Matthew 12

Introduction

In today’s chapter, Matthew is going to switch is focus towards Jesus’ conflict with the opposing religious leaders. In the previous section Jesus had just finished accusing the leaders (and people) of stubbornly refusing to recognize him (and John). The tension is only going to build because of what the leaders perceive as Jesus ‘working’ on the Sabbath. This all builds to a fever pitch when the Pharisees accuse Jesus of doing the devil’s work instead of the Holy Spirit.

Outline:

Two stories about the Sabbath

An interlude about Jesus fulfilling prophecy

A third healing that leads to a dangerous accusation and a stunning rebuke by Jesus.

12:1-8: Picking Grain on the Sabbath

This is the first of the two Sabbath stories that creates tension with the religious leaders.

The disciples were hungry and decided they wants a snack while walking through the fields. They decide to start plucking heads of grain.

This wasn’t illegal. Jesus had told the people in Deuteronomy 23:25 “If you go into your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbor’s standing grain.”

The supposed problem was that they were doing this on the Sabbath, and picking grains to eat was considered ‘work’.

The fact that the Pharisees ‘saw’ this happen shows that they were essentially following and spying on Jesus and the apostles. Who wastes their day watching people walk through a grainfield?

Ironically, it seems like a lot of work doesn’t it?

We’ve all met those people that are obnoxious rule keepers. If you haven’t, now you have, because I’m one of them. This passage is a particularly strong remember for me. Just earlier this week I got extremely angry and mad at what I perceived to be other people ‘breaking the rules’ and that it didn’t seem ‘fair’.

Like the Pharisees, I failed to have mercy, and I also failed to see my own failures.

When the Lord established the Sabbath in Exodus 20:9-11 he graciously and mercifully did not strictly define ‘work’. Instead of leaning into this mercy, the religious leaders had instead leaned into more legislation - hotly debating what was and wasn’t considered ‘work’ even at the detriment to people!

Orthodox Jews still do this. Brie and I were watching a TV show a few months ago where the host spent a week living with one such family. Among the things they would do to prepare for the Sabbath was pre-ripping toilet paper! They believed that even breaking the squares apart on the Sabbath constituted work!

The Lord Jesus responds to them by basically asking the question, “Have you read the Bible?”

He first points them to the story of David in 1 Samuel 21. David was on the run from Saul and his men were hungry, so he stopped by the tabernacle and did something ‘illegal’: eating the bread of the presence.

The second story is even more broad (in case they stubbornly said ‘Well that was a one-time case.’). The priests ‘worked’ every day in the Temple, including on the Sabbath. This means, by definition, they were breaking the Sabbath.

But guess what? Nobody cared. Nor did anyone think that David or the priests were guilty of ‘breaking the Sabbath’. So why did these Pharisees care so much? Pride.

Pride is what ultimately leads us into legalism. A desire to mask our own failures, insecurities, or desires and point the blame at others. As I mentioned, I’ve always struggled with this.

Once, when I was in high school at church camp, I became angry that so many other kids had their cellphones (which was against the rules). I was the ‘good kid’ who hadn’t broken the rules and I complained that so many kids were breaking the rules. Finally my youth minister looked at me and said, ‘You aren’t upset that they have their phones. You’re just upset that you don’t have yours.’

Jesus gives three reasons why what the disciples are doing is okay and that the Pharisees are in the wrong.

First, He says, “Something greater than the temple is here.” Jesus is the temple! This was a major claim by Jesus that they misunderstood and was eventually used against him at his trial. John 2:21 “But he was speaking about the temple of his body.”

If they what occurred within the physical temple was not illegal, how could it be illegal with Jesus, the true Temple of God?

This may also be a reference to and fulfilment of Haggai 2:9 “The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.’ ””

Second, he again calls our their stubborn cherrypicking of Scripture by pointing to Hosea 6:6 “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”

Every time the Lord has spoken about the Law, he has emphasized that it was meant for good. The Law was full of grace (John 1:16). But the people had twisted and butchered it. Instead of debating on what was allowed and what wasn’t, they could have just remembered that the Law was always fulfilled with love (love for God, and love for others).

When Mark tells this story, he adds that Jesus also said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” to drive this point home. The Sabbath, like the entire Law, was meant to be a gift. It was meant to give the people rest, but not to their detriment!

His third reason for allowing the disciples to do this: He’s in charge.

By declaring that the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath, Jesus is claiming the authority of God. I like to joke that, “I didn’t write the rules, I just enforce them.” For Jesus, he’s saying, “I wrote the rules, so I get to tell you what they mean.”

This is important, because the Lord isn’t contradicting himself, or ‘fixing’ what the Law said. He’s properly interpreting it’s meaning - and in the process he’s destroying the pseudo-laws and interpretations that the Pharisees had created.

12:9-13: Healing on the Sabbath

This argument didn’t stop in the grainfield. You might say the Lord works hard, but the Pharisees worked harder to trap him - ironic, because it was the Sabbath.

This time, it’s a bit more serious than snacking. It’s a healing of a man with a withered hand!

Matthew tells us that the religious leaders asked Jesus themselves if it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath. Mark and Luke say that they were ‘thinking’ it and Jesus read their minds before rhetorically asking the question himself - so they basically said it in their hearts.

And it was a dumb question. A real ‘Gotcha’ moment.

But the background to them asking this question was that it was already agreed upon that someone could be healed on the Sabbath if it was life-threatening. But if it wasn’t life-threatening, well then I guess they must suffer another day.

This was an ongoing issue, as we see the synagogue leader even telling people to come back another day for healing in Luke 13:14 “But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, “There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.””

Is it any surprise that Jesus gives a kind of snarky answer to them? They would rescue their own pets, but helping a fellow human is a bridge to far!

This gets at the heart of couple of problems with the human heart!

We love, ‘Rules for thee, but not for me.’ We want people to treat us well (and to also be exempt from the rules), but when it comes to other people, that’s often a bridge too far.

In this particular illustration we also realize that humans are more prone to treat animals better than they are humans!

The (obvious and gracious) answer, Jesus declares, is that “It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Don’t let rules get in the way of doing good. Remember, Jesus prefers love and mercy over sacrifice.

12:15-21: Fulfilling Prophecy

These two encounters with the Pharisees ended with them wanting to try and find a way to kill Jesus. He was embarrassing them. And to them, He was also supposedly breaking the Law. He was also chipping away at their self-righteousness.

So what did Jesus do? He fought!

Just kidding, he didn’t fight. In fact, he did the opposite. In the face of resistance, he set the example of ‘Live at peace with those who are around you, as long as depends on you.’

This didn’t stop the crowds from following him, nor did it stop him from healing them. But he did continue to tell them to stay quiet about Him. Why?

Jesus had previously told the leper he healed to not tell people (and the leper ignored him).

Mark’s Gospel really highlights this ‘hidden Messiah’ theme.

Jesus wasn’t in it for the glory and ego. On several occasions he stopped the people from making him King by force. He didn’t walk into Jerusalem and perform huge miracles, or stir up a riot to take down the Romans.

The Creator of the Universe didn’t need such pomp and clout.

Matthew tells us that the Lord’s ‘quietness’ was a fulfilment of Isaiah 42:1-3. It wasn’t hard to make this connection - Jesus himself had claimed to be the fulfilment was preaching in his hometown synagogue.

A few things I want to draw our attention to here about this prophecy:

Jesus is the servant who God has chosen and is the ‘beloved’. We see the Father explicitly declare this at Jesus’ baptism and the transfiguration. We also know that this means the Father expects us to listen to Jesus.

The Holy Spirit is upon Jesus and that is how He is able to do such awesome works. I think this sets the stage for the next section.

He doesn’t quarrel or cry. Jesus was largely silent, rarely argued with his accusers, and didn’t try to make a name for himself. He was the epitome of humility and one we should strive to copy!

He was always gentle to those in need. The Lord always healed, and never hurt.

And finally, He is the hope of the Gentiles. It’s important that Matthew (a Jew) draws attention to this for his Jewish audience. Their Messiah wasn’t just for them. He was for the entire world. That really is good news!

12:22-37: Careful what you say

I think that Isaiah’s prophecy about the Spirit being upon Jesus was guiding us towards this passage. We’ve seen that there has been a slow build up of tension between Jesus and the religious leaders. They’ve instigated it, but for the Lord’s part he’s tried to give them space, even staying away from the cities.

But this all comes to a head when Jesus heals a demon-oppressed man. The tragedy of this story is that the Pharisees took away from an incredible miracle by their words - which could have been part of the reason Jesus gets so angry with them.

The people themselves knew this was incredible that’s why they asked, “Can this be the Son of David?” - this was a Messianic title. Everyone knew the Messiah had to be a descendent of David. But as we’ve seen before, Jesus’ origin and family were a bit of a mystery. Nobody really knew he was born in Bethlehem. So they are trying to reconcile this with what they are seeing.

They were right, of course. But instead of joining them, the Pharisees once again stuck their foot in their mouth by suggesting something downright blasphemous: Jesus was doing the devil’s work.

For the Lord, this was a bridge too far. He permits, and forgives us to see a lot of boneheaded things. But to ascribe the power of God to the devil? That won’t stand.

And speaking of standing that’s actually the first of several what I call “You idiot” statements.

First he points out that a divided kingdom can’t stand. So if he’s doing the devil’s work, that means the devil is casting out his own demons, which just doesn’t make since. The devil is dumb, but he’s not that dumb (and not as dumb as they are apparently).

Second, what does it mean about their “sons” casting out demons?

It’s easy to read this as the Pharisee’s children apparently being exorcists, which is possible.

But it could also be Jesus talking about his own disciples who were the “children” of these people - the disciples also had been casting out demons. This is probably why Jesus says, ‘They will be your judges.’

They might not like Jesus, but you can’t deny what the Apostles were doing, too.

With this third statement, Jesus begins to flip the script away from their implications to his own implication. “Let’s say that it is by the Spirit of God that I do these things, you know what that means right? The Kingdom is here.”

The first two statements were embarrassing judgement on the Pharisees, but this one cuts right to their hard hearts. Jesus knows just how to do this. If they would have just opened their eyes like the blind man had, they would know what was happening.

Fourth, Jesus uses the illustration of binding up a strong man to plunder the man’s house. Jesus is basically saying, “Why would I need the devil’s help when I’m so clearly more powerful than he is?”

Fifth, Jesus draws a line in the sand: we’re either on his side, or we’re on the losing side. These Pharisees found themselves on the losing side. They were doing their hardest to ‘scatter’, just like their father the devil.

This all leads to a very strong indictment: blasphemy of the Holy Spirit will not be tolerated and it will not be forgiven.

This is a controversial and troubling passage for many. People often ask, “What exactly does it mean to blaspheme the Holy Spirit? And have I done that?”

The good news is is that if you’re asking the question, you probably haven’t done it.

Remember the context: the Pharisees were ascribing the power of the Holy Spirit to the power of the devil. Not only was this offensive and blasphemous, but their hearts were too hardened to even consider it.

This isn’t just words, it’s an obstinate attitude towards God that leads to those words being spoken.

Which is why Jesus follows this up with the illustration of the tree. Trees are known by their fruit. If it’s good, the tree is good, but if it’s bad, the tree is bad. He also compares it to good and evil treasure - you bring out what you have.

This is why Jesus says, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” The heart is the tree/treasure. What the mouth speaks reveals the type of tree/treasure that we have. And Jesus is very direct: these men were evil!

This is still true. People’s words reveal their hearts. Which is why if you are asking, “Have I ever blasphemed the Holy Spirit?” you probably haven’t - because your heart is clearly in a place where you care. People who blaspheme God do not care because their hearts are too evil to care.

This leads to the Lord’s declaration of judgement: everything, even every little word that we say, will be judged. Those ‘careless words’ will either justify us or condemn us. With our mouth we will either declare “Jesus is Lord”, or we will spew blasphemies against God. Whatever it is we say, it will reveal where our heart is.

Conclusion

Jesus is Lord of all, including the Sabbath. He is God’s Chosen Servant, and He does all things by the power of the Holy Spirit. As the Pharisees have shown us, ignorance or continued defiance to such obvious things can have damning consequences. The Lord knows our hearts, but it typically doesn’t take Godly-insight to know someone’s heart - we reveal it through our words and actions. As we go out continue to ask the Holy Spirit to purify our hearts that our words and actions may be more and more like the Lord Jesus as we strive to do the will of the Father who ‘desires mercy and not sacrifice.’