. Not that words ought to be measured merely by how kind they seem to be. As we’ll see in a moment, Jesus’ response to those speaking bad words doesn’t seem to be filled with good words.

You brood of snakes! How could evil men like you speak what is good and right? For a man’s heart determines his speech. A good man’s speech reveals the rich treasures within him. An evil-hearted man is filled with venom, and his speech reveals it. – Matthew 12:34-35, The Living Bible

Jesus starts off by calling them a brood of snakes! But then he criticizes them for revealing their evil hearts by their speech! What about His own speech, you might ask? What’s the difference? Isn’t Jesus returning insult for insult?

No. He’s not. Jesus’ words are designed to reveal the truth to the hearts of wicked men, while their words were designed merely to oppose Jesus by obscuring the truth. Their words opposed what was truly good; Jesus’ words revealed what was actually bad. So their words were evil. Jesus’ words were good.

When Jesus was calling men to speak what is good and right, He was calling them to speak the truth in love. His speech, even in response to the evil speech of his opponents, was the truth spoken in love, revealing precisely the kind of good heart Jesus had described. He wants us all to lovingly reveal the truth by our speech, and sometimes the truth won’t sound friendly.

But the goal is not to sound unfriendly. The goal is to lovingly tell the truth, rather than lying. If you must oppose people, do so from a pure heart. If you have to lie in order to make your point, then you’re trying to make a point that shouldn’t be made. Your character is at stake! And discerning people will know your heart when they hear your words.

Who has a clear example of this – either a clear example of a good person’s heart being revealed by amazingly good words, or of a bad person’s heart being revealed by evil words?

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