Read & explore together
A House Divided and the Sign of Jonah
These passages show strong disagreement about Jesus. After people see a demon cast out, Jesus answers accusations, warns about dangerous speech, speaks about Jonah, and in Luke adds calls to hear God’s word and walk in light.
Understanding the passage
Understanding the passage
Matthew, Mark, and Luke each report teaching linked to the charge that Jesus casts out demons by Beelzebul. Matthew and Luke include a healing of a mute man, with Matthew also mentioning blindness. Mark reports crowd pressure, hostile scribes, and Jesus speaking in parables, without requiring us to treat every detail as one occasion.
Matthew 12:22–45; Mark 3:20–30; Luke 11:14–36Main takeaway
Jesus teaches that his works show God’s kingdom at work, and people are responsible for how they speak, what they seek, and whether they hear and keep God’s word.
Explore the teaching
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01A healing leads to mixed reactionsMatthew and Luke begin with Jesus casting out a demon so a man speaks, and Matthew says he also sees.
Explanation
Matthew and Luke begin with Jesus casting out a demon so a man speaks, and Matthew says he also sees. The crowds marvel, while others accuse Jesus of acting by Beelzebul. Mark adds a crowded scene, with scribes making the same charge and some saying Jesus is insane.
02Jesus answers with the divided house and strong manJesus replies that a divided kingdom or house cannot stand, so Satan would not cast out Satan.
Explanation
Jesus replies that a divided kingdom or house cannot stand, so Satan would not cast out Satan. He asks by whom their own children cast out demons. Instead, if he casts out demons by the Spirit of God, or by God’s finger, then God’s kingdom has come. He pictures a stronger one overcoming the strong man.
03Speech reveals the heartJesus says people stand either with him or against him. Matthew and Mark then warn about blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, and Mark ties this directly to the claim that he has an unclean spirit.
Explanation
Jesus says people stand either with him or against him. Matthew and Mark then warn about blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, and Mark ties this directly to the claim that he has an unclean spirit. Matthew adds that a tree is known by its fruit, the mouth speaks from the heart, and words will be judged.
04The sign of Jonah and witnesses in judgmentWhen people ask for a sign, Jesus says this generation will receive only the sign of Jonah.
Explanation
When people ask for a sign, Jesus says this generation will receive only the sign of Jonah. Matthew includes the saying about the Son of Man being three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Jesus says the men of Nineveh and the Queen of the South will condemn this generation because they responded to lesser witnesses.
05Warnings about emptiness, hearing, and lightMatthew and Luke both warn that an unclean spirit may return to an empty, ordered house, leaving a worse condition.
Explanation
Matthew and Luke both warn that an unclean spirit may return to an empty, ordered house, leaving a worse condition. Luke then records that blessing belongs to those who hear the word of God and keep it. He also uses the pictures of a lamp and the eye to urge careful attention to light rather than darkness.
Read the accounts alongside one another
Keep each reading’s setting and wording in view.
Scroll across to compare the readings.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01What different responses to Jesus appear after the demon is cast out?
List the reactions the passages actually name: marvel, the question about the son of David, the Beelzebul accusation, and Mark’s report that some said he was insane.
02How does Jesus show that the Beelzebul accusation does not fit his work?
Follow his own argument: a divided kingdom cannot stand, their children become a challenge to the accusation, and his casting out demons shows God’s kingdom has come.
03Which pictures in these passages call for a real response rather than curiosity?
Notice Jesus’ warnings and invitations in the sign of Jonah, the empty house, hearing and keeping God’s word, and being full of light.
Read the Bible passages
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Matthew 12:22–45
22Then one possessed by a demon, blind and mute, was brought to him; and he healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw.
23All the multitudes were amazed, and said, “Can this be the son of David?”
24But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “This man does not cast out demons except by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons.”
25Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.
26If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?
27If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.
28But if I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then God’s Kingdom has come upon you.
29Or how can one enter into the house of the strong man and plunder his goods, unless he first bind the strong man? Then he will plunder his house.
30“He who is not with me is against me, and he who doesn’t gather with me, scatters.
31Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men.
32Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age, or in that which is to come.
33“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree corrupt and its fruit corrupt; for the tree is known by its fruit.
34You offspring of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
35The good man out of his good treasure brings out good things, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings out evil things.
36I tell you that every idle word that men speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.
37For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
38Then certain of the scribes and Pharisees answered, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”
39But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, but no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet.
40For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the huge fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
41The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation and will condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, someone greater than Jonah is here.
42The Queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and will condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, someone greater than Solomon is here.
43“When an unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes through waterless places seeking rest, and doesn’t find it.
44Then he says, ‘I will return into my house from which I came;’ and when he has come back, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order.
45Then he goes and takes with himself seven other spirits more evil than he is, and they enter in and dwell there. The last state of that man becomes worse than the first. Even so will it be also to this evil generation.”
Mark 3:20–30
20The multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread.
21When his friends heard it, they went out to seize him; for they said, “He is insane.”
22The scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul,” and, “By the prince of the demons he casts out the demons.”
23He summoned them and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan?
24If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
25If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.
26If Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he can’t stand, but has an end.
27But no one can enter into the house of the strong man to plunder unless he first binds the strong man; then he will plunder his house.
28“Most certainly I tell you, all sins of the descendants of man will be forgiven, including their blasphemies with which they may blaspheme;
29but whoever may blaspheme against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation.”
30—because they said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
Luke 11:14–36
14He was casting out a demon, and it was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke; and the multitudes marveled.
15But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons.”
16Others, testing him, sought from him a sign from heaven.
17But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation. A house divided against itself falls.
18If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul.
19But if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.
20But if I by God’s finger cast out demons, then God’s Kingdom has come to you.
21“When the strong man, fully armed, guards his own dwelling, his goods are safe.
22But when someone stronger attacks him and overcomes him, he takes from him his whole armor in which he trusted, and divides his plunder.
23“He who is not with me is against me. He who doesn’t gather with me scatters.
24The unclean spirit, when he has gone out of the man, passes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will turn back to my house from which I came out.’
25When he returns, he finds it swept and put in order.
26Then he goes and takes seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter in and dwell there. The last state of that man becomes worse than the first.”
27It came to pass, as he said these things, a certain woman out of the multitude lifted up her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts which nursed you!”
28But he said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God, and keep it.”
29When the multitudes were gathering together to him, he began to say, “This is an evil generation. It seeks after a sign. No sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet.
30For even as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so the Son of Man will also be to this generation.
31The Queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and will condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, one greater than Solomon is here.
32The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, one greater than Jonah is here.
33“No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, that those who come in may see the light.
34The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore when your eye is good, your whole body is also full of light; but when it is evil, your body also is full of darkness.
35Therefore see whether the light that is in you isn’t darkness.
36If therefore your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly full of light, as when the lamp with its bright shining gives you light.”