Chapter BY Chapter

Matthew 12:1-21 – Hope Of The Nations

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At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.  But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.”  He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him:  how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?  Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless?  I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.  And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.  For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

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He went on from there and entered their synagogue.  And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”- so that they might accuse him.  He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out?  Of how much more value is a man than a sheep!  So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”  Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other.  But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him. 

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Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all and ordered them not to make him known.  This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah:

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“Behold, my servant whom I have chosen,

    my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased.

I will put my Spirit upon him,

    and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.

He will not quarrel or cry aloud,

    nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets;

a bruised reed he will not break,

    and a smoldering wick he will not quench,

until he brings justice to victory;

    and in his name the Gentiles will hope.”

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Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw.  And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?”  But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.”  Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand.  And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?  And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.  But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.  Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house.  Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.  Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.  And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

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“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.”

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Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.”  But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks 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 great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.  The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

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“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none.  Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order.  Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.”

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While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him.  But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?”  And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!  For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

 

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In chapter 10, Jesus sends out the 12 disciples.  He is just finishing up with empowering them and instructing them, when John’s disciples come to him with a question.  Thus we have chapter 11.  Now we are at chapter 12.  There is an error in the translation of the first sentence in verse 1 in the ESV.  It reads, “At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.”  It should read, “At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbaths. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.”  Notice the difference? 

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The fact that Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbaths, plural, shows that he had been doing this on a regular basis.  The use of this shows us where we are in the sequence of events here.  Jesus told his disciples not to take any food, supplies, or money with them as they went on their mission to preach the gospel to all of the cities of Israel.  They are now on their mission.  This is why they are hungry and without food.  They were now on their mission.  Was it legal for them to take the heads of grain and eat them? 

The very first time I read this, I thought that it was wrong for the disciples to take the heads of grain.  Deuteronomy 23:24-25 says,

““If you go into your neighbor's vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes, as many as you wish, but you shall not put any in your bag.  When you enter your neighbor's grainfield, you may pluck the heads of grain with your hand, but you must not put a sickle to your neighbor's grain.”

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Now, eating raw grapes works out pretty good.  Since you couldn’t walk off with a bag of what was in your neighbor’s field, the disciples couldn’t take the grains some place and boil them to make them fully edible.  Without cooking, raw grain has very little nutritional value.  Raw grains contain substantial amounts of phytic acid and other “anti-nutrients” that are actually harmful to humans, by inhibiting our digestive processes and locking up vital nutrients in indigestible forms. In addition, most of the nutritive content of the grain is locked up behind the tough plant cell walls, which the human digestive system is unable to break down. Chewing helps some, but not completely. A lot of the nutrition in raw grains passes right through your gut and out the other end, because unlike cows we do not have the same kind of plant-digesting microbial community inside of us and we cannot keep the material in our guts long enough to completely break it down.  (https://www.quora.com/How-healthy-is-it-to-consume-raw-wheat-or-grains).

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So, the disciples must have been really hungry!

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The Pharisees didn’t have a problem with the disciples eating the heads of grain.  They had a problem with them doing this on the Sabbath.  Verses 2-8,

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“But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.”  He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?  Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless?  I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.  And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.  For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

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The Pharisees are nit-picking here.  The Sabbath restricts people from doing their everyday vocation.  It does not restrict someone from feeding themselves.  Why would the Pharisees be nit-picking on Jesus all the time? 

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1. A lot of people were following Jesus.

2. Jesus’ teachings taught that the Pharisee’s teachings were not always correct.

3. Jesus spoke against the corrupt establishment.They were part of the establishment.

4. Jesus was performing all these miracles and they weren’t.They were jealous.

 

What evidence does Jesus give in rebuttal to the Pharisees?

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1. Leviticus 24:9, “It belongs to Aaron and his sons, who are to eat it in a holy place; for it is to him a most holy part of the offerings made by fire to the LORD--his portion forever."

2. 1 Samuel 21:4, "There is no common bread on hand," the priest replied, "but there is some consecrated bread--provided that the young men have kept themselves from women."

3. 1 Samuel 21:6, “So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, which had been removed from before the LORD and replaced with hot bread on the day it was taken away.”Therefore, even though the bread was sacred in the temple, it was deemed lawful for David to eat it on the Sabbath when there was no other food.

4. Numbers 28:9-10, “On the Sabbath day, two male lambs a year old without blemish, and two tenths of an ephah of fine flour for a grain offering, mixed with oil, and its drink offering: this is the burnt offering of every Sabbath, besides the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.”In other words, even the priests work on the Sabbath and are held guiltless.

5. Something greater than the temple is here. What could that be?

   • Jesus.

   • Why was Jesus Greater than the temple?

   • Because he was God incarnate.

6. “And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.”

   • What does Jesus mean by this?This is the second time he quotes this verse in Matthew.

   • The whole point of the religion is God’s mercy, not the rituals and ordinances.

   • As we will see, this is one of the main points of the gospel of Matthew.

7. “For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”We believe in this because we already believe in Jesus, but is Jesus going to prove this to those Pharisees?

 

Verses 9-14,

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“He went on from there and entered their synagogue.  And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” - so that they might accuse him.  He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out?  Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”  Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other.  But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.”

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So, right after defending his disciples eating from the grainfields, Jesus goes into their synagogue.  It was not just A synagogue, it was THEIR synagogue.  Jesus is going headstrong right at the people that are wrongly accusing him.  A man is there with a withered hand and the Pharisees are thinking that they can use this opportunity to accuse Jesus of something, so they ask Jesus, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”  Now this event brings out the epitome of the Pharisees’ hypocrisy.  “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath???”  Jesus just got done reminding them that the priests do their job on the Sabbath, but are held guiltless.  And now they ask if it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath.  Who is doing the healing anyway?  If the priests are guiltless in doing their job on the Sabbath, is not God guiltless in doing what he does on the Sabbath?  What is Jesus’ rebuttal? 

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1. “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out?”

   • Deuteronomy 22:4, “You shall not see your brother's donkey or his ox fallen down by the way and ignore them. You shall help him to lift them up again.”The Jews were not exempt from doing this just because it was the Sabbath.They even require people to shovel snow that falls on the Sabbath!

2. “Of how much more value is a man than a sheep!”

   • This statement shows the depth of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees.They knew that they were commanded in the Torah to do good at all times.They routinely used this command to help a sheep out of a pit on the Sabbath.But here they were implying that it would be wrong to help a person on the Sabbath.

3. Conclusion: “So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

4. Now here is the proof: “Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other.”

 

And how did the Pharisees respond to this proof?

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They sought to conspire how to destroy Jesus.  Just because you prove something to someone does it mean that they believe it.  People can disbelieve in truth. 

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There are a number of truths that some people refuse to believe.

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1. Not all truths are scientific truths. One thing I saw on an atheist’s collection of sayings was, “Only scientific truths exist.”That saying in itself is not scientific.  So how can one expect it to be true if that is what they really believe – emphasis here is on the word “BELIEVE.”

2. Most people believe that Napoleon was short.Actually he was 5’6” which was slightly above average for that time.

3. Oil stops pasta from sticking.Nope, it only makes it greasy.Stirring is what keeps pasta from sticking.

4. Black holes are empty holes where matter disappears.Nope – they are immensely dense spheres with enormous gravitational pull.

5. We only have 5 senses.Nope, we have 21, including balance, pain, and temperature.

6. Alcohol kills brain cells.Nope, it only damages them.

7. Bats are blind.Nope, they can actually see, but rely on echolocation more.

8. It takes 7 years for gum to digest.Nope – it doesn’t digest at all, it just passes through.

9. Bulls hate the color red.They are actually color blind and react to the motion of something waved at them.

10. Bagpipes were invented by the Scottish.Actually, they were in the Middle East long before the Scottish used them.

11. Your blood is blue on the inside of your arteries.Actually it is dark red.

12. Lightning never strikes the same place twice.Lightning strikes the empire State building several dozen times in a year.One time is was recorded striking there 8 times in 24 minutes.

 

So Jesus was not accepted in that city.  What do you think he is going to do next?

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Verses 15-21,

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“Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all and ordered them not to make him known.  This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah:

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“Behold, my servant whom I have chosen,

    my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased.

I will put my Spirit upon him,

    and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.

He will not quarrel or cry aloud,

    nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets;

a bruised reed he will not break,

    and a smoldering wick he will not quench,

until he brings justice to victory;

    and in his name the Gentiles will hope.”

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So Jesus takes his own advice and leaves that city to go elsewhere.  Many followed him and he healed them all.  Truth has a quality.  It is self-enforcing.  If there is a wall in front of you and you ignore that truth, you will run into the wall.  Truth does not need to be enforced by men.  Belief in God and his attributes and mercy does not need people to enforce it.  People that refuse to believe it will one day run into that wall of truth. 

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Once again, Jesus orders people not to make him known.  Why does he tell people not to make him known according to this passage?

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1. To fulfill the prophecy in

2. Isaiah 42:1-4.

“Behold my servant, whom I uphold,

    my chosen, in whom my soul delights;

I have put my Spirit upon him;

    he will bring forth justice to the nations.

He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,

    or make it heard in the street;

a bruised reed he will not break,

    and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;

    he will faithfully bring forth justice.

He will not grow faint or be discouraged

    till he has established justice in the earth;

    and the coastlands wait for his law.”

1. And Isaiah 11:1-5,

“There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,

    and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,

    the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,

    the Spirit of counsel and might,

    the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see,

    or decide disputes by what his ears hear,

but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,

    and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;

and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,

    and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,

    and faithfulness the belt of his loins.”

1. And Isiah 51:4-5,

“Give attention to me, my people,

    and give ear to me, my nation;

for a law will go out from me,

    and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples.

My righteousness draws near,

    my salvation has gone out,

    and my arms will judge the peoples;

the coastlands hope for me,”

 

Notice that Matthew summarizes some of the Isaiah quotes.  This is because they were standardized and accepted summaries of Isaiah as taught by the Pharisees and scribes.  Using the quote in this way was a further condemnation of those that did not believe even though they had all the proof in the world they needed.

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What was Jesus’ purpose in doing things the way he did them?

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The purpose was two-fold.  First it fulfilled prophecy.  Second, to not make a big deal out of himself.  This has a ring of truth.  You don’t have to force truth on people.  People that are truly looking for truth will embrace it.  Jesus went about healing people humbly, as though it was his duty to do so. 

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The fact arises again that Jesus fulfilled prophesy.  This supports what in the gospel of Matthew?

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Matthew’s thesis:

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“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”

That is, that this is the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

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Song: Hope Of The Nations - Lyric Video by WeAreWorshipMusic