Tuesday in the Week of Pentecost

Readings

• Proverbs 15:16–33
• 1 Timothy 1:18–2:8
• Matthew 12:33–42
• Psalms: 26, 28; 36, 39

Matthew 12:33–42

"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 things when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person brings good things out of a good treasure, and the evil person brings evil things out of an evil treasure. I tell you, on the day of judgment you will have to give an account for every careless word you utter, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to him, "Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you."

But he answered them, "An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth. The people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and indeed something greater than Jonah is here! The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and indeed something greater than Solomon is here!"

Notes

Today's reading continues yesterday's confrontation.

Verses 33–35. The tree and the fruit. The tree is known by its fruit. Jesus is laying down an ethical principle that cuts at the root of what philosophers call it voluntarism : the view that something is good because God says so, not because the thing itself is good. Voluntarism says that if God commanded genocide, genocide would be good. Jesus says the opposite. Goodness can only be produced by goodness. A faith tradition, a theology, a leader, a movement: all are recognized by the fruit they produce in the actual world. If the fruit is destructive, the tree is not good, no matter what claims are being made about it.

Verse 34. Brood of vipers. Jesus calls the Pharisees a brood of vipers. The image leans on an ancient myth that baby snakes ate their way out of their mother's belly. Jesus is essentially calling them mother-eaters : those who consume the very tradition that birthed them.

Verses 36–37. Careless words. "On the day of judgment you will have to give an account for every careless word you utter." This verse has been weaponized to scare people about cussing or coarse language. But it is not about that. The "careless words" Jesus has in mind are the blasphemy of yesterday's paragraph: the willingness to call the work of the Spirit demonic.

Applied today: calling policies that starve people, that strip rights, that rescind care for the vulnerable, godly is the kind of careless word Jesus is naming. Naming the Spirit's work as evil, and the empire's cruelty as godly, is what gets accounted for. The verse is not about your salty vocabulary. It is about whether you are calling good evil and evil good.

Verse 38. Sign-seeking. Some scribes and Pharisees say, Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you. The audacity is breathtaking. Jesus has just performed a major exorcism in front of them. They have responded by calling his power demonic. And now they ask for another sign.

Verses 39–42. The sign of Jonah. The only sign Jesus will give is the sign of the prophet Jonah : three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. This is the first time in Matthew Jesus has signaled the resurrection. The death and rising will be his sign.

Then two pointed examples. The people of Nineveh will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah. And the queen of the South (the Queen of Sheba, who traveled from the ends of the earth to hear Solomon's wisdom) will also rise to condemn it. Both examples are Gentile outsiders who responded to a lesser revelation than the one Jesus is offering. Matthew is back on the outsider theme that has been running since the genealogy in Matthew 1. The right responders to God are not always the religious establishment.

Something greater than Jonah is here. Something greater than Solomon is here. Jesus is naming his identity with increasing clarity. Greater than the prophet who turned a city. Greater than the wisest king in Israel's memory. The Pharisees are missing what is in front of them; the Ninevites and the Queen of the South are watching from history and shaking their heads.

Questions for reflection

Jesus says goodness can only produce goodness. Where in your spiritual life have you been told that something destructive is "godly," and what would it cost you to call the tree by its fruit?

"Something greater than Jonah is here." The Pharisees missed what was right in front of them; the Ninevites and the Queen of the South would have seen it from a distance. What are you missing right now because you are too close to it?