Matthew 12:1-37

Matthew now presents a sharpening of the opposition to Jesus, which will eventually lead to his death.  Jesus is criticized for two matters that relate to the Jewish rules for honoring the Sabbath.

Matthew 12:1-8 Plucking grain on the Sabbath

In this first incident, how does Jesus end up at cross-purposes with the Pharisees?  What do his disciples do, and what is the Pharisees’ complaint?

Although Jesus does not mention this, the Old Testament prohibition of work on the Sabbath prohibited harvesting on the Sabbath (Exodus 34:21); it did not explicitly prohibit plucking grain and Deuteronomy 23:24-25 even allowed plucking your neighbors grapes or grain to fill our hunger, so it would be difficult to argue that plucking was prohibited on the Sabbath.  The Pharisees extended the rule, as they did so many other rules, to the extreme.

Jesus offers 4 different answers to their complaint.

• In verses 3-4, what does Jesus say, and what does it mean?

David and his followers ate bread from the altar in 1 Sam. 21:1-6 [under the high priest Ahimelech – Mark wrongly says Abiathar; Matthew leaves out the name].  They and the disciples were both responding to the same legitimate concern: hunger.

• In verses 5-6, what does Jesus say, and what does it mean?

The priests in the Temple do work on the Sabbath, but that is not a sin.  The Sabbath rule is not the only or highest rule.

• In verse 7, what does Jesus say, and what does it mean?

Hosea 6:6 says God wants mercy, not sacrifice.  The Pharisees are focusing on the wrong concerns and failing to value what is more important: mercy.

• In verse 8, what does Jesus say, and what does it mean?

Jesus, the Son of Man, is lord of the Sabbath.  He has ultimate authority over the Sabbath.

At the time Matthew is writing, Matthew’s community probably used these arguments as defenses when criticized by the Jews for being lax in following the Old Testament Law.

In Mark, Jesus also says that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27).  Jesus is saying that the Sabbath regulation had a limited purpose and the Pharisees were trying to give it a paramount, overpowering purpose.  What is the limited but valuable purpose of the Sabbath?

If one has a proper sense of the valuable but limited purpose of the Sabbath, why is the disciples’ plucking food to eat not a violation of the point of the Sabbath?

Jesus is declaring himself the lord of the Sabbath.  What does that make him out to be?

As lord of the Sabbath, Jesus is declaring that human needs take precedence over Sabbath rules.  How might we balance the freedom to do good on the Sabbath with the call to honor the Sabbath?  How can we decide what is appropriate to do on the Sabbath?

How might we sometimes fall into the trap of placing a higher priority on following rules than on achieving God’s loving, merciful purposes?

Matthew 12:9-14 Healing on the Sabbath

What is the second thing Jesus is criticized for?

The Pharisees were so committed to not working on the Sabbath that when they were at war with the Greeks in the times of the Maccabees and when Roman attacked Jerusalem in 63 BCE, they did not resist attack on Sabbath days, which led to some serious defeats (Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 2, pp. 31-32).

What is Jesus’s response to their criticism of his healing on the Sabbath?

It seems so obvious when Jesus says it: You would pull your sheep out of a ditch on the Sabbath.  How much more precious is a human being than a sheep.  But how might we be slide into placing a higher value on things than on people?  How is our society prone to place a higher value on things than on people?

When or where in our society is there a tendency to place a higher value on rules and regulations, on procedure and protocol, than on helping people?

How would you sum up in a phrase the “rule” Jesus is modeling that supersedes our human rules?

Verse 14 is an ominous turn in Jesus’s ministry.  What have the Pharisees now decided to do?

Matthew 12:15-21 Jesus as the fulfillment of the Old Testament “Servant” of the Lord

When Jesus learns that the Pharisees want to kill him, what does he do in verse 15?

Jesus is being careful not to precipitate an attempt to kill him before the proper time when he has completed his work on Earth.  And yet it does not deter him from his work.  Although he changes location, he doesn’t change what he is doing.  Jesus continues to do his thing.

What can we learn from Jesus as he increases his carefulness but continues his ministry?  Does this offer any insight for how to deal with opposition when we are doing God’s work?

Does Jesus’s situation help us understand why he orders people (unsuccessfully) not to publicize what he has done for them (verse 16)?

Matthew says what is going on here fulfills an Old Testament prophecy.

Re-read verses 18-20, which are a quote from Isaiah 42:1-4.

What did Isaiah say about God’s chosen servant?

Which elements of the prophecy correspond to what Jesus is doing with the people and how he is dealing with the Pharisees?

In what ways does Jesus bring justice?

In what ways does Jesus nurture, not break, the bruised reed, and strengthen, not quench, the smoldering wick?

How has Jesus been like that in your life?

Matthew 12:22-37 The blasphemy of the Pharisees

What miracle does Jesus perform in verse 22?

How do the Pharisees react, and why is this so serious?

They blaspheme by saying that Jesus is working for Satan – i.e., that God is evil.

What are Jesus’s 3 arguments in response to their claim (vv. 25-26, 27-28, and 29)?

vv. 25-26: If Jesus is healing by the power of Satan, then Satan is destroying his own kingdom.

vv. 27-28: If exorcisms performed by Jewish exorcists are judged as being done by the Spirit of God, then it is hypocritical to judge Jesus differently.

vv. 29: If Jesus casts out demons, and thereby steals people back from Satan, he must have greater power than Satan – a power to bind Satan.  But if that is happening then God’s Kingdom is breaking into our world.

Do you see a battle going on in our day between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan, where the good that comes from God faces the bad that comes from evil forces?

In verses 31-32, Jesus says there is only one unforgivable sin, which he says is blasphemy against the Spirit.  How is the Pharisees’ attack a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?

Why would that particular sin be unforgivable?  Is it that God refuses to forgive them, or is it that by refusing to recognize the Holy Spirit as good they are rejecting the source from which they would need the grace to repent of their sin and receive forgiveness?

In verse 32 Jesus says that blaspheming against the Son of Man may be forgiven.  Why?

Perhaps because rejecting God in human form still leaves room for the movement of the Holy Spirit to lead a person to repentance.  Or perhaps because it is one thing to misjudge Jesus; although he is God, he is somewhat hidden in human form.  But to deny the manifest power of the Holy Spirit when it is plainly seen is to reject clear evidence.

In verse 33, Jesus uses the analogy of a tree and its fruit and accuses the Pharisees of lying, because they are calling the tree (Jesus) evil even though its fruit (people being cured) is good.  We sometimes evaluate people based on their actions and the effects they have (their fruit).  Is this a wise strategy that we should use more regularly?  Explain.

In vv. 34-37, Jesus issues a more general caution about our words.  It applies to the Pharisees, but it also applies to all of us, all the time.  What is he saying and why?

What does Jesus mean by your “heart”?

What is the good treasure of storehouse of good (or evil) in our hearts?  What does that mean?

Is it fair to say that what comes out of a person’s mouth reveals the state of their heart?  Explain.

When are we most at risk of an unguarded or careless word?

Some of the answers my Bible Study group offered include: when we are angry, hurt, tired, hungry, or disappointed; when we are not thinking about who the word is directed at, and when we don’t have a valid purpose for saying the word, even though it might be true.

What can you do to avoid careless words?  How can you bring only good out of your storehouse, so that you are not condemned by your words?

Are there ways you need to deal with what is going on in your heart, so that you won’t have to work so hard to manage what comes out of your mouth?  What adjustments might be needed in the state of your heart right now?

We live in a world where talk is cheap and plentiful, and many people think truth is relative.  How important is it to speak accurately and truthfully, to speak words that are consistent with reality as God knows it?

Take a step back and consider this:

In this passage, the Pharisees do what too many people in our modern world do:

• First, they decide what they believe.

• Second, they refuse to listen to the arguments and evidence offered by those who disagree with them.

• Third, they say whatever fits with what they believe, even if there is evidence to the contrary.

• Finally, they attack the people who disagree with them, sometimes viciously.

We see this pattern all the time in our day.

Even we ourselves may fall prey to this approach sometimes, especially on social media, where the culture encourages us to take sides and to speak without listening and with little respect.

But Jesus’s rules for what comes out of our mouths apply as much when we are on social media as anywhere else.  On social media, our “mouth” is our keyboard plus the “Post” or “Share” button.  We may not literally speak words, but we communicate them just the same when we post.

Jesus’s warning applies equally to social media: The words you communicate come out of the treasure or storehouse of your heart, for good or evil. “[B]y your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:37, NRSV).

What are the ideas and attitudes in your heart that you are revealing by what you say on social media and how you say it?

As Christians it is our calling and privilege to reveal Jesus to others at all times.  What changes might be good for you to consider, so that everything you post and share on social media comes from the good things in your heart so that it can properly represent Christ?

If you would like some suggestions for how to decide what things are appropriate to share on social media, from Christ’s perspective, see Before You Hit the Share Button.  The relevant questions are: Is it true?  Have you checked it?  Will it build others up?